Astronomy Log

It appears my February issue of The Sky at Night magazine is a bit late, as it has not arrived yet. So far a week overdue. I have only had 4 issues so far in my subscription and they usually appear on time.

I have now emailed the magazine team and also left a message on the magazine forum, where a couple of other people are also missing their issues.

I did also have to email the helpline previously when my free Sir Patrick Moore autobiography book that was offered with my subscription never turned up after four months, but about a week later the book arrived.

Delivery Update

After emailing skyatnight@servicehelpline.co.uk I have managed to get a response after about 24 hours, telling me that my subscription is up-to-date, and all issues have been sent out.  Apparently a replacement copy has been sent out and this should take 7-10 days to arrive.

8th February 2008

My magazine finally turned up today, and as I ended up logging two queries I have received two copies. The funny thing is that the next copy is out on 19th February, which is only only 11 days away.

Sir Patrick Moore looks ahead to 2 billion years when the Milky Way will collide with another galaxy, Andromeda, an event which will destroy stars and planets but will eventually create new stars, solar systems and planets.

Dr Chris Lintott steps outside to look at Andromeda, easily visible in the night sky using binoculars. It is still 2.5 million light years away, but getting closer by the day.

Shown on BBC4 @ 7.30pm on Sunday 4th November 2007

The Sky at Night - October 2007 Episode “Jodrell Bank”

1st Showing: BBC4 7th October 2007 - 19:00
2nd Showing: BBC1 8th October 2007 - 00:25
3rd Showing: BBC4 8th October 2007 - 02:10
Online Showing: BBC iPlayer for 7 days

“Jodrell Bank, Sir Patrick Moore celebrates the 50th Birthday of the raio telescope at Jodrell Bank in Cheshire, created just in time to pick up the radar signal from the satellite Sputnik.

It has been at the centre of radio astronomy ever since and has been responsible for the discover of quasars, gravitational lenses and grounbreaking research into pulsars and cosmic explosions such as supernovae.

Astronomer Bernard Lovell talks about how it came to be built, despite huge engineering and financial challenges”.

I posted last week about how you could get a free Sir Patrick Moore autobiography with 6 months of Sky at Night Magazine (see the post here), well today I took the plunge myself and ordered the magazine.

I went for the 6 month subscription for £18.95, on direct debit, but this does get me the free book and it allows me to try the magazine for 6 issues and then decide if I like it, if not then I shall just cancel my Sky at Night magazine subscription direct debit online and then perhaps try Astronomy Now for a year.

The free Sir Patrick Moore autobiography offer is still available with Magazine Group

After using the BBC iPlayer for about two weeks now, I am finding it pretty good. So far I have downloaded The Cosmos which I forgot to record as well as a BBC Drama.

I managed to miss the first showing of The Sky at Night - Black Holes and Black Magic, now I know there are repeats of The Sky at Night during the week which is good (although The Cosmos is not repeated during the week), but I can’t wait for the repeat, so tonight I downloaded The Sky at Night onto my laptop to watch tomorrow.

The BBC iPlayer is a good idea if you have missed a show on TV and it’s not repeated, the only problem is that you can only download programmes transmitted in the past 7 days, I think they could do with setting it to 14 days or longer.

Just to let you all know I managed to find a subscription to BBC Sky at Night Magazine for £18.98 for 6 months, or £38 for 1 year + FREE Patrick Moore Autobiography.

The normal cover price of BBC Sky at Night is £4.25, but this offer makes it just £3.16 an issue plus you get a free book.

The offer is with Magazine Group and this offer is limited! Find this offer here.

I am looking forward to the next “The Sky at Night” episode, which I am told by Windows Media Centre will be broadcast on the 4th August 2007 at 20:30 on BBC Four

1st Broadcast: Saturday 4th August 2007 at 20:30 on BBC4

2nd Broadcast: Monday 6th August 2007 at 01:10 on BBC1

3rd Broadcast: Saturday 11th August 2007 at 12:00 on BBC2

The sun never rises for astronomers using Robonet. Patrick Moore investigates Robonet, the robotic network of telescopes which spans the globe and links the cosmos directly to a laptop. In their world of permanent darkness these telescopes can react immediately to bangs in the night’ - the exotic cosmic phenomena such as gamma ray bursts which are over in the blink of an astronomical eye.

50th Anniversary Sky at Night Show, with focus on the present Mars missions from both, NASA and the ESA. Also featuring and interview with Prof.Steven Squyres