A nova has flared up in Cassiopeia.  A nova is caused when a white dwarf in a binary pair has been drawing material from its companion star.  A point is reached where a thermonuclear reaction starts and the white dwarf flares up for a few weeks and is visible right across the galaxy.  It is not to be confused with a supernova which is an altogether less common and more violent affair.  This nova is shining at about magnitude 7.5, that means it is just too dim to see by eye but easily visible in binoculars.  It is also fairly easy to find and the link below gives some clear instructions on how to locate it.  Fortunately it is close to the open cluster Messier 50, and in binoculars it is just below and to the left and in the same field.  These are fairly rare events, astronomers estimate that there are around 50 in the Milky Way each year but only a small proportion are visible from Earth.  There may be some clear nights this week so get your binoculars and go nova hunting!

Bright Nova Erupts in Cassiopeia

 

18th February:  Nasa has managed to crane their rover and helicopter into the Jezero Crater on Mars.  It’s now about 2km from what is thought to be an ancient (that’s 4 billion years ago!) river delta that fed a huge lake.  Jezero is a small town in Bosnia with a population of 1100, Jezero means lake in a number of Slavic languages.  This crater was named in 2007 by the IAU as part of a project to name significant craters after small towns and villages in the world.
Now we await the testing of Perseverance and Ingenuity’s’ systems and for the science data to start to come back.

Mars2020 now joins the two other visitors to Mars this month:-
1)   On the 9^th February the successful mission by the UAE to put the Al Amal (Hope) Probe into orbit to study the Martian atmosphere amongst other objectives.  This makes the UAE the 5^th country to reach Mars and the second to enter orbit on it’s first try;  and
2)   Followed on the 10^th February by the successful insertion of Chinas’ first mission to Mars, Tianwen-1, into orbit.   It also carries a rover that is scheduled to land in May or June.  The Tianwen-1 rover includes a ground penetrating radar that can “see” up to 100m below the surface.

Emirates Mars Mission – LINK     :     Tianwen-1 – LINK     :     Mars2020 – LINK

There will be a virtual star party on the 1st March, hosted by Bwlch and Llangorse tourism and presented by Nick Busby.  It is suitable for all ages 10 years up and assumes no prior knowledge of the stars.

Additional note, I did this exercise for Abergavenny last week and although it was not the best of nights – it was a bit misty and very cold, I managed to count 14 stars in Orion from my back garden in Abergavenny.  The app then informed me that that was better than 77% of places in the UK so that can’t be bad. – Nick Busby

 

Not sure if it will be clear at all this week but if it is there is an activity going on that the Campaign for Rural England organises each year.  The idea is that you count all the stars you can see by eye in the constellation of Orion and send in the results.  This will allow any changes to light pollution in the UK to be mapped.  You can find full details and all support materials by clicking on the following link:

Star Count 2021: explore what we learned

 

There is a lot of interest in Mars at the moment from a number of different countries with current missions from China and the UAE and plans by the ESA/Russia, Japan and India in the next 3 or 4 years.

First up look out on the 18th February for the scheduled landing of the NASA Mars Perseverance Rover, if successful it will be another engineering feat using a “sky crane”.

It includes another engineering first, Ingenuity, the first helicopter to operate outside of the Earth.  This is a test to check the feasibility of flying a drone on a planet with a much thinner atmosphere, 1% of the thickness of Earth’s atmosphere.  It weights 1.8kg and is fitted with counter rotating blades running at 2,400rpm.

Further info:-
Perseverance Mission  :  Ingenuity Helicopter  :  Wikipedia page-missions to Mars

Please note the comment added to the previous “Happy New Year” post.