I'm going to take the opportunity to broadcast a blatant advert for my next "Stars Over Somerset" sessions at Ham Hill.  The dates for your diary are Friday 23rd January and Friday 20th February.

I run these evenings during the winter months and they are suitable for anyone with an interest in the night sky, adults or youngsters.

Each evening begins at 7pm with a talk about general astronomy, followed by a short refreshment break.  Then after 8pm, we venture outside to use the telescopes.  If the weather isn't co-operating, we run with Plan B which is another talk about what you would have seen, plus the chance to view our collection of meteorite samples.

The charge is £6 for adults and £3 for under-eighteens.  Places always fill quickly, so booking is essential and this can be done by emailing countryside@somerset.gov.uk

From the start of this year I am running these sessions at the fantastic new Ham Hill Visitor Centre, which is in the Lime Kiln car park, a bit further down the road from the old centre.  There is plenty of accessible parking close-by.

Ham Hill have kindly agreed to keep their superb new cafe open for the evenings, so visitors can sample their great selection of drinks and cakes in the warm!

The only things I would ask are that if you are attending, you wrap up warm as we will be spending time outside and that you bring clear skies with you!

We always see the same face of the Moon pointing towards us, as the time it takes our natural satellite to orbit around the Earth is exactly the same as its period of rotation.  We never see the "dark side of the Moon", however the Moon does exhibit a phenomenon known as "libration" which in plain English means that it slowly wobbles a bit during its orbit!

At the beginning of the coming week, its libration makes features towards the Moon's north west limb (or edge) better-placed for viewing.  If you want to take advantage of this, a waning crescent Moon will be rising above the south south east horizon a little before 6am on the morning of Tuesday 13th.

Remember that the different phases of the Moon are said to be "waxing" as it heads towards a Full Moon, when it is brightest and "waning" as it approaches a New Moon, when it is the dark side of the Moon pointing away from us that is illuminated by sunlight, so we can't actually see it.

The next New Moon occurs on Sunday 18th, so this would be an ideal opportunity to go hunting for those illusive faint deep sky objects with your telescope, as there will be no natural light pollution from our celestial neighbour to spoil the contrast.

Of course some deep sky objects can even be seen with the naked eye and a good example is the Great Orion Nebula (Messier 42) in the "belt" of Orion.  Around 9pm on Sunday 18th, the constellation of Orion will be found towards the south south east, with Jupiter and the brightest star in the night sky, Sirius, nearby.

The coming week is a period of numerous "transits" where a planet's moon either passes in front of the planet or its shadow is cast on the planet's surface.....or both.  We are talking about the moons of Jupiter and Saturn, so you will need a telescope to be able to witness them.

On Tuesday 6th, Io begins to transit Jupiter, very close to its shadow from 2am.  Jupiter will be located towards the south west.

At the same time the following morning, from 2am on Wednesday 7th, it is Ganymede's turn to do the same trick.  Of course as it's only one day later, Jupiter will be located in near-enough the same bit of the night sky.

If 2am is too unsociable for that kind of activity, you could find Jupiter towards the east south east at 8.30pm on the evening of Wednesday 7th instead to catch Io repeating its stunt from the night before.

Aim your telescope towards the west south west at 8.30pm on Friday 9th and it should be possible to observe Titan transiting the surface of Saturn.  At the same time, several of Saturn's other moons should be visible near its famous rings of dust.

Finally, if you fancy a real challenge, aim towards Jupiter, close to the horizon in the west north west just as it's getting light around 7am on Saturday 10th to catch Callisto transiting in front of its shadow.

Remember that in space, nothing is a perfect circle.  Orbits are never perfectly round and this is particularly noticeable in the case of our own Moon.  The point in the Moon's orbit when it is closest to us is known as "perigee" and the furthest point is called "apogee".

On Saturday 3rd January we have the first Full Moon of the year and this particular one is referred to as being a "Supermoon" as it occurs very close to perigee.  The moon will appear 30% brighter and 14% larger than it does at apogee, when it is then known as a "Micromoon".

If you venture outside just as it's getting dark on 3rd, say around 5pm, the Moon will have risen above the horizon towards the north east and planet Jupiter will be just below it.  As it will be close to the horizon, the Moon will look artificially very large - this is nothing to do with it being at perigee, rather that optical effect known as "Moon illusion" where your brain plays a trick on you when viewing things close to the sky line.

You won't see many stars at dusk, but one of the brightest stars in the night sky called Capella should already be visible directly above the Moon.

Coincidentally, the Earth reaches perihelion on 3rd, which is the point when we are closest to the Sun during our orbit around it.  I assure you that it won't feel 30% warmer that day and the Sun won't appear 14% larger though as the distances are much further than our Moon unfortunately.

The evening of Monday 22nd sees the peak of the annual Ursid meteor shower.  If you venture outside from 8pm, the Moon will have set below the horizon, so there will be no light pollution from our celestial neighbour.  Look towards the north and try to locate Polaris, the pole star, which appears to be at the far end of the "little saucepan" Ursa Minor's "handle".  The radiant point where the shooting stars appear to originate from is located below that, nearer the body of the saucepan.

