#77 - November 2018 Part 1

The Discussion: Jeni’s tells us about her gig at the Cardiff Book
Talk and an upcoming talk at Usk Astronomical Society, Paul had a
hairy moment giving a talk on the Herschels only to find their
descendants in the room and we run through listeners’ emails


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


Low metallicity stars seem to harbour the rocky exoplanets

A possible satellite galaxy to Mirach’s Ghost may have been
discovered by amateur kit

Aliens may not be green but purple

A plume-like cloud of water ice over Mars

A review of the Galileo data shows no signs of cryovolcanic
plumes on Europa

The slowest rotating pulsar found

Magnetism around Cygnus A supermassive black hole gives us
some clues

Has the first exomoon been discovered?



Sky Guide: Taking a look at the astronomical objects above our
heads this month that you can enjoy with a small telescope or
binoculars.


Paul: Saturn, Mars, Uranus, Neptune & a risky greatest
elongation of Mercury on 6th November. And Comets 46P Wirtanen
and 38P Stephan-Oterma may well provide some distractions too.


Ralph: Northern Taurids meteor shower peaks on 12th November and
the Leonids peak on the 17th.


Jen: Mirach’s Ghost in Andromeda and two galactic members of the
Local Group NGC147 & NGC185.


And we finish off with a spotlight on Venus which will be its
brightest all year at the end of the month.


Q&A: Listeners’ questions via email, Facebook & Twitter
take us on a journey into the astronomy issues that have always
plagued our understanding or stretched our credulity. This month
we take a look at accepted wisdom vs the evidence:


Did a collision with the Earth create the moon? Is it fact or
still a hypothesis? Andrew Osborn in London.