1st September: Last Quarter
8th September: New Moon
15th September: First Quarter
23rd September: Full Moon

This month the planet Jupiter is in opposition.

Planets are said to be in opposition when they are opposite the Sun relative to the Earth. Jupiter will be in opposition on the evening of September 21st. If the sky is clear of cloud this will provide an excellent opportunity to see Jupiter as it rises as the Sun sets and sets as the Sun rises. Also, being at its closest to Earth it will appear at its brightest.

Using binoculars, you’ll perhaps get lucky and glimpse Jupiter’s four main moons - Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto - as first discovered by Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei in 1609.

3rd August: Last Quarter
10th August: New Moon
16th August: First Quarter
24th August: Full Moon

The biggest astronomical event of the year - the Perseid meteor shower peaks on 12th August, however it’s likely you’ll see ’shooting stars’ from the 11th to 14th August.

Look up towards the Plough (Big Dipper) after 11pm and through the early hours of the morning to get the best views of perhaps as many as 100 meteors per hour.

Watch the awesome trailer for the 2010 Perseid Meteor Shower here!

Some other things to keep you ticking over for August:

10 Must Visit Websites About The Universe!

4th July: Last Quarter
11th July: New Moon
18th July: First Quarter
26th July: Full Moon

The Earth is at ‘aphelion’ on 6th July. Aphelion is when the Earth is at its furthest distance from the Sun in its journey around the star (the centre of these bodies lie 152,096,448 km apart!). Perihelion is the closest point at which Earth comes to the Sun in its orbit (147,098,040 km) - this year, that took place in the early hours of 3rd January.

Although the long, light nights of summertime make spotting the fainter points of light in the sky harder (especially in Scotland and further north where the Sun doesn’t really even dip below the horizon), there are still things to look out for:

‘The Summer Triangle’ (in the image above) is the well-known asterism that is made of the 3 bright stars, Deneb, Altair and Vega. An asterism is a pattern of stars seen from the Earth that is not an official constellation. In this case, Deneb is the tail of the swan, Cygnus; Vega is the brightest star in Lyra the harp; and Altair is the eye of the eagle, Aquila. The eagle-eyed amongst you will also spot the Milky Way running through the constellations of Aquila and Cygnus.

You might also be incredibly fortunate to spot noctilucent clouds which are illuminated in an ethereal blueish-silver as they reflect the Sun’s light. Found over 50miles above the surface of the Earth, these clouds are the highest in our sky and are something of a mystery. They can generally only be seen in latitudes between 50 and 65 degrees North and South during summer months and are believed to be comprised of water ice.

If you can stand the cheesy singing (or just hit mute!) this video from NASA on Youtube is worth a look to see the beauty of noctilucent clouds:

And from the chap who brought us the beautiful “The Cloud Collector’s Handbook” comes another pocket-sized hardback that you’ll find indispensable; “The Wavewatcher’s Companion” by Gavin Pretor-Pinney.

If you’ve ever thought about waves, you’ll be well on your way to tuning into this delightful 336 page exploration of life’s undulations, big and small.

Some other things to keep you ticking over for July:

10 Must Visit Websites About The Universe!

4th June: Last Quarter
12th June: New Moon
19th June: First Quarter
26th June: Full Moon

As the Sun begins to sink to the West in the first week of June, be sure to look out for Mars edging closer, in our line of sight, to Regulus in the constellation of Leo.

(N.B. The sky won’t be as dark as in the image above, but with a clear sky you should still see both Mars and Regulus in the South / South West as the Sun sets.)

The difference between Mars and Regulus should be quite striking, as Mars will be orange-red in colour and Regulus, blue-white. Mars will be within just 1degree of Regulus, the ‘King star’ on June 6th 2010.

It’s the summer solstice on 21st June 2010. At this time, the Sun reaches its apparent northernmost extreme from the celestial equator, as a result of the Earth’s tilted axis.

The National Maritime Museum in the UK has a nice article explaining the ins and outs of solstices and equinoxes.

And from the chap who brought us the beautiful “The Cloud Collector’s Handbook” comes another pocket-sized hardback that you’ll find indispensable; “The Wavewatcher’s Companion” by Gavin Pretor-Pinney.

If you’ve ever thought about waves, you’ll be well on your way to tuning into this delightful 336 page exploration of life’s undulations, big and small.

Some other things to keep you ticking over for June:

10 Must Visit Websites About The Universe!

After sunset, looking South this month you’ll see the planet Mars between the constellations of Cancer and Leo. The red planet will be closing-in on Leo’s brightest star, Regulus by the end of the month as it continues its eastward journey.

Spica, the brightest star in the constellation, Virgo, is often described as heralding the springtime and it appears low to the south-east from just after sunset. Another point of interest in Virgo this May is the planet Saturn.

