Astronomy for Beginners online group

Astronomy for Beginners

This was originally an online group which ran from January until April 2021. Many of us would like to know more about our planets, the stars - and the universe. So I suggested some things we could do each week, and information about this and all the resources are shown below. Although this weekly structured part of our learning has finished, this will remain on this webpage indefinitely, and you can either follow this in your own time or just dip in to explore what interests you most. and if you have any comments or suggestions about any of this, or if you would like to become group organiser and arrange for members to meet in a group , please get in touch with me.

I also feature a section called 'Further resources and your suggestions' where I can add more resources and some topical issues in the future if you would welcome this. This is a subpage of this webpage, and so you can get to it by clicking or tapping on the arrow next to the Astronomy tab in the main menu, or just click or tap here:  Astronomy - Further resources and your suggestions

John Hunt, group organiser - website@exmouthu3a.org.uk  

These topics which can be done in any order (or just dip in!)

....and for further resources and for your suggestions, just scroll on down or click or tap here: resources and suggestions

Week 1 - Introduction, an online course and The Planets (part 1)

1. Watch the video of the week, which is the BBC programme “The Sky at Night – a Beginner’s Guide”. Click or tap here to view it - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFTw4W8A_vc&ab_channel=NikolMizer. I strongly recommend this an excellent introduction. It is just 29 minutes long, and the last 9 minutes are about telescopes which may not be of interest to you at this stage anyway. So at 20 minutes it’s a good watch. 

2. Reading:  ‘Universe: The Definitive Visual Guide’, edited by Martin Rees (the Astronomer Royal) and published by DK. This has a great deal of detail and some dazzling graphics. See https://www.amazon.co.uk/Universe-Definitive-Visual-Guide-DK/dp/0241412749. The relevant section this week is 'A short tour of the Universe (pages 8-19)

3. Look at the website of the week, which links in with the video. It’s the Sky at Night website. There is a lot of interesting stuff here – including Pete Lawrence’s guide to finding constellations in January (we will be returning to constellations later). Click or tap here - https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006mk7h

4. Learning of the week: Start a free online course – The Future Learn / Royal Observatory Greenwich course “Our Solar system and Beyond: Teaching Primary Science”. It’s a three-week course (approximately three hours study per week), and Week 1  is “Tackling Scary Science”. It is pitched at primary school teachers, and so it should provide a different and stimulating way at looking at the basics. You can enrol immediately on this free course by clicking or tapping here:  https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/primary-science

5. As a bonus, watch a second video of the week. It’s a great performance of Gustav Holst’s ‘The Planets’ by the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican 100 years after its composition. Professor Brian Cox introduces each movement (a sort of mini-lecture) against the backdrop of the very latest in stunning planetary imagery. Science meets the arts! Click or tap here to see a version of this which someone has posted on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAMwWrL-edA&ab_channel=ACFerrad 

Week 2 - The Planets (part 2)

1. Videos of the week: The BBC2 daytime programme schedules have been changed this week, and all this week Professor Brian Cox’s excellent series on ‘The Planets’ was broadcast every day in January on BBC2. This week we are concentrating on the largest planet in our solar system - Jupiter - and the programme on Wednesday is ‘The Godfather: Jupiter’. If you didn’t see it as it is broadcast, click or tap link here https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p06qj30b/the-planets-series-1-3-the-godfather-jupiter to see it on BBC iPlayer website or on the iPlayer app.  And the other four programmes in this series are on this link here https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p07922lr/episodes/player  

2. Reading of the week: ‘Our Solar System’, a free 42-page booklet published by NASA as a PDF which gives a lot of detail about the sun and all the planets. You can read this and/or download it by clicking or tapping on this link: https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/files/Solar_System_Lithograph_Set_h.pdf. As it’s a PDF, I find the best way to read it is on an iPad (download it to iBooks) or on another tablet (download to a PDF reader). Thank you Maurice for recommending this very useful reference booklet.

3. Additional reading:  ‘Universe: The Definitive Visual Guide’, edited by Martin Rees (the Astronomer Royal) and published by DK - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Universe-Definitive-Visual-Guide-DK/dp/0241412749. The relevant section this week is the planets section of 'The Solar System' (pages 98-209).

4. Online learning - The Future Learn / Royal Observatory Greenwich course “Our Solar system and Beyond: Teaching Primary Science”, a three-week course (approximately three hours study per week). Week 1 (“Tackling Scary Science”) was rather good and covered perceptions of science and explaining scientific concepts (with an excellent basic video on ‘Space Rocks’) and some trusted sources (which we will return to in the weeks ahead). We start Week 2 this week, which is about teaching astronomy, and it looks as if there will be some more interesting videos coming up. You can enrol immediately on this free course by clicking or tapping on this link here: https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/primary-science

Week 3 - The Sun

Our focus in the first two weeks has been on the planets, and I hope you have enjoyed the recommended programmes in particular. This week we turn our focus to the Sun.

