Dog Stars (Dog Stars)

The nearly full Moon has Chris thinking about Mare Crisium, our neighbour's Sea of Crises. We cover why it was nearly named after Britain, how high resolution images solved a mystery created by a Soviet probe, and nearly find a link to Star Trek. A guide to Mare Crisium is here: https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/astrophotography/moon/mare-crisium/ Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter images of Luna 24 (which landed in the 70s, not the 60s or 80s as Chris says in the podcast) here: https://www.planetary.org/space-images/lroc-view-of-luna-24-on-the-moon And of the Apollo landing sites here: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LRO/news/apollo-sites.html High resolution images of wrinkle ridges are here: https://moon.nasa.gov/resources/485/wrinkle-ridge-in-mare-crisium/

It's Bin Day Eve, and Chris and Mr Max are out under clear skies, talking about the most familiar group of stars of all, the Plough. We learn about an ancient test of your eyesight, why this pattern will persist longer than most, and where to look for the home of a distant planet. Meanwhile, can Mr Max cope with being barked at, and what exactly is hiding in the hedge?

You can find out more about the Plough here: https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/advice/plough-star-pattern/ and about the Ursa Major moving group here: https://astronomy.com/magazine/2005/01/inside-the-ursa-major-moving-group

We had a small technical hitch, so there is a change in the quality towards the end of the recording - however it hasn't impacted your ability to hear Mr Max trotting about. 

Chris and Mr Max are out under autumn skies. Chris talks about the special stars of the Great Square of Pegasus, which is not Great or even a square. We wonder if the Moon illusion applies to flying horses, while Mr Max deals with the students of Oxford by choosing to stroll down the middle of the street. You can read about counting stars in the square here: https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-blogs/explore-night-bob-king/counting-stars-great-square-pegasus/ Find out about the astounding discovery of 51 Pegasi b here: https://astrobites.org/2019/10/16/the-nobel-winning-discovery-of-51-pegasi-b/ ...and don't forget to catch Mr Max on this month's @bbcstargazing Sky at Night special: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/b006mk7h/the-sky-at-night

Chris and Mr Max are pleased to see Mars in the sky, finding the perfect location for an evening walk in a local park. We talk about colour, whether the red planet has little red plants on it, and compare it to nearby Aldebaran, the brightest star in the constellation of Taurus. Aldebaran also points us to the Hyades cluster, a nearby group of young stars. Enjoy your walk - and don't pee on the car!

You can find out when Mars is visible from where you are here at  in-the-sky.org, and read about Aldebaran here: https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/advice/aldebaran/

While distracted, Chris describes the Hyades as a constellation a few times in this walk. It's a cluster, and he gets it right eventually, but Mr Max has been given extra bacon as an apology.

Mr Max and Chris are back out under surprisingly wintery skies. We check in on our old friend Betelgeuse, follow a new friend for a while with #nobarking, and talk about why you need goats in your chariot, why one star is really four, and what to spot with binoculars. You can read more about Capella here: https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/advice/star-capella And buy Chris' book here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Our-Accidental-Universe-Discovery-Asteroids/dp/1911709186 (It's out in the US in June, so you'll have to be patient if you're there!)

Mr Max is on the mini Cheddars as he and Chris make a slow wander around the local park, looking at Earth's mysterious neighbour, Venus. We find out why it's not shining quite as brightly as it does, explain why the Venera 8 mission which landed on its surface scored an own goal, and think about the prospect of penguins high in its atmosphere.

You can read about the Ashen light here: https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/space-science/ashen-light-mystery-venus-dark-side-glow/, and get a guide to the upcoming conjunction of Venus, Jupiter and the Moon here: https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/advice/venus-jupiter-neptune-moon-february-2023/

This episode is dedicated to a winter wonder, the Orion Nebula. Learn about Chris' favourite object as we hear how conditions in this nearby stellar nursery may have given us a clue to the start of life on Earth while Mr Max explores a new set of streets in search of pizza. Amazing image of the nebula from Hubble here: https://hubblesite.org/contents/media/images/2006/01/1826-Image.html But I also really love Will Gater's sketch of the nebula: https://www.willgaterastrophotography.com/sketches/e63vefwte0w2z754kbq2mmqo40yrgw

