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November 2007

Is there intelligent life out there? In this issue we find out about the search for extra-terrestrial intelligence and ask listeners to complete our second survey. We find out if space has the ingredients necessary to make a beer and get the low down on ESO's Catch a Star competition. We also get the latest news from Megan and find out what you can see in the night sky during November from Ian.

The news - November 2007

In the news this month: outburst from Comet Holmes, direct evidence of cosmic ray production, black hole challenges theories of stellar evolution and an asteroid is named after .

Interview with Dr Jill Tarter (Center for SETI Research)

Nick talked to Jill Tarter about the search for extra-terrestrial intelligence (SETI). Jill tells us how SETI researchers are trying to find evidence for extra-terrestrial intelligence and describes the new Allen Telescope Array that has recently been completed.

Interview with Dr Douglas Pierce-Price (ESO)

Stuart talked to Douglas Pierce-Price about the Catch A Star competition with some great prizes.

Interview with Dr Andrew Walsh (James Cook University)

Stuart talked to Andrew Walsh about astrochemistry and the discovery in space of ingredients that could be used to make a beer.

The night sky for November 2007

Ian Morison tells us what we can see in the night sky from northern latitudes during November 2007. To the south in early evening moving over to the west as the night progresses is the beautiful region of the Milky Way containing both Cygnus and Lyra. Below is Aquila. The three bright stars Deneb (in Cygnus), Vega (in Lyra) and Altair (in Aquila) make up the "Summer Triangle". East of Cygnus is the great square of Pegasus - adjacent to Andromeda in which lies M31, the Andromeda Nebula. To the north lies "w" shaped Cassiopeia and Perseus. The constellation Taurus, with its two lovely clusters, the Hyades and Pleiades is rising in the east during the late evening. During the nights around the 8th of November, it is possible to see ALL the 8 planets in the solar system in one night - Venus, Saturn and Mercury before dawn, Jupiter low in the south-west at 5:30 pm, Uranus in the south-east and Neptune in the south just after 6 pm with Mars rising in the east after 10 pm. We have an comet in the sky - visible to the unaided eye! A comet, 17P Holmes, which is around 240 million km from the Earth has undergone a major outburst and at the time of recording was at magnitude 3 appearing as a new star in the constellation Perseus. During November it will move westwards towards the 1.8 magnitude star Mirphak, Alpha Persei. Every year, on November 17th and 18th, the Earth passes close to the trails of cometary debris from Comet Temple-Tuttle which produce the annual Leonid Meteor shower. This year there will be a waning crescent Moon so it will mean that the sky will be dark so allowing faint trails to be seen. It is expected that, in general, only 12 to 15 meteors are likely to be seen per hour, but they do tend to be bright so it is worth getting up to view them.

Show Credits

News:Megan Argo
Interview:Dr Jill Tarter and Nick Rattenbury
Interview:Dr Douglas Pierce-Price and Stuart Lowe
Interview:Dr Andrew Walsh and Stuart Lowe
Night sky this month:Ian Morison
Presenters:David Ault, Nick Rattenbury and Stuart Lowe
Editor:Stuart Lowe
Cover Art:The Allen Telescope Array CREDIT: Seth Shostak, SETI Institute
Segment Guest Presenter:Edward Boyce
Intro/outro script:Tom Stitzer and Dave Ault
Intro/outro voices:Tom Stitzer, David Ault and Nick Rattenbury
Website:Stuart Lowe