1. Videos of the week on the Sun (I recommend viewing them in this order):

• The BBC Bitesize video is a great introduction to the Sun and the formation of the earth: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zt2fcj6/revision/2 

• The National Geographic 5-minute video on the Sun: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HoTK_Gqi2Q&ab_channel=NationalGeographic

• A 10-minute video on the Sun as part of a crash course in Astronomy – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b22HKFMIfWo&ab_channel=CrashCourse

• The BBC’s Sky at Night programme on ‘Here Comes the Sun’ broadcast in April 2020 on BBC iPlayer: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000hb4p 

• A visually stunning video from NASA: ‘Thermonuclear Art – The Sun in Ultra-HD’:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tmbeLTHC_0&ab_channel=NASAGoddard 

2. Readings of the week about the Sun:

• From ‘Universe: The Definitive Visual Guide’, edited by Martin Rees (the Astronomer Royal) and published by DK - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Universe-Definitive-Visual-Guide-DK/dp/0241412749. The relevant section this week is The Sun' (pages 104 -109).

• Royal Observatory Greenwich - https://www.rmg.co.uk/discover/explore/sun

• NASA - https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/solar-system/sun/overview/

• British Astronomical Association on the Sun: https://britastro.org/node/24977

• Astronomy.com: https://astronomy.com/observing/observe-the-solar-system/2010/08/the-sun

3. Online learning: The Future Learn / Royal Observatory Greenwich course “Our Solar system and Beyond: Teaching Primary Science”, a three-week course (approximately three hours study per week).

• Last week, Week 2 (‘Teaching Astronomy and Going off-curriculum’) was, I thought, excellent. There were very clear short videos on Day and Night, Phases of the Moon, Seeing the invisible, The Big Unknowns, How will the World End, and Scientists Investigate. There was also a great audio on Challenging Questions - how to answer difficult and impossible questions, with some great suggested answers!

• We start the third and final week now, which includes Real Science, Real Scientists and Real Data, plus external resources. It should be good. Is anyone else doing this at the same time as me? If not, you can enrol immediately on this free course by clicking or tapping on this link. https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/primary-science

4. Bonus video:

• The Sky at Night: the latest episode was broadcast last night: ‘Pick of the Year 2020’, and is now available to watch on BBC iPlayer: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000rgm1

Week 4 - The Moon

Having looked at the planets in the first two weeks, last week our focus was on the Sun and this week we look at the Moon. 

So here is my suggested action for Week 4:

Videos of the week on the Moon (I recommend viewing them in this order):

• The BBC Bitesize videos are a basic introduction to the Moon – https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/clips/zvw8q6f and here https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/clips/z3jd7ty.  And there’s a good BBC Ideas animation - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nzQNqer7aM&ab_channel=BBCIdeas

• There is a BBC Bitesize video on ‘Neil Armstrong: First person on the Moon' -  https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/class-clips-video/history-ks3-neil-armstrong-first-person-on-the-moon/zd3q47h. Plus a video of the lift-off -  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3ufJ7lcr08&ab_channel=BBCAmerica

• The National Geographic introductory video on the Moon -  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AviDjR9mmo&ab_channel=NationalGeographic, plus a longer video ‘Does the Moon still hold mysteries for us?’ -  https://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/short-film-showcase/0000014a-40a5-db6b-a56a-5aff66a20000

• A 10-minute video on the Moon as part of a crash course in Astronomy - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCzchPx3yF8&ab_channel=CrashCourse

• The BBC’s Sky at Night programme features a wonderful archive video of Patrick Moore talking about the Moon in 1960 - https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0142pvr. And this BBC video is about the formation of the Moon - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iz6aC2Xs9l8&ab_channel=BBCNews

Readings of the week about the Moon:

• From ‘Universe: The Definitive Visual Guide’, edited by Martin Rees (the Astronomer Royal) and published by DK - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Universe-Definitive-Visual-Guide-DK/dp/0241412749. The relevant section this week is 'The Sun' (pages 136 -149).