Mr Max and Chris are back out for an evening walk in the Sun, rejoicing in the nearly once-in-a-lifetime view of the aurorae that much of the world enjoyed last week. We find out what causes the Northern and Southern lights, why last week was quite so good, and what the chances are of a similar show in the near future. We respect the lights, while being very good and Not Barking at things. There are loads of great aurora pictures in the Sky at Night Flickr group: https://www.flickr.com/groups/bbcskyatnight/?rb=1 Aurorawatch is here: https://aurorawatch.lancs.ac.uk/ and for those in the US there's the NOAA site here: https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/products/aurora-viewline-tonight-and-tomorrow-night-experimental A reminder that you can buy Chris' book here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Our-Accidental-Universe-Discovery-Asteroids/dp/1911709186 (It's out in the US in June, so you'll have to be patient if you're there!)

On a cloudy damp evening in Oxford, Chris and Mr Max are braving the weather. Max is keen on a jam jar, while Chris tells us the story of world’s greatest radio astronomer, Grote Reber. Missiles and parrots also feature. The story is included in Chris’s new book, ‘Our Accidental Universe’, out in March and available from Amazon (https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/Our-Accidental-Universe-by-Chris-Lintott/9781911709183) or wherever you buy your books. (Unless you’re in the US, in which case your version, ‘Accidental Astronomy’ will be out in June)

Another cloudy night in Oxford finds Chris and Mr Max in reflective mood. Join the pair on an evening ramble, and learn about the brilliant star Arcturus, why wine is dangerous and how the Chicago World's Fair started with a lie. Also marvel at us not barking at things. Thanks and happy 40th birthday to our sponsors the Oxford Cheese company! You can read about Arcturus in Sky and Telescope here: https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/meet-arcturus-guardian/

It's Christmas, and the International Space Station will be paying us a festive visit. Mr Max is enjoying festive pavement treats, Chris tells us a Christmas story about the power of doing very little, and the Moon just about peeks through the clouds. Thanks for joining us on our walks this year! Let's Go! International Space Station predictions from https://heavens-above.com/ or https://spotthestation.nasa.gov/ The Hubble Deep Field story is here: https://esahubble.org/science/deep_fields/

The evening after the night before, Mr Max and Chris are recovering from a late night by gazing at the Moon and hunting for pizza. We talk about how to find the place where Neil Armstrong took his one small step, discuss KREEP, and explain an unexpected connection between Nicaragua and Las Vegas. #FoundABin #DontEatThat

For a guide to finding all of the Apollo landing sites on the Moon, try here: https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/advice/skills/see-apollo-landing-sites-moon/

A much needed clear night sees Mr Max and Chris distracted by the fabulous show put on by the Moon and planets in the West, as well as the usual bush escapades. The show features the Orion Cinematic Universe, and a guide to finding our namesake, Sirius, the Dog Star. No longer a harbinger of doom and disease, the brightest star in the sky is interesting for all sorts of reasons, not least its mysterious companion.

More about Sirius here: https://earthsky.org/brightest-stars/sirius-the-brightest-star/ and you can see a wonderful Hubble Space Telescope image of both Sirius A and its faithful companion here: https://sci.esa.int/web/hubble/-/38421-the-dog-star-sirius-a-and-its-white-dwarf-companion

A big thank you to everyone who sent in photos this week, and to @pgw6211 and @OxfordCheeseCo who supplied oatcakes for todays episode.

Chris and Mr Max are back pounding the sweltering streets of Oxford, enjoying a lovely view of the Moon in the twilight sky. Find out what links Mare Serenitatis - the sea of serenity - with Daft Punk, and hear about the intrepid exploration of the region by the Apollo 17 astronauts while Mr Max equally intrepidly explores a bush. It's hot, but the sky is still beautiful. You can find a map of the Mare here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01cgb3g/p01cg9rh and find detailed photos here: https://skyandtelescope.org/online-gallery/mare-serenitatis/

In a quieter walk than usual, Chris and Mr Max tell the story of Betelgeuse - the armpit of the Great One, and the star that might one day provide a spectacular supernova. They also encourage you to find the constellation of Orion, the signpost to the winter sky, enjoy the odd bit of chicken and mourn the loss of the bone they found on Tuesday.

