There are two bright planets in the evening sky at the moment – Venus, visible in the west after sunset, and Jupiter, which you can see in the south-east in the evening sky. During the night, Jupiter moves to the south, and this is just about the best time this year to view the largest planet in the Solar System.

It reached its closest point to Earth for the year on 9 May, but it’ll be easy to view for another couple of months. It is fairly low down in the sky this year as seen from the northern hemisphere, so if you have rooftops or trees to the south-east, choose another location to spot it.

Take a look through binoculars and you may see its four major moons on either side. They move from night to night, so not all four might be visible when you look as one or two could be too close to the planet to be visible.

Even a small telescope will show the darker equatorial belts on the planet, and maybe even a bit of detail on them. You’ll probably need to study the planet carefully if you’re not an experienced telescope user, but don’t give up on them. With larger telescopes — say with lenses or mirrors 100 mm or more in diameter – you might even spy the Great Red Spot, a vast continuing storm in the planet’s cloud belts.

Later in the summer Mars and Saturn will be around – so come back here for more info.

A new transient object has appeared in the constellation of Perseus, with the most recent observations putting it at magnitude 6.2. This is the brightest nova-like object to appear in the northern hemisphere of the sky since 2013. The object is not far from Capella, in Auriga, which is best seen in the late evening sky.

The nova is in the same position as the variable star V392 Persei, a U Geminorum-type variable with a normal range between magnitudes 14.1 and 16.9. These close binary stars are also known as dwarf novae, and vary in brightness as material from one star falls onto the other.

This particular star is normally around magnitude 15, though it experienced an outburst to mag 13 in 1999. However, an outburst of the size shown by this star is unprecedented.

The star’s position is RA 04h 43m, Dec +47º 21′. The map below shows a more detailed view of the area, with stars shown to magnitude 8.

Latest reports

The nova appears to be declining fairly rapidly in brightness. Estimates published by the Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams on CBET 4515 give values around mag 7 around 9 pm BST on 30 April, and estimates by SPA members Tracie Heywood and Bob Steele at around 11 pm BST give 7.3 and 7.2. Tracie has provided a link to an AAVSO chart for V392 Per that gives comparison stars in the area.

8 May 

Visual reports from the AAVSO show the nova to have faded to about magnitude 8.9.

The photo below, taken at 23.30 BST on 7 May, shows the object (arrowed) with nearby stars in the area and a chart for identification of the object. The star immediately to the left of the nova is magnitude 9.3.

Gallery

SPA member Paul Sutherland took some excellent photos of April’s Lyrid meteor shower from his home in Walmer, Kent. His balcony overlooks the English Channel, and offers good skies despite an LED streetlight in full view! Here are some of his results, taken with a Fuji X-M1 camera equipped with a Samyang 12 mm lens. Exposure times were 20 seconds each shot at ISO 2000.

Venus is displaying her beauty in the evening sky this spring – but don’t leave it too late to glimpse her, as she retires by the time it gets properly dark! Read more

The spring is not usually the best time for meteors – shooting stars – but a welcome exception is the Lyrid meteor shower. These appear around the third week of April, with their peak on 22 April, and this will be a good year to view them, given clear skies, and as long as you’re prepared to wait until the early hours of the morning! Read more

The media are full of excitement about tonight’s full Moon. But will it be as spectacular as they are making out? Read more

The SPA have held an autumn weekend course about practical astronomy at Preston Montford near Shewsbury almost every year since 1977, and the 2017 event, held in November, was as popular as ever. Some 40 participants gathered on the Friday evening to hear welcoming talks from Prof Ian Morison, Robin Scagell and Pete Williamson, making his first visit to Preston Montford. Read more