• Royal Observatory Greenwich has a great deal of interesting material about the Moon - https://www.rmg.co.uk/discover/explore/the-moon

• NASA knows a thing or two about the Moon! There’s an excellent website which will tell you everything you want to know about the Moon, and follow further links from there for much more detail -  https://moon.nasa.gov/about/overview/

• British Astronomical Association’s lunar section has useful information including a daily position statement and further links for more information - https://britastro.org/section_front/16

Podcasts and audio about the Moon

• In Our Time (Radio 4): The Moon - https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b016lh15

• Infinite Monkey Cage (Radio 4): Celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Apollo Moon landings -  https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0006zkr

Online learning:

• The Future Learn / Royal Observatory Greenwich course “Our Solar system and Beyond: Teaching Primary Science”, a three-week course (approximately three hours study per week). You can sign up any time, and once you have signed up you have a further two weeks to complete it (i.e. five weeks altogether). So it’s not too late to sign up now. You can enrol immediately on this free course by clicking or tapping on this link -  https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/primary-science

• Week 3 was the final week of this course if you started this at the beginning of the month. This included Real Science, Real Scientists and Real Data, plus external resources. Has anyone else been doing this?

Week 5 - Review, and new online course

We are now on to Week 5 of our Astronomy for Beginners activities. I’m aware that there has been a lot of information to absorb so far, and all of the material about the planets, the sun and the moon will stay on our webpage for you to look at in your own time.

Review of what we have learnt so far

As we have come to the end of our first month, I suggest that we have some time this week to reflect on what we have learnt over the past four weeks about the planets, the Sun and the Moon. There have been a lot of resources, and so some of us may need some time to catch up! I hope you found the suggested activity for the first four weeks useful and interesting, and as you know I have put all of these resources on this webpage so that you can refer to them in future, and they will remain there indefinitely.

Online learning: ‘Astronomy with an Online Telescope’

Having completed the Future Learn / Royal Observatory Greenwich course “Our Solar system and Beyond: Teaching Primary Science”, we can now move onto another free online course which will take us through to Easter.

The online course which I am recommending is called ‘Astronomy with an Online Telescope’ and is offered by the Open University. This sounds very exciting, and here is part of the description: “This free course, Astronomy with an online telescope, shows you how to navigate the night sky, and introduces the wide variety of objects it contains. You will develop a hands-on understanding of telescopic observations using the Open University’s own robotic telescope facility COAST sited on the island of Tenerife. Supported by your own measurements we illustrate how stars evolve, and study variable stars.”

You can see a short video and find out more about it, and sign up if you wish, from this link https://www.open.edu/openlearn/science-maths-technology/astronomy/astronomy-online-telescope/content-section-overview. The course is spread over eight weeks which will take us up to Easter, and involves about three hours of study per week. More detail on the eight modules is on this link: https://www.open.edu/openlearn/science-maths-technology/astronomy/astronomy-online-telescope/content-section-overview?active-tab=content-tab. You can start this course right now without signing-up, but if you want to be able to track your progress, earn a free Statement of Participation, and access all course quizzes and activities, you can sign up free.

So this week, I am suggesting that we do the first module of this course which is ‘Week 1: The Night Sky’: https://www.open.edu/openlearn/ocw/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=74591.

“In this first week of the course you will start to find your way around the night sky with the aid of a powerful software package called Stellarium. This is a free-to-use program that provides a detailed representation of the night sky as seen from any location in the world. Using this software you will be able to identify the patterns of the constellations, understand the apparent movement of the sky with the seasons and throughout the night, and use the system of celestial coordinates to find and specify the position of individual objects in the night sky”.

Week 6: Software, websites and apps for stargazing

This we week we are exploring some great free apps.

• Stellarium

Those of you who did the FutureLearn / Royal Greenwich Observatory online course last month will have been introduced to Stellarium in Week 3. This featured in a video which was about looking for Jupiter but covered wider aspects, and you can see this video and download some free PDF guides to Stellarium at https://www.rmg.co.uk/schools-communities/learning-resources/looking-jupiter-0. The direct link to the 3-page guide is https://www.rmg.co.uk/sites/default/files/KS4%20Looking%20for%20Jupiter.pdf. Stellarium is also the software that is recommended by the Open University in the ‘Astronomy with an online telescope’ online course (see below).

You can see the Stellarium website and download the Stellarium software to your computer free (Windows, MacOS and Linux) at http://stellarium.org/. Or you can download the app to your smartphone or tablet free from the Apple app store or Google Play app store.

• Celestia

Last month’s course also introduced us to Celestia which is a free spaceflight simulator which lets you explore space in 3D, and its website is on this link: https://celestia.space/.  An 8-page guide to the use of Celestia applied to Jupiter as an example is at https://www.rmg.co.uk/sites/default/files/import/media/pdf/KS3%20Celestia%20Navigation.pdf. There are more comprehensive guides at https://celestia.space/guides.html. You can also download this software to your computer from the Celestia website (Windows, MacOS and Linux), or it is available as an app for your smartphone or tablet from your usual app store. 

• Other recommendations of stargazing apps 

This website gives recommendations for ‘the top five free apps for stargazing’: https://star-name-registry.com/blog/item/the-top-5-free-apps-for-stargazing

·         Skyview Lite

·         Star Walk 2

·         Star Chart

·         SkySafari

·         Night Sky Lite

Have you tried any of these? Do you have any recommendations?

