Ninesprings Overnight

Midnight - 7:00am
Email
Now Playing: Jonas Brothers - Love Me To Heaven
Listen Live

    Search

    Adrian Dening's Stars Over Somerset

    Wednesday, 26 March 2025 22:41

    Monday 31st March to Sunday 6th April 2025

     

    Now we have moved forward into British Summer Time, all the times I quote on Stars Over Somerset will be local, so you can just look at your clock and not worry about converting anything.

     

    Venture outside at 9pm on Tuesday 1st April and look towards the west to spot a 16%-lit waxing crescent Moon.  Over the following couple of hours, the Moon will gradually occult (or cover-up) all the stars of the Pleiades open cluster.  The Pleiades is also known as the "Seven Sisters" because there are seven particularly bright stars within the cluster that are easy to spot with the naked eye.

    The Pleiades is about 440 light years away from us, which converts to a little over 4000 trillion Km.  The Moon is only 360,000Km away at this point in its orbit around us, so it appears to move in front of the cluster and blocks the Seven Sisters from your view.

     

    Open clusters of stars can vary from tens to thousands of stars that are all about the same age, as they were born in the same molecular cloud - I mentioned one of these "stellar nurseries" last week - the Great Orion Nebula.  You can also come across globular clusters that contain thousands to millions of stars, all kept together by their mutual gravity - a bit like a mini galaxy.  An excellent example is the Great Globular Cluster in Hercules, also known as Messier 13, that is around 22,000 light years away.

     

    If you've brought your telescope out to see the occultation, around 11pm point it towards the north east instead.  Find the constellation of Lyra with the bright star Vega and Messier 13 will be a little above and to the right of Vega.

    www.starsoversomerset.com

    Screenshots courtesy of Stellarium

    Copyright Adrian Dening and Radio Ninesprings 2025

     

    Share

    More from Community & Charity News

    • Car Free Route

      The Curry Rivel Active Travel Group has been working for several years to create a link within the village to a planned car-free route across the Somerset Levels

    • False Fire Alarms

      Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service says it’s dealing with an increase in false alarm calls.

    • Fallen Leaves

      If you have fallen leaves on your property from trees in an adjoining garden, there are rules about who is responsible for cleaning them up.

    • Free Council Car Parks?

      Somerset Council has launched a review of parking charges, which could result in an end to free parking at car parks run by the Council.

    • Dog DNA

      Avon and Somerset Police are encouraging dog owners to protect their pets from theft by entering their details into a DNA doggy database.

    • Mobile Phones in Vehicles

      Somerset County Council’s road safety team is working with partners to urge drivers to keep their fixed eyes on the road.

    • Clean up our Countryside

      Two new litter-pick stations have been installed, equipped with litter pickers and reusable bags for anyone to borrow and do their own two-minute clean-up at countryside sites across South Somerset.

    • Church Bats

      People attending church services in South Somerset are being asked to check to see if they can see any bats lodging in roof spaces.

    Today's Weather

    • Yeovil

      Light rain shower

      High: 17°C | Low: 9°C

    • Chard

      Light rain

      High: 16°C | Low: 9°C

    • Crewkerne

      Light rain

      High: 16°C | Low: 9°C

    • Somerton

      Sunny intervals

      High: 18°C | Low: 10°C

    • Wincanton

      Sunny intervals

      High: 18°C | Low: 9°C

    Recently Played