Line-up every star in the sky at given distance and you will have a direct comparison of their brightness, which we call "Absolute Magnitude". The result is often very different from the brightness we observe with the stars scattered throughout the galaxy (their "Apparent Magnitude"). In this month's 'In-Focus' article, Mark Dawson reveals more... [Read more about The Magnitude Of It All!]
Perhaps not a first, but at least opening star party event of the summer season on May 23rd went ahead in pretty decent conditions, with just a little cloud around the horizon. With five scopes deployed and eight members present, the most was made of the bright twilight conditions that prevail at this time of year.
A lovely waxing crescent moon, the planets; Venus and Jupiter and Saturn and finally some of the brighter stars, made it an enjoyable evening, certainly plenty of ‘goodies’ to keep a quite sizeable and interested crowd at the eyepieces for a couple of hours... [Read more about Summer Star Party Season kicks-off in style]
In this month's edition:
| Sun | Rise | Set |
|---|---|---|
| Actual | 07:50 | 15:48 |
| Civil Twilight | 07:08 | 16:30 |
| Nautical Twilight | 06:23 | 17:15 |
| Astronomical Twilight | 05:41 | 17:57 |
| Moon | Rise | Set |
|---|---|---|
| 00:00 | 13:40 |
