International Space Station flying over the UK...

Over the next few weeks, the International Space Station can be easily seen flying over the UK. Its solar panels are the size of a football field, allowing the space station to be easily seen from the ground as they reflect plenty of sunlight.

Times when the space station can be seen for the next week are below, or at either SpaceWeather.com, or on Heavens-Above.com. Although these times are exact for Brighton, the times will be within half a minute of these times for anywhere in the UK, or you can simply follow those links and type in a new location.

The table below gives the time and position of the International Space Station as it starts to fly over the UK, reaches the maximum height and the time when it disappears (ends).

In the table, Alt. refers to the altitude of the space craft as it flies overhead (90° is directly overhead, and 0° is the horizon); Az. is the Azimuth, or direction, of where it will be at the given time (0° being North, 90°: is East, 180° is South and 270° is West).

Date	Starts			Max. height			Ends
	Time	Alt.	Az.	Time	Alt.	Az.	Time	Alt.	Az.
29 Apr	21:41:07	10	SSW	21:43:40	26	SSE	21:44:24	23	ESE
30 Apr	22:05:51	10	SW	22:08:45	53	SSE	22:09:58	29	E
1 May	20:56:20	10	SSW	20:58:54	27	SSE	21:01:30	10	E
1 May	22:30:59	10	WSW	22:33:57	89	SSE	22:34:54	40	ENE
2 May	21:21:03	10	WSW	21:23:57	55	SSE	21:26:52	10	E
2 May	22:56:14	10	W	22:59:12	73	N	22:59:26	67	NE
3 May	21:46:08	10	WSW	21:49:07	89	N	21:52:05	10	ENE
3 May	23:21:28	10	W	23:23:44	48	WNW	23:23:44	48	WNW
4 May	20:36:08	10	WSW	20:39:03	58	SSE	20:41:59	10	E
4 May	22:11:21	10	W	22:14:19	73	N	22:16:22	18	E
5 May	21:01:12	10	W	21:04:11	87	N	21:07:08	10	E
5 May	22:36:31	10	W	22:39:30	82	N	22:40:24	41	E
6 May	21:26:22	10	W	21:29:20	73	N	21:32:17	10	E
6 May	23:01:39	10	WNW	23:04:22	61	SW	23:04:22	61	SW

Public talk: Fusion Power - the era of burning plasmas

Speaker: Professor Steven Cowley, Director of Culham Laboratory.

Date & Time: 7pm, Tuesday 4th of May, 2010

Location: Pevensey 1, theatre 1A7, University of Sussex

In a decade, the international fusion experiment ITER will start operating in the south of France. This historic experiment will generate up to 500 megawatts of fusion power and provide a proof of principle for fusion energy. Fusion has the potential to provide a large fraction of our energy for millions of years. In this talk, Steven will describe the scientific progress in fusion, from Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington's prophetic predictions in 1920 to the remarkable results that have lead to ITER, and the challenging problems that must be solved to make fusion power a commercial option.

Travel: http://www.sussex.ac.uk/aboutus/findus

Contact:s.j.m.peeters@sussex.ac.uk or 01273 678128

What a difference a day makes...

During the course of a year, as the Earth orbits the Sun, the position and timing of the Sun set changes. Below are two photographs, taken exactly a day apart and then superimposed on one another, that illustrate just how much it changes!

Remember! Never look at the sun directly, and it can result in blindness.

Goodbye Mercury... until next time!

It is now impossible to see the planet Mercury in the evening... Until it orbits around the Sun again. But I did manage to take the following photograph last Thursday, of a beautiful alignment of the Moon, Mercury and Venus.

Mercury disappearing into twilight

Mercury orbits the Sun in just 88 days, and over the next week, you can see how quickly it moves in relation to Venus.

I took the photograph to the left on Monday the 12th April, at about 9pm, and you can see Mercury and Venus side by side (Venus is the bright object; Mercury the fainter object to the right of the image just slightly lower then Venus in the evening sky). But over the next week, as Mercury orbits around the Sun, it will rapidly move away from Venus to be in line with the Sun on the 28th of April.

So, if you want to see Mercury for yourself, the next few days would be a good time to look...