Online learning: ‘Astronomy with an Online Telescope’

I mentioned last week the next online course which I am recommending which is called ‘Astronomy with an Online Telescope’ and is offered by the Open University. You can see a short video and find out more about it, and sign up if you wish, at https://www.open.edu/openlearn/science-maths-technology/astronomy/astronomy-online-telescope/content-section-overview. The course is spread over eight weeks which will take us up to Easter, and involves about three hours of study per week, and you can start from Week 1 any time (some of us started last week). So if you started this last week, the next module of this course is ‘Week 2: Telescopes and visual observing’: https://www.open.edu/openlearn/ocw/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=74591.

Week 7: Asteroids

This week’s topic is all about asteroids - and how what happened 66 million years ago changed everything on earth. This subject was prompted by an excellent Exmouth u3a Zoom talk we had from Dr Daniel Field at Cambridge University at our Connect on Thursday meeting last week on the evolution of birds (see https://www.cam.ac.uk/stories/wonderchicken if you are intrigued!),

Reading

• From ‘Universe: The Definitive Visual Guide’, edited by Martin Rees (the Astronomer Royal) and published by DK - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Universe-Definitive-Visual-Guide-DK/dp/0241412749. The relevant section this week is 'Asteroids' (pages 170 -177).

• Royal Observatory, Greenwich:  https://www.rmg.co.uk/discover/explore/minor-planets-or-asteroids

• NASA SpacePlace: https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/asteroid/en/

• NASA Science – for overview, in depth, exploration and galleries: https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/asteroids-comets-and-meteors/asteroids/overview/

Videos

• Royal Observatory, Greenwich - All you need to know about asteroids in two minutes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeRQAYZkFAM&ab_channel=Sploid

• The Sky at Night – 2019 Guide to Comets and Asteroids: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JI9zmY1U_Cw&ab_channel=NikolMizer

• The Sky at Night – Expedition Asteroid: http://www.documentarymania.com/player.php?title=Expedition%20Asteroid

• BBC documentary: The Day the Dinosaurs Died: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Id-M1lerGDQ&ab_channel=AtheistBangladesh

• From the Discovery Channel: The Last Day of the Dinosaurs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oue2tDnPbjk&ab_channel=FreeDocumentary-History

Online learning: ‘Astronomy with an Online Telescope’

We are now in Week 3 of the online course ‘Astronomy with an Online Telescope’ offered by the Open University (details at https://www.open.edu/openlearn/science-maths-technology/astronomy/astronomy-online-telescope/content-section-overview). The course is spread over eight weeks which will take us up to Easter, and you can start from Week 1 any time. The Week 3 module is Stella Magnitudes: “This week you will explore how the brightness or (in astronomical terms) the magnitude of an object affects your ability to see it with your eyes, and with binoculars and telescopes. This knowledge will be really useful in planning the imaging that you will undertake next week with COAST as it will help you to determine exposure times and decide which objects to target in order to obtain your own beautiful astronomical images”: https://www.open.edu/openlearn/ocw/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=74593

Week 8: Mars

On 18 February many of us watched Perseverance, NASA's most sophisticated rover to date, landing on the surface of Mars. You can watch this and videos of subsequent news briefings plus those stunning photos on NASA TV from your computer - https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/timeline/landing/watch-online/.

We included Mars in our overview of the planets in Weeks 1 and 2, but now as it’s so topical we return to the subject of Mars in more depth:

Reading

• From ‘Universe: The Definitive Visual Guide’, edited by Martin Rees (the Astronomer Royal) and published by DK - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Universe-Definitive-Visual-Guide-DK/dp/0241412749. The relevant section this week is 'Mars' (pages 150-169).

Websites

• Royal Observatory, Greenwich: https://www.rmg.co.uk/discover/explore/planet-mars

• NASA SpacePlace: https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/all-about-mars/en/

• NASA Science – for overview, in depth, numbers and galleries: https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/mars/overview/

• Sky at Night magazine: Mars: https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/tag/mars/

• National Geographic: Why we explore Mars: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/mars-exploration-article

• What to expect from Mars in 2021: https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/why-is-mars-sometimes-bright-and-sometimes-faint

Videos

• Royal Observatory, Greenwich - 5 videos about Mars: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLb_8tQpMiE7RLmLZdqCdBHMtzIgI9XvY0

• BBC The Sky at Night: ‘Mars: Planet of Dreams’: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000lppd/the-sky-at-night-mars-planet-of-dreams

• From the BBC series the Planets, with Prof Brian Cox: ‘The Two Sisters: Earth and Mars’: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p06qj2qg/the-planets-series-1-2-the-two-sisters-earth-mars

