#85 - July 2019 Part 1

The Discussion: Paul pulls a drowning child out of a river and we
discuss the BBC’s current astronomy-themed TV programme, The
Planets. A drunken and sarcastic Jen is a good Jen and a rather
pleasant surprise from listener Lee Stevens


The News: Rounding up the astronomy news this month we have:


Taking Spitzer out “like a dog on the moor with a shotgun”

The International Astronomical Union launches a competition
to name an exoplanet in each of the countries it operates, at
nameexoworlds.iau.org

The chances of exoplanet habitability may be lower than
thought.

Two exoplanet discoveries with very good habitability
potential

NASA announces two more heliospheric missions, PUNCH &
TRACERS

The Mars Curiosity Rover says, ‘No, there are methane spikes
on Mars’.



The Sky Guide: Covering the solar system and deep sky objects on
offer to amateur astronomers in July:


Paul: The King of Planets, Jupiter, on offer all month and a
partial lunar eclipse on the night of 16th July. For the deep
sky, M10 & M12 globular clusters in Ophiuchus.


Ralph: Asteroid 18 Melpomene at opposition on 3rd July. On the
9th of July we have the Ring World, Saturn, at opposition and the
Southern Delta Aquariids peak on 28/29th July. For the deep sky,
beautiful binary targets Epsilon Lyrae and Albireo.


Main Object: The Earth’s Moon.