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Tel: 01485 540620 email: editor@townandaround.net Hunstanton Town & Around September 2017 71
Heacham & Hunstanton at Night

Terry Parish
Did you see any Perseid meteors around the who kicks a ball or pouts on television. NASA. Which is which?
12th August? I went to the North Norfolk The official reason for destroying Cassini
Astronomy Association annual Perseid is to avoid any possibility of the craft, with no
barbecue and enjoyed the food (excellent meat fuel, colliding with Saturn’s moons,
supplied by Howells) but thick clouds and a particularly Enceladus or Titan; these may
threat of rain persuaded me to leave. On return harbour primitive life. However, a craft that
to Heacham the sky was clearer if patchy and has been blasted with solar radiation for 20
I saw six meteors, one fat and bright, two with years is undoubtedly sterile so I think the
long trails and three with short ones. Not up prospect of getting really close up images and
to the 100 or so sightings in past years but thin data about Saturn’s atmosphere outweigh
cloud no doubt hid all the faint ones and this keeping the craft in a distant orbit.
thickened just after midnight when the Moon
came up.
Hedgehog aficionados: I heard one
snuffling in the hedge as I was looking up for
meteors. Undoubtedly scores rained down as
I looked for the hog which, annoyingly, did
not appear.
Last month I promised to tell you about the
Great USA solar eclipse but I can’t because
it’s on the 21st August and I am writing this
on the 13th. So, hopefully, there will be
something in October’s edition. However, did
you see the small partial eclipse of the Sun
from Heacham on the 21st last? If you did
please write in to the newsletter and I will
include your comments in the article.
Now to catch up with September: At An image of the wavemaker moon Daphnis
precisely 21.02 pm on the 22nd autumn within the rings of Saturn taken by Cassini
officially begins. It is the Autumnal Equinox in January this year. Neptune from Heacham
when the day is 12 hours long and,
consequently, so is the night. After that it gets Venus is brilliant before dawn. Look due
dark earlier and earlier, hooray. If you want to east at 6am between about the 15th and the
avoid the day slipping away go to the southern 26th and you will see Mars and Mercury too.
hemisphere where spring is starting. Mars is the red dot and swaps positions with
The ringed gas giant, Saturn, is still the Mercury as the month progresses. On the 16th
planet to catch. I caught it on 10th August these planets are very close. The crescent
when the sky appeared clear after a very Moon joins this trio of planets on the 18th and
sunny day. However, it had rained heavily the 19th, You will need a good easterly horizon so
day before so there was a lot of moisture in you may have to get up a tad early to get to
the air. The rings were easily visible but not one.
sharp in the eyepiece. This month, when the Anyway, look up on the 15th and wave A short article this month as time, too, is
sky darkens it will be found SW moving goodbye to Cassini, one of the greatest short. Just like, soon, the days will be. Hooray
further west as the hour gets later and the engineering achievements of the 20th again.
month moves on. It is unmistakable as it does Century.
not glitter like a star. A telescope, including a Other planets in the sky: Jupiter is still with
good bird spotting scope, will bring out the us but moving ever further west ever earlier
rings. It will set, vanish into the western murk, and it will be lost in the murk very early in the
about 10.30pm so no need to stay up late. month. The spacecraft Juno is still bobbing 24. Rufus, 26. Otis
Towards the end of the month, around the towards and away from that planet, protecting 18. Bismarck, 21. Errant, 23. Ascot,
24th to the 28th, Saturn is close to the fat itself from the magnetic and radiation belts 16. Allotment, 17. Elsewhere,
crescent Moon. which have proved to be even stronger than 7. Elgar, 8. Dishwasher, 13. Break cover,
Look at Saturn in the first half of the month anticipated. Jupiter will be very low in the 4. Represent, 5. Bouts, 6. Outwards,
and imagine the spacecraft Cassini zooming west as the Sun just sets. Down: 1. Ovid, 2. Top drawer, 3. Oboist,
around it and between its rings. After 1.17pm Neptune, the most distant planet is at its
on the 15th Cassini will be no more. It will closest to us this year on the 5th but will 29. Retake, 30. Totters
have been deliberately crashed into Saturn, remain a binocular object all month. Look SE 25. Throws, 27. Vicar, 28. Free agent,
imaging all the way down (the date is from the middle of the month when it will be 19. Air pistols, 20. Isle, 22. Cranmer,
certainly correct, the time is my calculation). about 20 degrees above the horizon around 12. Sparrow, 14. Rows, 15. Regardless,
Cassini has been a truly remarkable craft and 9pm. You are looking for a dim, bluey-green 9. Impromptu, 10. Togas, 11. Crusoe,
is now 20+ years old, including 7 years to dot. You will be seeing a planet 2.7 billion 1. Outdoor, 5. Bookend, Across
reach Saturn and 13 years exploring the miles from your eyes. Google: Neptune
planet, its moons and the rings. The engineers September 2017, for a sky map. Two pictures CROSSWORD SOLUTION
who designed, built and controlled it should of Neptune follow. One is a photograph I took
receive far more recognition than someone from Heacham, the other is provided by