• BBC Horizon documentary from 2017: ‘Mars: A Traveller’s Guide’: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x60zp86

• BBC ‘Horizon Guide to Mars’: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xsy8xk

• BBC ‘Horizon Special: Mission to Mars’: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x10zfoo

• Plus a video I have just discovered: Crash course in Astronomy: Mars: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-88YWx71gE&list=PL8dPuuaLjXtPAJr1ysd5yGIyiSFuh0mIL&index=16&ab_channel=CrashCourse 

Online learning: ‘Astronomy with an Online Telescope’

• We are now in Week 4 of the online course ‘Astronomy with an Online Telescope’ offered by the Open University (details on this link: https://www.open.edu/openlearn/science-maths-technology/astronomy/astronomy-online-telescope/content-section-overview). The course is spread over eight weeks which will take us up to Easter, and you can start from Week 1 any time.

• The Week 4 module is Imaging Messier objects with COAST: “This week you will take a look at the Messier catalogue – this is a collection of some of the most spectacular objects that you can see in the night sky. You will learn about the different types of objects mentioned by Alan in the video and select one of these Messier objects to be the first image that you will take with COAST.”: https://www.open.edu/openlearn/ocw/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=74595  

Week 9: The Beginning of the Universe

This week we are going right back in time, about 13.8 billion years, to look at the beginning of the universe - which happened in just a tiny fraction of a second. The Big Bang.

Reading

• For a very readable and light-hearted introduction to this subject, I recommend that you get hold of Bill Bryson’s excellent book ‘A Short History of Nearly Everything’, and read Chapter 1 – ‘How to Build a Universe’. If you don’t already have this, you can read the first chapter free on Amazon by clicking on the ‘Look Inside’ feature on this link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Short-History-Nearly-Everything-Bryson/dp/1784161853

• From ‘Universe: The Definitive Visual Guide’, edited by Martin Rees (the Astronomer Royal) and published by DK - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Universe-Definitive-Visual-Guide-DK/dp/0241412749. The relevant section this week is ‘The Beginning of the Universe’ section (pages 46-55) 

Websites

• Royal Observatory, Greenwich: https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/cosmology

• NASA SpacePlace: https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/big-bang/en/   

• NASA Science – for overview, in depth, numbers and galleries: https://science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/focus-areas/what-powered-the-big-bang 

• Space.com: https://www.space.com/25126-big-bang-theory.html

• Sky at Night magazine: https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/space-science/what-happened-during-first-seconds-of-universe/

• EarthSky.org: https://earthsky.org/space/definition-what-is-the-big-bang

• LiveScience.com: What happened before the Big Bang: https://www.livescience.com/65254-what-happened-before-big-big.html  

Videos

• National Geographic: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/origins-of-the-universe

• ‘Lost Horizons 2009’: The Big Bang Professor Jim Al Khalili delves into over 50 years of the BBC science archive to tell the story behind the emergence of one of the greatest theories of modern science, the Big Bang: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5y3gr3

• The Sky at Night’s Chris Lintott’s report for BBC Newsnight in 2014 on ‘Big bang scientist on a groundbreaking discovery’:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=um9TUFXkSsE

• BBC programme with Professor Jim Al Khalili: ‘The Beginning of the Universe’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIUPL6Adgac

• ‘The Origin of the Universe’ – Lecture from Prof Stephen Hawking: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7MO3up5bZs

Online learning: ‘Astronomy with an Online Telescope’

• • We are now in Week 5 of the online course ‘Astronomy with an Online Telescope’ offered by the Open University (details on this link: https://www.open.edu/openlearn/science-maths-technology/astronomy/astronomy-online-telescope/content-section-overview). The course is spread over eight weeks which will take us up to Easter, and you can start from Week 1 any time.

  • The Week 5 module is The Sun and the stars: “this second half of the course looks in more detail at the stars – how they work, what makes them shine and how they live out their life cycles. Over the next three weeks we will be looking at exactly what stars are, and the physics involved in producing their light and heat. You will also learn about how and why some stars vary over time and the implications of this behaviour. This week starts with our own Sun, which is in fact a typical star': https://www.open.edu/openlearn/ocw/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=76151

Week 10: Our Galaxy - The Milky Way  

This week we are focusing our our own galaxy – The Milky Way.

Reading

• From ‘Universe: The Definitive Visual Guide’, edited by Martin Rees (the Astronomer Royal) and published by DK - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Universe-Definitive-Visual-Guide-DK/dp/0241412749. The relevant section this week is ‘The Milky Way’ on pages 224 - 299.

