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October 2006

At the start of the month ESA's SMART-1 spacecraft plunged into the Moon. We caught up with one of the mission scientists to find out just what the SMART-1 mission's aims were and why it crashed. We also find out about the beginnings of the Universe and how the NASA spacecraft WMAP has helped shed some light on the first 300,000 years. The latest astronomy news includes the naming of 2003UB313, the launch of Solar-B (Hinode) to study the Sun and the latest news from the Mars Rovers and Mars Express. We also find out what you can see in the night sky and Nick gets Tim O'Brien to answer questions about coordinates and viewing the sky.

The news

In the news this month: 2003UB313 and its moon get named bu the International Astronomical Union; the world's first female space tourist returns to Earth from the International Space Station; Solar-B is launched to study the Sun; galaxies are found in the early Universe; an update on the Mars Rovers; ESA's Mars Express images the 'face on Mars'; Iceland turns off its lights to let people see the stars.

Interview with Barry Kellett

Nick Rattenbury talked to Barry Kellett (the science investigator for the D-CIXS instrument on SMART-1) about the most fuel efficient mission to the Moon. ESA's SMART-1 spacecraft took 15 months and used just 80 litres of Xenon in its ion drive. Nick finds out how the ion drive works, how SMART-1 got to the Moon and what it aimed to find out when it got there. We also find out about the impact of SMART-1 with the lunar suface on 3rd September 2006.

Interview with Dr Joanna Dunkley

Stuart Lowe talked to Joanna Dunkley (Princeton) about the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP). Joanna explains what WMAP is and what it has told us about the very early Universe from its first three years of data.

Ask an astronomer - Software and Telescopes

Tim O'Brien and Nick Rattenbury discuss how to find your way around the night sky using binoculars or a small telescope with planetarium software. They talk about telescope mounts (azimuth-elevation and equitorial) and how they relate to celestial coordinate systems.

The night sky for October

Ian Morison tells us what we can see in the night sky from northern latitudes during October 2006. It is getting darker earlier and the Milky Way can look beautiful from a dark sky location. In the west, high up in the early evening are the constellations of Cygnus and Lyra with Aquila below forming the summer triangle. Using binoculars you can see Brocchi's Cluster in the summer triangle. In the south is Pegasus from which you can star-hop to the Andromeda Galaxy (M31). Ian discusses Algol - the demon star - an eclipsing binary star system and when you can look for the dips in its brightness during October. This month isn't good for planet hunting but you can try to spot Uranus, Jupiter and even Mercury. Later in the month Saturn will be rising earlier in the night.

Show Credits

News:Hannah Thrall
Interview:Nick Rattenbury talked to Barry Kellett (Rutherford Appleton Laboratories)
Interview:Stuart Lowe interviewed Dr Joanna Dunkley (Princeton)
Ask an Astronomer:Nick Rattenbury asked Tim O'Brien your questions
Night sky this month:Ian Morison
Presenter:Stuart Lowe
Editor:Stuart Lowe
Cover Art:The tiny fluctuations in the Universe seen by WMAP
Website:Stuart Lowe
Intro/Outro Cast:Eric Busby as Brad, Amanda Fitzwater as Janet, Miles Reid as the butler and David Ault as the Narrator