There's a great guide to Orion here: https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/advice/skills/orion-constellation-best-targets-observe/ and you can see some spectacular pictures of Betelgeuse taken with the Very Large Telescope here: https://www.eso.org/public/news/eso2003/

Chris isn't disheartened by a sucker zone, and Mr Max is on the trail of the missing bone. Meanwhile we talk about meteors, with the first decent shower of the year due this weekend, and learn how they help astronomers study the distant Universe. Here's the Sky at Night guide to the Lyrids: https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/advice/lyrid-meteor-shower/

Mr Max and Chris are up late following a lunar landing, and enjoying a quiet, starry sky. Find out what an eagle is doing with a harp, why aliens shouldn't exist around brilliant Vega, and the ultimate fate of the Sun. Meanwhile, Mr Max is being A Good Boy despite having encountered Eric, the local bulldog. You can read more about Vega here: https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/advice/vega, and we talk about the Ring Nebula, which features in gorgeous new images from the JWST here: https://blogs.nasa.gov/webb/2023/08/21/webb-reveals-intricate-details-in-the-remains-of-a-dying-star/

Chris and Mr Max are back, enjoying dark skies, freshly cut grass and the splendours of Saturn. The pair find out why lunar conspiracy nuts should pay attention to Saturn's rings, invent a new paint colour and talk about Titan's methane rain, all while Not Barking at a lively 'guest'. Galileo's drawing of Saturn is here: https://attic.gsfc.nasa.gov/huygensgcms/Shistory.htm The glorious rings were imaged repeatedly by the Cassini probe: https://science.nasa.gov/mission/cassini/multimedia/hall-of-fame/?topics=rings You can watch the descent of the Huygens probe through Titan's orange clouds here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msiLWxDayuA ..and the image of Buzz Aldrin on the Moon mentioned in the podcast is here: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b4/Armstrong_heiligenschein.jpg

Chris and Mr Max are out on a lovely May evening, learning how to find the constellation of Virgo and its brilliant star, Spica. Find out what's special about this star, where the Milky Way is heading, and what the connection between a black hole and one of Mr Max's favourite foods is. There are some great images of Virgo galaxies here: https://esahubble.org/images/heic0815i/ and here: https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/astrophotography/galaxies/markarians-chain/ And you can see the doughnut around the giant black hole in the galaxy M87 here: https://iopscience.iop.org/journal/2041-8205/page/Focus_on_EHT

On a cold wander around Oxford, we learn about Jupiter and its fascinating moons, from volcanic Io to icy Europa. Learn how you can watch their dance around Jupiter, about the fascinating images sent back by the plucky Juno probe, and how the Great Red Spot might not be as Great as it used to be. We also discuss Mr Max's velocity, and the theme of today's walk is: Don't Eat That!

Thanks to Jules Nixon for the question that set us off today, and to those of you who have shared photos of your dogs and sky.

You can get in touch with us on
Twitter: @DogStarsPod
Mastodon: @DogStarsPod@Astrodon.Social
Email: dogstarspod@gmail.com

On a clear February night, Mr Max is heading for home after visiting Bread Corner. Meanwhile, Chris picks on his least favourite constellation, Gemini. The twins take a prominent place in the winter sky, but we find out why it disappoints Chris, how it harbours a strange, pulsing mystery, and why it's the place to keep an eye out for planets. There's a guide to Gemini from Sky at Night magazine here: https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/advice/constellation-gemini Geminga is visible in all its blobby glory in this image from ESA: https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/ESA_is_hot_on_the_trail_of_Geminga

Mr Max and Chris are finally back out under clear skies, thanks to a break in the weather (and kind sponsorship from Big Cheese in the form of the Oxford Cheese Company). Max is b..b...b...back to the (shin) bone, Chris is distracted by the Moon, but we're talking about the upcoming conjunction of the Pleiades cluster and Venus. We cover the Māori calendar, Subaru cars, and a decent helping of cosmic coincidence, all while orbiting a particularly tasty bone. You can find a lovely image of the cluster here : https://www.eso.org/public/unitedkingdom/images/b11/?lang and read about the Māori New Year traditions around Matariki here: https://teara.govt.nz/en/matariki-maori-new-year

Chris and Mr Max are up in the fields, ignoring clouds and looking forward to the Perseid meteor shower which peaks on the 11th, 12th and 13th August. The pesky Moon is out of the way, so it's a good time to sit back, relax and enjoy a celestial spectacle - as long as no remote controlled cars are around. There's also a surprising link to John Denver. You can see spectacular images of the Perseids here: https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/advice/skills/perseid-meteor-shower-how-to-see-it/ and read more about them here: https://www.popastro.com/main_spa1/meteor/perseids/