Websites

• Royal Observatory, Greenwich: https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/what-our-closest-galaxy  

• NASA SpacePlace: https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/galaxy/en/    

• NASA: https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/resources/285/the-milky-way-galaxy/

• Spacecom: https://www.space.com/19915-milky-way-galaxy.html   

• Sky at Night magazine: https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/advice/skills/how-to-see-the-milky-way/ and see also this link https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/space-science/milky-way-runaway-stars-mystery/  

• EarthSkyorg: https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/what-is-the-milky-way-galaxy and also this link https://earthsky.org/space/does-our-sun-reside-in-a-spiral-arm-of-the-milky-way-galaxy and this link https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/earths-night-sky-milky-way-andromeda-merge

• LiveSciencecom: https://www.livescience.com/63847-facts-about-the-milky-way.html   

• National Geographic: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/milky-way-galaxy-facts-black-hole-stars-space-science

Videos

• Prof Brian Cox on ‘The Milky Way’: https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/class-clips-video/physics-ks3ks4-professor-brian-cox-what-is-the-milky-way/z68qxv4

• The Sky at Night ‘Guide to the Galaxies’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkWUd1o2ByQ&ab_channel=NikolMizer

• The Mystery of the Milky Way (from the Discovery Channel): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-PEcjE1VIo&ab_channel=Discoverychannel  

• ‘The Milky Way’ from ‘The Universe’ series on Netflix (can only be seen if you have a Netflix subscription).

Online learning: ‘Astronomy with an Online Telescope’

• We are now in Week 6 of the online course ‘Astronomy with an Online Telescope’ offered by the Open University (details on this link: https://www.open.edu/openlearn/science-maths-technology/astronomy/astronomy-online-telescope/content-section-overview). The course is spread over eight weeks, and you can start from Week 1 any time.

• The Week 6 module is Classifying the Stars: ‘This week, you will continue to explore the relationship between the colour and luminosity of stars, finding that the colour of a star depends on its temperature and that there is a correlation between temperature and luminosity. Plotting these two properties against each other produces the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram – one of the most famous diagrams in astronomy. You will explore this diagram and find out what it tells us about the lifecycles and eventual fate of the stars’. Link here: https://www.open.edu/openlearn/ocw/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=76152

Week 11: The Constellations

This week our topic is on the stars and the constellations - a group of stars that forms a particular shape in the sky and has been given a name.

Reading

• From ‘Universe: The Definitive Visual Guide’, edited by Martin Rees (the Astronomer Royal) and published by DK - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Universe-Definitive-Visual-Guide-DK/dp/0241412749. The relevant section this week is the section on the constellations on pages 344 - 425.

Websites

• Royal Observatory, Greenwich: https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/constellations   

• NASA SpacePlace: https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/constellations/en/  

• Spacecom: https://www.space.com/15722-constellations.html   

• Sky at Night magazine: Best constellations to see in the winter night sky: link here https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/advice/skills/best-winter-constellations/     

• EarthSkyorg: https://earthsky.org/constellations 

• National Geographic: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/stars 

Videos

• BBC Bitesize: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/clips/zdspyrd and https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zr8gn9q

• The Sky at Night: not specifically about the constellations but relevant nonetheless ‘Guide to the Galaxies’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkWUd1o2ByQ&ab_channel=NikolMizer and ‘Stars: A Matter of Life and Death’: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000kxjy/the-sky-at-night-stars-a-matter-of-life-and-death

• BBC Horizon programme: ‘Seeing Stars’: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x61cokf   

• ‘Constellations’ from ‘The Universe’ series on Netflix (can only be seen if you have a Netflix subscription – from £5.99 per month) - ‘Explore some of the 88 official constellations, star pictures that help organise the night sky and provide a useful tool for astronomers’.

Online learning: ‘Astronomy with an Online Telescope’

• We are now in Week 7 of the online course ‘Astronomy with an Online Telescope’ offered by the Open University (details on this link: https://www.open.edu/openlearn/science-maths-technology/astronomy/astronomy-online-telescope/content-section-overview). The course is spread over eight weeks, and you can start from Week 1 any time.

• The Week 7 module is Variable Stars: ‘This week we will look at how stars evolve once their main sequence lifetime comes to an end, and in particular at the instability strip on the HR diagram and the reasons why some stars become variable at certain stages in their lifetime’: Link here: https://www.open.edu/openlearn/ocw/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=76344  

Week 12: Black Holes (updated on 19 November 2025)

This week, by popular demand our topic is Black Holes - ‘a compact region of space, surrounding a collapsed mass, within which gravity is so powerful that no material object, light, or any other kind of radiation can escape to the outside Universe’.

Reading

• From ‘Universe: The Definitive Visual Guide’, edited by Martin Rees (the Astronomer Royal) and published by DK - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Universe-Definitive-Visual-Guide-DK/dp/0241412749. The relevant section this week is on pages 24-27 and 272-273 .