The Ursids is classed as a "sparse" shower, producing up to ten meteors per hour and it is associated with the debris left behind by comet 8P/Tuttle, that last orbited close to the Sun back in 2021.  Tuttle is known as a "short period comet" as it orbits the Sun every 13.6 years and the comet only travels out as far as Saturn, where most comets travel all the way to the outer reaches of the Solar System and their orbits take hundreds of years to complete.

Talking about the Moon and Saturn, if you go back outside around 8pm on Boxing Day 26th and look towards the south west, you will see a 39%-lit crescent Moon extremely close to Saturn.

Some very exciting news..........I have seen a top secret copy of Santa's travel plans for Christmas Day and I can reveal that he will be passing over the UK just after 6am on Christmas morning.  If you look towards the west at 6.17am, his sleigh will appear as a bright point of light near planet Jupiter and the constellation of Gemini.  He will pass almost directly overhead, before disappearing towards the east around 6.21am.

On that note, it just remains for me to wish all our listeners a peaceful and happy festive period, with hopefully some clear skies!

Sunday 21st is the winter solstice, when the Sun reaches it's lowest point in the sky and the days are shortest.  Look on the bright side - the days are gradually going to get longer now, by roughly 4 minutes each day as we head towards spring and summer.

We have seasons because the Earth is tilted 23.5 degrees on its axis, so the north and south poles are not directly at the top and bottom.  As a child, I always wondered why the Earth on the classroom globe was mounted wonkey!

Of course astronomers prefer the winter skies, because it is dark for longer and we can get outside with our telescopes more, but why by 4 minutes each day?  The Earth's sidereal day, or the time taken for us to rotate once on our axis is NOT 24 hours.  It actually takes 23 hours 56 minutes and 4 seconds.  That's why, as we go through the different seasons, we progressively get lighter or darker each day by almost 4 minutes.

Things are kept simple in daily life, so we prefer to work on 24 hours, which divides up nicely into two lots of 12 hours on a clock face.  Would you really like to read a clock chopped up into two halves of 23 hours 56 minutes and 4 seconds!

Our orbit around the Sun takes 365 1/4 days, but we work on a year being exactly 365 days.  We make up the missing quarters every four years by adding an extra day to February and calling it a Leap Year.

The Earth spins at just over 1000 miles per hour and we travel around the Sun at a whopping 67,000 miles per hour, but you are unaware of it because you are ON the Earth, just like inside a car, you are not aware of the speed it is going.

Sunday 14th sees the peak of the annual Geminids meteor shower.  If you look towards the east around 9pm, the bright star Procyon will be easy to spot, with planet Jupiter above it.  To the right of them, more towards the south east, the constellation of Orion will be obvious and the brightest star in the night sky, Sirius, will be poking its head above the horizon.

You should notice two bright stars just above Jupiter - these are Castor and Pollux - the "heads" of the twins in the constellation Gemini.

The radiant point of the meteor shower, where the shooting stars appear to originate from, will be just above Castor.

At its peak, the shower has been known to produce up to 120 meteors per hour, as the bits of space debris enter our atmosphere at a speed approaching 70Km per second.  This debris is normally associated with the leftovers of different comets because they melt and produce a "tail"  as they approach the Sun, on their long journey from the outer reaches of the Solar System.  The Geminids is a little unusual, in that these meteors originate from an Asteroid called Phaethon that is in a highly elliptical orbit in and out of the Asteroid Belt.  Being an asteroid, Phaethon is rocky, where your average comet is more like a dirty snowball!

So could some of these bits actually get through the atmosphere without burning up completely and crash into the Earth?  If they did, they would be called meteorites, but that's not going to happen as they are only tiny to start with.  Something the size of a grain of sand could produce a decent shooting star!

If you missed the shadow of Jupiter's moon Ganymede being cast on the planet's surface last week, there is another opportunity to witness it from 6am on the morning of Tuesday 2nd.  At that time, Jupiter will be located towards the west and you will only have a little window of opportunity before dawn.

Look towards the west again at 3am in the early hours of Thursday 4th to see a 98%-lit gibbous Moon occulting (or appearing to pass in front of) the Pleiades open cluster of stars, Messier 45.

If that's a bit too much of an unsociable hour for you, pop back outside around 7pm on the Thursday evening and look towards the east, where you will find what has then become a Full Moon rising above the horizon.  It will be just above the constellation of Taurus and heading towards the Pleiades again.  This Full Moon occurs close to perigee, when the Moon is closest to us in its orbit around the Earth, so it will appear slightly larger than at other times, when it is at apogee and furthest away from us.

If you are up early on Sunday 7th, Mercury reaches its greatest elongation and will be 20 degrees away from the rising Sun, so this is an ideal opportunity to observe it.  By 6.30am, the planet will have risen above the horizon towards the south east.

Please don't be tempted to use binoculars or a telescope to obtain a better view though, because the Sun will be appearing in the same place shortly afterwards and you mustn't risk catching even the tiniest glimpse of it in your eyepiece!

