![]() ![]() Jupiter is lost to view in evening skies and won’t turn up in morning skies till May. The Emu dark constellation is always great to see around 10pm when the sky is fully dark. On the 26th Mars is close to the waxing moon. Mars is still prominent, but is shrinking and fading and moving from the Taurus constellation into Gemini.Īt the start of April is close to the open cluster M35 and within binocular distance from the 1st to the 4th. On the 23rd Venus is just 3 degrees from the crescent moon. Over April Venus is moving closes and closer to the iconic open cluster the Pleiades and between the 10th and the 12th Venus and the Pleiades close together will make great binocular viewing. Venus is very easily observed in the West in the early evening just after sunset for an hour and a half. Mercury is a very difficult target even for those with very low western horizons. So for those out camping over Easter, you’ll have very nice dark skies to see lots of clusters and nebulae as well as Venus and Mars without any interference from the moon.įirst Quarter (apogee) Moon appears in evening skies on April 28th. In Australia Daylight Saving ends on April 2nd On social media you’ll find Laura, she’s on Twitter.Īnd her non-astro work can be found on Etsy at Oomigoomi …. Laura tells us about her current research and her work as the joint Science lead on the VAST project and you will love the clarity of her description of the power and nature of Commensal Searches, and how she uses archival data to verify that her radio data is actually coming from her targeted star and not from a radio galaxy hiding behind it.Īnother gift Laura gives us is her brilliant explanation of how scientists establish and maintain collaborations both big and small, and how scientists often begin with a large number of hypotheses to explain observed phenomena and how the null hypothesis is such a powerful tool in developing an accurate understanding of our universe. Today we’re taking up that story from where we left off, and we hear of her first post-doc with the CSIRO in Perth, her FRB and Radio Star research and her outreach work in the outback with indigenous school kids who live near the iconic Murchison Widefield Array and the ASKAP Array. You heard about her obsession with space starting at age 4 and her natural yet meandering academic Astro journey up to the point where she was using commensal searches on the MeerKAT array in South Africa for pinpointing and localization of FRBs, Fast Radio Bursts. Laura’s back story is all there in Astrophiz Episode 54. You first met Laura 5 years ago back in 2018 when she was doing her PhD at the University of Manchester and Jodrell Bank. I am really excited to be speaking again with Dr Laura Driessen, who is now recognised as one of Australia’s Superstars of STEM! Next Episode: Dr Rodolfo (Rudy) Montez Jnr gives us a brilliant expose of X-Ray astronomy and the astonishing science of the Chandra X-Ray Observatory Ian also gives us great tips on how to start observing variable stars. Scorpius is now down close to the Western Horizon taking Betelgeuse with it.Īfter the 2019 ‘dimming’ of the red giant, caused by outgassing, we are observing the brightening of Betelgeuse again. Ian’s Tangent - Betelgeuse is brightening ![]() Of course some meteors will be observed on the morning of the 5th if you choose your time wisely. The Eta Aquariid Meteor Shower is strong and reliable, however this year the Full Moon will play havoc for meteor watchers. The Heart of the MILKY WAY is beginning to rise again with Scorpius very visible. SATURN in morning skies is a decent telescopic object again and angled just right to feature the maximum amount of shadow from Saturn’s rings. On the 29th Mercury is at its highest in Eastern morning skies and easily found. On the 18th MERCURY the thin crescent moon with Jupiter above will be a nice capture for astrophotographers and naked eye observers. ![]() On the 24th Mars, Venus and the waxing moon make a neat little triangle in the West. On the 31st Mars is next to the Beehive Cluster. MARS - shrinking as it moves further away from earth in its orbit, but still easily visible, but you’ll need a serious large telescope to pull in deatils of Mars. Venus is in it’s ‘half-moon’ phase at the moment. On the 23rd Venus is just 3degrees from the crescent moon, and on the 30th Venus will be right next to the Mag 3 double star Kappa Geminorum. From the 9th to 10th Venus is closed to the open cluster M35. VENUS - moving from Taurus into gemini and getting brighter and climbing higher in the West. Full Moon - 6 May (with penumbral eclipse in the early morning)įirst Quarter - 28 May (also apogee moon) ![]()
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