• An edition of Steve Fletcher’s wonderful weekly newsletter (Events Since Last Time, No. 75) has a section on Black Holes (pages 13 to 24). He has kindly agreed for us to see this. Thank you, Steve! Just click or tap on this link

• Book: Black Holes: The Key to Understanding the Universe, by Brian Cox and Jeff Forshaw - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Black-Holes-Key-Understanding-Universe-ebook/dp/B09W4DQ441/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0 (you can read a sample free)

Websites

• Sky at Night magazine: See https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/tags/black-holes and specifically:

  • https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/space-science/black-hole  

  • https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/space-science/questions-about-black-holes-answered

  • https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/space-science/how-do-black-holes-form/ 

  • https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/space-science/supermassive-black-hole-imaged-for-first-time/

• Royal Observatory, Greenwich: https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/how-are-black-holes-formed

• NASA: https://www.nasa.gov/vision/universe/starsgalaxies/black_hole_description.html

• Spacecom: https://www.space.com/15421-black-holes-facts-formation-discovery-sdcmp.html

• EarthSkyorg: https://earthsky.org/space/definition-what-are-black-holes and here https://earthsky.org/space/nobel-prize-3-astrophysicists-black-holess-penrose-genzel-ghez  and here https://earthsky.org/space/map-25000-supermassive-black-holes-video

• National Geographic: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/black-holes

Videos

• BBC iPlayer: Universe, episode 4, Black Holes - Heart of Darkness - Professor Brian Cox continues his epic exploration of the universe with a journey into darkness - https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p09ybycz/universe-series-1-4-black-holes-heart-of-darkness 

• Brian Cox on how black holes could unlock the mysteries of our universe - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGsbEd6w7PI 

• Brian Cox: Why black holes could hold the secret to time and space - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZX_c6zfJ2w (this is a much longer and more detailed version) 

• BBC Bitesize: link here https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/class-clips-video/physics-ks3--gcse-what-are-black-holes/z4pyrj6 and here  https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/znvhjhv/revision/3 

• BBC Horizon programme (from 2010): ‘Whose Afraid of a Big Black Hole?’: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x621wmg

• Night Sky News November 2024: The Crisis in Cosmology solved with black holes as dark energy?! - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IE4jD1WhG4 (from 15.52 minutes in)

• Black Holes - The Edge of What We Know - Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/title/81343342

Podcasts

• BBC In our Time: ‘Black Holes’: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00547f4

• BBC Infinite Monkey Cage: ‘Black Holes’: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p08fq7t3  and https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m00199dg 

• The Guardian: ‘Journey into a Black Hole’: Part 1 at https://www.theguardian.com/science/audio/2020/oct/27/journey-into-a-black-hole-part-1-podcast and Part 2 at https://www.theguardian.com/science/audio/2020/oct/29/journey-into-a-black-hole-part-2-podcast

Online learning: ‘Astronomy with an Online Telescope’

• We are now in Week 8, the final week, of the online course ‘Astronomy with an Online Telescope’ offered by the Open University (details on this link: https://www.open.edu/openlearn/science-maths-technology/astronomy/astronomy-online-telescope/content-section-overview). The course is spread over eight weeks, and you can start from Week 1 any time.

• The Week 8 module is ‘Building a Light Curve’: ‘This week you will retrieve the images acquired by COAST and use the information from these to select the best exposure when requesting further images. You will learn how to identify your target star in your images and how to measure the brightness using an online aperture photometry tool. Provided the weather is clear you may be able to get images from several different nights and start to see the variation in brightness in your own observations.’ Plus there’s an opportunity to collaborate with others on this. Link here: https://www.open.edu/openlearn/ocw/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=76564

Week 13: The Future of the Universe

This week, it was suggested that we should look to the future, and so our topic is The Future of the Universe – the Big Crunch, the Big Chill, the Big Rip and Dark Energy. But please don’t get too upset by this, as this will not be happening for some considerable time!

Reading

• From ‘Universe: The Definitive Visual Guide’, edited by Martin Rees (the Astronomer Royal) and published by DK - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Universe-Definitive-Visual-Guide-DK/dp/0241412749. The relevant section this week is on pages 58-59.