Last week I mentioned the shadows of two of Jupiter's moons, Io and Callisto, being cast on to the planet's surface.  This coming week, it is the turn of another moon, Ganymede, to do the same.  The Galilean moon's shadow can be observed between about 2am and 5am on Tuesday 25th and at 2am, you would be needing to aim your telescope towards the south east to catch it.

If at the same time, you look to the right of Jupiter and a little below it, you will be able to see the bright star, Procyon and the brightest star in the night sky, Sirius.  To the right of them, the constellation of Orion will be easy to find.

Why not have a go at spotting the Great Orion Nebula M42, located in the "sword" of Orion while you are there.  M42 is classed as an "emission" nebula where light is radiated from its gasses and it is where stars are born.  The nebula is about 1600 light years away from us, so if you observe it next week with your telescope, you will actually be seeing the nebula how it looked 1600 years ago!

If that sounds amazing and you would like to learn more, the first of my astronomy talks and star parties for this season will be taking place at the Ham Hill Visitor Centre on the evening of Friday 28th November.  There will be a one-hour talk about the night sky at 7pm and then if it is clear, we venture outside.  Places always fill quickly, so booking is essential via the Ham Hill Rangers Office on 01935 823617.

The following evening, Saturday 29th, it should be possible to observe a 65%-lit waxing gibbous Moon close to Saturn if you look towards the south west around 9pm as the pair set below the horizon.

The evening of Monday 17th sees the peak of the annual Leonids meteor shower, with the actual peak occurring at 6pm.  Around the peak, the shower can produce up to 15 shooting stars per hour - this is known as the Zenithal Hourly Rate.

However if you go outside at that time, you won't see a thing, as the constellation of Leo (where the radiant point of the shower is located, near the lion's head) will still be below the horizon.  You will need to stay up late, when the constellation appears above the eastern horizon from after midnight on the Tuesday morning.

That's close enough to the peak and as a bonus, there will be no light pollution from the Moon, which will still be well-below the horizon.  Of course you don't need a telescope to see the spectacle, but if you want to do a bit more exploring, Jupiter will be located a little above and to the right of Leo, with the constellation of Orion further to the right.

Aiming a telescope at Jupiter will often reveal its four Galilean moons, unless one of them is hidden orbiting around the other side of the planet at the time.  Try looking at Jupiter around 2am on Friday 21st to catch the shadow of two of its moons, Io and Callisto, simultaneously being cast onto the planet's surface.  At that time, Jupiter will be found towards the east again, like on the Monday night and you should be able to see all four moons - the exact same sight that Galileo witnessed back in 1610 when he first-realised that the moons were orbiting around the planet - back then, everyone thought that all heavenly bodies circled the Earth!

If you look towards the south west at 6am on Monday 10th, the constellation of Orion with its bright stars Betelgeuse and Rigel will be easy to spot.  To the left of Orion will be the brightest star in the night sky, Sirius, that has a magnitude of -1.44 while a little above Sirius, you will find another bright star called Procyon.  Procyon is actually a double star with a magnitude of +0.4

Look above Orion to see something even more obvious.....a 71%-lit waning gibbous Moon extremely close to Jupiter.  Note that the Moon is a little to the right of Jupiter.

All of these targets will be easy to spot with the naked eye, so no telescope necessary!

Look again at the same time and in the same direction the following morning, Tuesday11th and everything will appear to be in near-enough the same place, except that the Moon will now be a 60%-lit gibbous shape and it will be located to the left of Jupiter.  This is because the Moon is orbiting around us, so it appears to move completely differently to everything else in the night sky.

If you're really feeling the urge to dig out that telescope, just below the Moon, you could try to spot the Beehive open cluster of stars which is M44 in the Charles Messier catalogue, but the view is likely to be disappointing because of the light pollution created by the Moon.

Back on 7th October we had a Supermoon, so named because the Full Moon occurred close to perigee, when our natural satellite was closest to us in its orbit around the Earth.  At that point, it appeared 14% larger than when it's furthest from us, at apogee.  On Wednesday 5th November, we have the next Full Moon and once again, it will be very close to perigee.  At 7pm, the Moon will be located towards the east.

To use the correct astronomical terms, rather than saying "14% larger", the Moon will appear to have an apparent diameter of 33.3 arcminutes as opposed to 31.0 arcminutes.  What on Earth does that mean?  An arcminute is one sixtieth of a degree. An arcsecond is one sixtieth of an arcminute.  These units are used to measure very small angles in science fields.  Quite logical, but personally, I think "14% larger" is a lot easier to understand!

I didn't mention comet C/2025 A6 Lemmon last week because you probably wouldn't have been able to see it!  Remember that from a very dark location, you can resolve objects down to a magnitude of around +6.0 with the naked eye.  Binoculars or a very small telescope will enable you to spot things down to a magnitude of +8.0 and for anything fainter than that, it is serious telescope time.  The comet was predicted to have a magnitude of only around +10, but comet brightness is notoriously hard to predict and in the end, some people observed it around +4.0

The press is reporting comet 24P/Schaumasse passing through the Beehive Cluster M44 next week, but don't get too excited, because this comet will have an estimated magnitude of +14.3 so will be even dimmer!

Screenshots courtesy of Stellarium

Copyright Adrian Dening and Radio Ninesprings 2026