Manx Sky at Night

Now that the clocks have moved back, we have longer dark nights - perfect for star gazing when the skies are clear!  

Howard Parkin returns with his monthly look at our Manx skies - this time looking ahead to the month of November, explaining which planets we'll be able to see on clear nights, and when to look for a meteor shower and a eclipse.

Plus Howard has a Halloween story - and a song from William Shatner!  When he recorded 'Rocket Man' in 1978, William Shatner could not have imagined that in 2021, at the age of 90, he would actually be travelling into space!  

Howard has the latest news on commercial space flights, and information about 3 separate missions, each with a different purpose.

As the autumn skies get darker earlier, there's more scope for seeing the planets - Jupiter and Saturn will be dominating the southern sky and can be easily seen in clear conditions - and Venus is on the rise! 

On this month’s programme, Astronomer Howard Parkin looks into our Manx skies and explains what we can hope to see during the month of September, when we now have a couple of hours of darkness each night.

It will be a good time to see the spectacular Milky Way, Cassiopeia - rich in legend - should be visible, and Howard talks about the planets and other activity beginning to be visible in our autumn skies.

This month’s music break is Enya singing Everyone’s Gone To The Moon, which leads neatly into part two of the programme, when Howard brings us the latest space-related news.

For the first time, the Isle of Man features in TWO major space stories!

And speaking of stories - Howard Parkin’s long-awaited new book goes on sale in mid-September 

And you can use that same email address if you have any astronomy-related questions you'd like Howard to answer during our monthly Manx Sky at Night programme

In the fist part of the programme, Astronomer Howard Parkin looks at what we can see - weather permitting - in our Manx skies during the coming month of August.  It's the end of the noctilucent cloud season - it's also the end of the period of no official night time - so some darkness returns - which is good news for stargazers!

This month's music break is  Whole of the Moon by The Waterboys

In the second part of the programme, we catch up on space news :

Astronomer Howard Parkin explains what  we might see in the sky during the month of July - despite the fact that summertime means it's really too light to see the stars clearly.  But Venus is rising higher each night, and you might catch sight of Mercury!  And exactly what are Noctilucent Clouds?

This month's music break is the Blue Danube waltz - but what connects a Strauss composition with the world of space?

And in the second half of the programme, Howard Parkin discusses the two missions to Venus, the Chinese rover on Mars, and life on the International Space Station.  Plus -  Jeff Bezos is about to fly Blue Origins, with his brother - and an auction winner - on board. And the winning bid for 15 minutes in space? Listen  to find out! But Virgin Galactic is likely to fly soon - so, could Branson beat Bezos?

Astronomer Howard Parkin takes his regular monthly look at the Manx skies.  As night skies in June are very light, viewing opportunities are fewer - but when the skies are clear,  the Plough is our guide to finding the spring stars, including Leo and Virgo. Venus is now visible and rising higher each night.

The Lyrid Meteor Showers; Planets on show in May; the truth about supermoons - and more - as Howard Parkin looks at what we can see (weather permitting) if we go stargazing in the dark skies over our Island during the month of May.

Howard’s music choice this month is the Star Wars theme … remembering that May the 4th is Star Wars Day (yes - Howard really DID say that!!)

After the music break, Howard has his sights set on space - with news of the mission to Mars,  activity on the International Space Station, an update on the SpaceX Dragon - the reusable cargo spacecraft,  and the Orion Spacecraft.

The Manx Sky at Night with Howard Parkin is broadcast on Manx Radio on the final Sunday of each month, at 9.30pm, and is available as a podcast, shortly afterwards.

For details of astronomy classes, stargazing evenings etc., contact Howard via email: [email protected]

Astronomer Howard Parkin looks ahead to the dark skies of April, and explains what we can expect to see whenever we have good visibility over the Isle of Man in the coming weeks.  And once again there are updates on all the latest space projects, and some new stories too.  

Astronomer Howard Parkin guides us through the spectacular sights we'll see (weather permitting!) in the dark skies over the Isle of Man during March - and we catch up with all the latest space stories - with activities on Mars making headline news this month!