• Book : Katie Mack: ‘The End of Everything’: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/311/311522/the-end-of-everything/9780241372333.html and https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/024137233X?linkCode=osi&tag=bbcsan-amazon-monetizer-21, and an audio interview with her is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAnLtLz5EWI&ab_channel=DavidBarrKirtley

Websites

• NASA: Uncovering the Universe’s fate: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2019/nasa-s-wfirst-will-help-uncover-universe-s-fate

• Spacecom: Supernova – Universe’s end: https://www.space.com/scientist-calculates-last-supernova-universe-end.html

• Sky at Night magazine: The End of Everything: https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/space-science/end-of-everything-universe-interview-astrophysicist-dr-katie-mack/ and ‘Dark Matter – the ‘missing universe’: https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/space-science/dark-matter-the-missing-universe/

• EarthSkyorg: What is Dark Energy: https://earthsky.org/space/definition-what-is-dark-energy

• National Geographic: Last explosions before the universe goes dark: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/last-explosions-before-universe-goes-dark-white-dwarf-heat-death

Videos

• Royal Observatory, Greenwich: https://www.rmg.co.uk/schools-communities/teacher-resources/how-will-universe-end

• The Sky at Night: Stars – a matter of life and death: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000kxjy/the-sky-at-night-stars-a-matter-of-life-and-death

• National Geographic video: ‘The End of the Universe’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhgrMi6indE&ab_channel=ADVEXONTV

• Royal Institution: The End of the Universe with Geraint Lewis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IF4UhElRUFg&ab_channel=TheRoyalInstitution

• ‘Timelapse of the future: A Journey to the End of Time’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uD4izuDMUQA&ab_channel=melodysheep

• Imperial College: ‘Dark Energy: Dark Matter: Dark Gravity’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmbgVtA0IGw&ab_channel=ImperialCollegeLondon

• ‘Cosmic Apocalypse’ from ‘The Universe’ series on Netflix (can only be seen if you have a Netflix subscription – from £5.99 per month) - ‘Harsh realities are revealed about the future of our Universe, including the certainty that space, matter and time will one day cease to exist’

• Also ‘Dark Matter’ from ‘The Universe series on Netflix: ’Dark energy is rapidly pushing apart our universe’.

Podcasts

• BBC In our Time: ‘Dark Energy: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p003k9g5    

• BBC Infinite Monkey Cage: ‘The End of the Universe: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p08dy6ym

Online learning: ‘Astronomy with an Online Telescope’

• Although we have reached Week 8 (the final week) of this online course, you can go at your own pace – and you can start this at any time. It’s offered by the Open University (details on this link: https://www.open.edu/openlearn/science-maths-technology/astronomy/astronomy-online-telescope/content-section-overview).

Week 14: The Future - Space exploration and space flight

What’s happening in the sky at night

• The BBC Sky at Night website is always worth keeping a watch on for any older programmes you haven’t seen or any new programmes that are broadcast in the future: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006mk7h. On that website is a brief star guide on what is happing in the sky each month.

• It is also worth taking a look at the BBC Sky at Night magazine. This gives details of what is happening in the sky on most nights for each month, together with monthly highlights for the Moon, the planets, comets and asteroids, plus a star map for the month. I have just discovered that you can see each edition online free (plus 200 other magazines!) via the Libby app if you are a member of Devon Libraries This may also be available through other public libraries in other parts of the country. Further information is on this link https://www.devonlibraries.org.uk/web/arena/emagazines and https://devon.rbdigitalglobal.com/search/emagazine?page-index=0&page-size=60

Here is my suggested action for our final week on the topic of ‘The Future – space exploration and space flight’

Reading

• From ‘Universe: The Definitive Visual Guide’, edited by Martin Rees (the Astronomer Royal) and published by DK - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Universe-Definitive-Visual-Guide-DK/dp/0241412749. The relevant section this week is on pages 90-95.

• Wikipedia: Topics on Space Exploration: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_exploration and Space Flight: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaceflight 

Websites

• NASA: NASA spaceflight website for all the latest news (not just NASA’s own space flights): https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/

• NASA Solar System exploration: https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/

• Sky at Night Magazine: Biggest space missions to look out for: https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/space-missions/biggest-missions/

• Spacecom: Latest news: https://www.space.com/

• EarthSkyorg: Latest news: https://earthsky.org/

Video

• Space Exploration: The Age of Hubble: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgC4C4VHhWY&ab_channel=FreeDocumentary

• CNBC News: Space tourism: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/09/26/space-tourism-how-spacex-virgin-galactic-blue-origin-axiom-compete.html  

Podcasts

• NASA podcasts: https://www.nasa.gov/podcasts

• BBC programme on ‘Space Flight’: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p07grl62

• Plus other episodes in the BBC World Service series on ‘Space’:  https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03bv899/episodes/downloads

• BBC Infinite Monkey Cage: ‘Space Exploration’: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01nxh2n

• BBC Infinite Monkey Cage: ‘Space Tourism’: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b036k5sm

• Also the BBC Sounds Space Collection is on this link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03bhszp

Further resources and your suggestions

This section is now on its own webpage - click or tap here: Astronomy - Further resources and your suggestions