With springtime upon us, it’s also a great time to observe the sky during the day; in particular the clouds! The Cloud Appreciation Society website shows you what to look for and features some of the most amazing images on the net!

The society has also published a beautiful collector’s book to help you identify and keep track of all the clouds you collect:

Some other things to keep you ticking over for May:

10 Must Visit Websites About The Universe!

Vito Technology, the folks behind one of the best Apple iPhone apps you’ll ever get your hands on (Star Walk) have released another app called Solar Walk. Solar Walk presents a stunning, interactive 3D model of the Solar System allowing you to discover more about the planets.

The UK General Election is set for 6th May 2010 and the main parties have all now launched their manifestos.

But, how does Science, Engineering & Technology feature in their plans?

CaSE

In their blog, CaSE (Campaign for Science and Engineering in the UK) http://blog.sciencecampaign.org.uk try to compare their respective policies to let you see at a glance the party politics as far as the future of science in the UK is concerned.

Who will get the #SciVote – follow the comment and conversation on Twitter?

Skeptical Voter

Also worth checking out and assisting with, where you can in their wiki, is the ‘Skeptical Voter’ site: http://skeptical-voter.org/ . Skeptical Voter intends to identify which parliamentary candidates embrace the use of evidence as a means to inform their decisions and which prefer to obfuscate, ignore or suppress the evidence for political convenience.

It can be quite an eye-opener to see what your local candidates believe in; hopefully it will make you think twice before putting a cross on your ballot paper.

You can also follow @skepticalvoter on Twitter

Vote Match

If you don’t particularly fancy wading your way through all the manifestos, spin and tit-for-tat politics, then there is further help at hand! Vote Match lets you easily discover with which parties agree with your views by answering a series of questions – it takes only 5 minutes and it’s a very clear and useful tool. Try it out: http://www.votematch.org.uk/index.php

Full Party Manifestos

If you do want to dig into the manifestos – look no further! Below are direct links to the main party manifestos – both for the UK and Scotland, where some issues are devolved.

Most of the links below will take you to a page where it’s quite obvious how to read or download the manifesto. Others link directly to a .pdf file.

They are in no particular order and of course there are other parties and independents to consider depending on where you live. Happy reading!

Conservative

http://media.conservatives.s3.amazonaws.com/manifesto/cpmanifesto2010_hires.pdf

Conservative (Scotland)

http://www.scottishconservatives.com/policy/manifesto

Green Party

http://www.greenparty.org.uk/policies.html

Scottish Green Party

http://www.scottishgreens.org.uk/uploaded/Wesminster2010.pdf

Labour

http://www2.labour.org.uk/uploads/TheLabourPartyManifesto-2010.pdf

Labour (Scotland)

http://www.scottishlabour.org.uk/manifesto

Liberal Democrats

http://www.libdems.org.uk/our_manifesto.aspx

Liberal Democrats (Scotland)

http://www.scotlibdems.org.uk/manifesto

Scottish National Party

http://www.snp.org/manifestos/westminster/2010

Plaid Cymru

http://www.plaidcymru.org/content.php?nID=44;catID=7;pubID=264;lID=1

It promises to be an epic exploration of hundreds of years of scientific developments presented by Michael Mosley; a revealing insight into the principles it’s founded upon, the astonishing advances that have gotten us to the present day and the fear it often brings when misunderstood.

Michael, a former doctor, and co-author, John Lynch - the executive producer of the BBC’s international hit ‘Walking With Dinosaurs’, take us on a joined-up journey through the history science from it’s beginnings to where we are today in the accompanying hardback which is on sale now.

Expect “The Story of Science: Power, Proof and Passion” to be available on a 2 disc, DVD from 16th June 2010 with a total runtime of 360 minutes.

We’ve now passed the Vernal Equinox, and moved into British Summer Time (BST), which means that the days are longer and the nights are shorter. Not ideal for star-gazing, but there’s still plenty to look out for!

The IMAX® at Glasgow Science Centre is showing Hubble 3D from 15th April! This will be absolutely amazing if the trailer is anything to go by: Watch the official trailer on YouTube

The Lyrid Meteor Shower is expected between 19th and 24th April. At it’s peak, on the 22nd, you can expect around a dozen or so meteors per hour as the Earth passes through the leftover debris of Comet Thatcher. These brief flashes in the sky appear to emanate from the constellation of Lyra the harp, which can be found in the North East a few hours after dusk.

During the day, it’s a great time to observe the sky and in particular the clouds! The Cloud Appreciation Society website, shows you what to look for and features some of the most amazing images on the net!

The society has also published a beautiful collector’s book to help you identify and keep track of all the clouds you collect:

Some other things to keep you ticking over for April:

10 Must Visit Websites About The Universe!

One of the best Apple iPhone apps you’ll ever get your hands on is Star Walk. Indispensable for both amateurs and professionals, this excellent bit of software will guide you through the night sky in style: Find out more about Star Walk here!