Our podcasts allow you to easily find objects in the night sky. We provide an information page which you can read as you are downloading the podcast. Listen to the podcast with the page in front of you. When you have downloaded the podcast on to your player, go outside and listen to it again as you look at the stars – no more using torches and spoiling your night vision looking at the information in a book or magazine!
We will start from somewhere you can certainly find – DIRECTLY ABOVE YOUR HEAD! (In Astronomy terms, this is called the ZENITH). Each podcast will be quite short and will concentrate on one small area of the night sky. Start by listening to the earliest podcasts on the screen – these will be nearer the bottom of the list. Note the time that is stated by the podcast, as the night sky objects will be best placed around this time.
Try our podcasts and let us know how successful you’ve been by sending us an email about how you have got on.
Date added: Sunday, April 04, 2010
The Plough is directly overhead at 10pm. Using the two end stars, the pointers, you can track about five times the distance between the pointer stars to reach the Pole Star, Polaris. As you face the Pole Star, you are facing North.
Date added: Sunday, April 04, 2010
Follow the pointer stars of the Plough in the opposite direction to the previous podcast. Travel five times the gap between the pointer stars, but this time towards the south. You will now be looking in the stars of the constellation of Leo, the Lion.
Date added: Sunday, April 04, 2010
Once you have found the constellation of Leo, the Lion, using the Plough as your guide, the planets Saturn and Mars are easy to locate. If you have a telescope, the rings of Saturn appear edge on. You should be able to spot Titan, Saturn’s largest moon.
Date added: Sunday, April 04, 2010
Mars is your guide to finding the constellation of Cancer, the Crab. Cancer is in the shape of an upturned letter Y and all the stars are faint. The podcast guides you to M44, the Beehive Cluster. This is an impressive Open Cluster of stars and is one of the best objects that can be viewed with binoculars.
Date added: Friday, May 14, 2010
In the early evening, Venus shines very brightly in the West – far brighter than any other object. Observe Venus over the weeks ahead. You will be able to see it increasing in size as it moves nearer to us in its orbit around the Sun - look out for phase changes too.