Looking up in 2012

jfSDAS

hi all,

here's some info on astronomical phenomena in 2012 and what useful publications there are on the market (note: I'm not affiliated with any but do know a lot of the IAS members).

Publications

Sky-High 2012 is produced by the Irish Astronomical Society and describes celestial phenomena visible from Ireland for the year ahead. Priced €5, Easons have it in their O’Connell Street Dublin branch or you will be able to order it direct from www.irishastrosoc.org

Paul Money produces an A5-sized annual called Nightscenes 2012 which is specifically geared towards observers in the UK and Ireland. The publication has a set of monthly notes and a star chart for that month along with more detailed information on other pages. At a bargain £5 it’s a valuable guide sprinkled with lovely photos taken by Paul. Available in Hodges Figgis or order from http://www.astrospace.co.uk/nightscenes/nightscenes.htm

Philips publishes the colourful Stargazing 2012 written by well known astronomy popularisers Heather Couper and Nigel Henbest. The guide retails for £6.99 (about €8.50) and is pitched at observers in the UK and Ireland. You will find it available in many bookstores around Ireland or through online sellers.

The Astronomical Calendar produced by Guy Ottewell since 1974 is a large format soft-cover publication that is packed with an incredible amount of detail. The size also allows for each page to contain Ottewell’s unique and informative diagrams. The 2012 edition of the calendar can be ordered through Universal Workshops web site http://www.universalworkshop.com/AC12.htm or Amazon.com (not Amazon UK). It’s priced at €26 including shipping from Amazon -- see http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0934546614/ref=oh_o00_s00_i00_details

Many, many other sky guides appear annually including calendars and books such as Sir Patrick Moore’s venerable Yearbook of Astronomy. This year’s is the 50th anniversary edition and contains a lot of information about celestial events over the next year along with articles by professional and amateur astronomers.

Organisations such as the British Astronomical Association (BAA) and the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (RASC) publish handbooks for members annually but these can be purchased by non-members too. See http://www.britastro.org/baa/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=501:baa-handbook&catid=81 or www.rasc.ca/handbook/

I haven’t even touched on the non-English publications, some examples of which I’ve accumulated over the years.

Finally, the Astronomical Almanac is the doyen of professional and amateur astronomers worldwide. Co-produced by H.M.’s Nautical Almanac Office and the US Naval Observatory, the detailed tables in the Almanac cover a whole range of astronomical phenomena. The accurate ephemerides are calculated with the latest adopted numerical theories. Amazon will stock the Almanac but you can generate many of the tables of data for your location with the MICA software published by Willmann-Bell -- see http://www.willbell.com/almanacs/almanac_mica.htm

All in all this is just a quick flavour of the extensive selection of sky guides available for the amateur astronomer or casual sky-watcher curious about what’s up for the year ahead.


Useful web sites for information on astronomical phenomena in 2012

Transit of Venus (June 2012)

http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/transit/venus0412.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transit_of_Venus,_2012
http://transitofvenus.nl/wp/ ... see also http://transitofvenus.nl/wp/getting-involved/eros-and-the-solar-parallax/
http://www.rasnz.org.nz/2012Transit/Venus2012.html

Eclipses

http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/OH/OH2012.html
http://eclipse2012.org.au/
http://www.aaq.org.au/cms/index.php/component/banners/click/4.html (leaflet on TSE 2012)
http://www.rasnz.org.nz/Eclipses/2012Eclipses.htm

Comets

http://www.ast.cam.ac.uk/~jds/ (BAA comet section)
http://www.aerith.net/comet/future-n.html

Meteors

http://imo.net/calendar/2012
http://meteorshowersonline.com/

Variable stars

http://www.aavso.org

The Sun

http://solarscience.msfc.nasa.gov/
www.davegradwell.com -- Dave Gradwell’s own site on solar observing
http://sungazer.net/ -- superb educational site for the amateur astronomer
http://www.petermeadows.com/indexsolar.html -- a very good site on observing the Sun
http://www.hao.ucar.edu/education/spTimeline.php -- timeline on the history of solar physics
http://www.solarcycle24.com/ -- a radio ham’s web page on the next solar cycle
http://solar-center.stanford.edu/ -- another very good introduction to solar observing

The Moon

http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/MoonPhase.php
http://www.fourmilab.ch/earthview/pacalc.html

Planet positions

http://www.nakedeyeplanets.com
http://www.britastro.org/computing/charts.html
http://dcford.org.uk/ -- superb astronomy charts and graphs

Lunar, planetary, and asteroid occultations

http://www.iota-es.de/
http://asteroidoccultation.com and http://asteroidoccultation.com/2012-Best-Events.htm and http://asteroidoccultation.com/observations/ (the last link will take you to lists of 2012 events)

Asteroids/Minor Planets

http://hea-www.harvard.edu/~fine/Astro/flybys.cgi
http://www.rasnz.org.nz/Asteroids2012.htm

Spaceflight

http://spaceflightnow.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_in_spaceflight

Data

http://asa.hmnao.com/AsA/index.html
http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/
http://www.britastro.org/computing/data.html
http://www.rasnz.org.nz/ (for southern hemisphere observers)
http://dcford.org.uk/ -- superb astronomy charts and graphs
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012 -- nothing to do with the end of the world but the myth is debunked at
www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/2012.html
http://www.geocities.jp/toshimi_taki/ -- free star atlas downloads (see menu on left side of the homepage)

http://www.springerlink.com/content/m27213/back-matter.pdf -- free download of the almanac section of an upcoming book, Celestial Delights. Read selected pages from the book at http://www.springerlink.com/content/978-1-4614-0610-5#section=985389&page=1 (I have an older edition and it is an excellent guide to the naked-eye sky).

The following web sites are a great resource for information about what’s on view in our skies during the month;

www.skymaps.com — superb charts you can download
www.jb.man.ac.uk/astronomy/nightsky/
www.guardian.co.uk/science/series/starwatch
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/nightsky/
www.nightskyobserver.com/the-sky-this-month.php -- news on astronomy and space from Gary Nugent
www.heavens-above.com — space station predictions
www.jodcast.net — monthly night sky tour for MP3 players
spaceflightnow.com — mission launches and other news
www.spaceweather.com – details of transitory events during the month as well as aurora alerts

Pat Dunne

Excellent post jfSDAS, heaps of really useful information for a newbie like myself.

Many thanks for taking the time and effort.

Mods, is there any chance you would consider posting it as a sticky?

The Hill Billy

Pat Dunne wrote: »

Mods, is there any chance you would consider posting it as a sticky?

You'd be better off PM'ing the mods. We don't necessarily get to read every post in the fora that we mod.

Pat Dunne

The Hill Billy wrote: »

You'd be better off PM'ing the mods. We don't necessarily get to read every post in the fora that we mod.

OK, thanks for your assistance. Iv'e PM'ed Redshift and slade x.