Chris and Mr Max are out under a beautifully clear winter sky, looking at Jupiter and talking about its enormous (but shrinking) red spot. New results from the Juno spacecraft (https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/jupiters-great-red-spot-is-surprisingly-deep/) teach us about this long lived storm, and provide a surprising connection to lego. Mr Max is keen for speed, and is not to be distracted by anything on this pleasingly lovely evening. Many more images from the Juno mission are available here: https://www.missionjuno.swri.edu/ Amazing views of Jupiter from a small telescope from Damian Peach, the king of planetary imaging here: https://www.damianpeach.com/jup22.htm Some gorgeous sketches in this article from my old colleague Paul Abel: https://britastro.org/2017/observers-challenge-jupiters-great-red-spot

On our first walk, Chris and Mr Max explore the Full Moon on a blustery evening. Full Moon is a wonderful time to go crater spotting, and we talk about Tycho and Copernicus, as well as the mysterious Moon illusion.

You can find out about Moon phases and much more via in-the-sky.org, and you can read more about Copernicus here: https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/astrophotography/moon/lunar-crater-copernicus/

It's a cloudy night in Oxford but that doesn't stop Chris and Mr Max from getting out. Find out who the unluckiest astronomer is, and why even the Hubble Space Telescope needs to worry about the weather sometimes, while haring around the neighbourhood at speed. Also, do go out and find Venus and Jupiter in the next couple of days - they're spectacular right now.

You can read more about Le Gentil here: https://thelaborastory.com/2014/05/18/the-unluckiest-astronomer-a-tale-for-the-modern-scientist/ (Chris got the end of the story wrong - it all ends happily every after!) and find out about Hubble's observations of a cloudy planet here: https://hubblesite.org/contents/news-releases/2016/news-2016-05.html

Chris is in Chicago, but still finds time for a walk with the adorable (and well behaved) Bowie. As the trip is to the Zooniverse team meeting, Bowie, Chris and his colleague Sam thought you'd like to know that by going to zooniverse.org you can contribute to science, by finding planets, identifying animals, sorting through old texts and more. Even if there aren't any dog projects yet.

An unusual episode of Dog Stars sees Chris and Mr Max out before sunset. The most exciting thing is the possibility of treats, but we also talk about eerie Noctilucent - night-shining - clouds, visible after sunset in the summer sky. These beautiful, mysterious apparitions are worth keeping an eye out for if the skies are clear - and we talk about the possible link to a nineteenth century volcano and the space shuttle. You can find out more about noctilucent clouds with the Sky at Night's Pete Lawrence here: https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/astrophotography/astrophoto-tips/photograph-motion-noctilucent-clouds/ and there's a beautiful image of them from the space station by Chris Hadfield https://www.universetoday.com/99606/noctilucent-clouds-imaged-by-astronaut-chris-hadfield/ [Since we got back, Chris learnt that 'the year with no summer' was due to another 19th century volcano, not Krakatoa. He apologies to Mr Max, and to you, for the error].

Chris and Mr Max are back under a starry sky. The search for the shin bone continues, a crunchy substitute is found, and we consider the summer constellation of Hercules - the hero with the flailing limbs, which contains the beautiful cluster M13. M13 was the target for the Arecibo message, which you can see here: https://www.seti.org/seti-institute/project/details/arecibo-message. There's a glorious Hubble image of the cluster here : https://esahubble.org/images/opo0840a/ (You can see the blue stragglers) and some nice images through amateur telescopes here: https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/advice/what-see-through-telescope/

Mr Max and Chris are out in blustery Oxford, looking at the ancient constellation of Leo, the lion. We find the sky's Sickle, find our place in and the galaxy and think about looking at the distant Universe - and do not bark at anyone, even when provoked. There's a nice guide to finding Leo from Bristol's 'We the Curious' here : https://www.wethecurious.org/curious-stuff/stargazing-night-sky/where-can-i-find-leo and a gorgeous picture of the Leo triplet of galaxies here: https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/astrophotography/galaxies/leo-triplet/. A recent view of our own galaxy is available here: https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/resources/285/the-milky-way-galaxy/