TEMPUS FUGIT = TIME FLIES.
The SUN is now in the astrological sign of TAURUS, the Bull. The ruling planet of this sign is VENUS (= APHRODITE)

SATURDAY, MAY 15, 2021.

SCARBOROUGH, NORTH YORKSHIRE, U.K.

TIME'S PACES 

'When, as a child, I laughed and wept, time crept.

When, as a youth, I dreamt and talked, time walked.

When I became a full grown man, time ran.

When, older still, I daily grew, time flew.

Soon I shall find, on travelling on, time gone.

O Christ! Wilt Thou have saved me then?

Amen.

Some lines written on a clock in the Cathedral Church of Christ and The Blessed Virgin Mary, Chester, U.K. It is attached to the clock case in the north transept of the cathedral and was written by Henry Twells (1823 - 1900).

THE CLOCK OF LIFE.

The clock of life is wound but once

And no man has the power

To tell just when the hands will stop

At late or early hour.

Now, is the only time you own,

Live, love, toil with a will.

Place no faith in "tomorrow" for

The clock may then be still.

The MAY NIGHT SKY, 2021. The planetary positions shown are correct for the end of the month. This chart shows the whole sky.

 This is an educational site (I was, and am a teacher!), which is updated daily. I invite you to download any of the material you find here. Please feel free to download any of the content, which could be of use, or of interest to you. That is what this 'SKYNOTES' website is here for, after all! 

Therefore:

Welcome to jonvran.co.uk, John's simple astronomy site where you will find information about what is happening in the night sky from the point of view of Scarborough in the United kingdom, latitude 54 deg. 17 minutes north, longitude 00 deg. 25 minutes west,(situated on the east coast, midway between London and Edinburgh, and also mainland Britain); as well as what I hope are other interesting bits and pieces, of use to everyone.

Historically, these 'Skynotes' are a direct cyber-descendent, of the paper Sky notes I prepared, for many years, by hand, for members, at each meeting of the Scarborough Astronomical Society from the moment the Society began in February, 1976. In those days, I produced all the illustrations including the star charts by hand, but now, with the advent of excellent astronomy software programs, I am able to use much better graphics, for which I must thank the many programmers who have produced these wonderful software gems. In the credits section you will find a list of these amazing sources which allow me to continue to produce my 'Skynotes', for the benefit of all. It does not seem that they have been produced continuously for over 46 years, but as the Latin inscription reminds us: tempvs fvgit ! (time flies)!. There are many 'pages' in this different version of 'Skynotes'. These are listed in the MENU at the top of the page. My hope is that you find within them something of interest, and may I, here, express my gratitude to the many people who have already visited, this, my small contribution towards the popularisation of astronomy, which has been my lifelong aim and ambition.

I record here also a special 'Thank-you' for two very special teachers. First, Miss M Walker (later Mrs Martin). I was in her form at Normanton Secondary Modern school, before transferring to Normanton Grammar School at the age of 13. She gave me a small note nook in which to write about and draw events taking place in the night sky. This was to be the tiny 'seed' which would eventually grow into these 'Skynotes'. Secondly, I owe a huge debt of gratitude to the late Senior English Master, of Normanton Grammar School, Mr. T Hewson, who made me stand up in class during 'English' on Tuesday afternoons, and read aloud, to the class, several pages of Gulliver's Travels, by Jonathan Swift, despite the difficulties I had, at that time in reading words. Thanks to him, I can now read fluently; but more importantly, he taught me to have confidence, to be able to share my love of astronomy with all to whom I have been invited to speak; and ultimately to become a teacher myself.

 It is my hope that you will enjoy these pages, and return here often to take what you will from this site, as the months change, the result of Earth's journey around the sun.

May you too, always follow safe paths, and have clear and unclouded skies, in all the many aspects of your life!

Finally, I want to say a huge 'Thank You!' to friends, collegues and some of my ex students who provide me with excellent images which they have, very kindly, given me permission to use.

 The BLOG (About Me) bit is on a separate page. You can find it, if you are interested, via the MENU above!

The Moon in late March, 2021. Image by: @FeelBetter2day . Thanks Linda

PLEASE NOTE : Because of the size of this FRONT PAGE, which resulted in the slow loading of the material on some machines; I have created another additional page. It is called 'FRONT PAGE continued' and can be reached using the MENU above.

You will find there, illustrations of Saturn and its fascinating moon ENCELADUS, thought to be a possible abode of life, as is Jupiter's satellite Europa (also to be seen on this additional page)

SKYNOTES are available. Use The MENU above to find the current month's SKYNOTES.

ASTEROIDAL OCCULTATIONS for THE CURRENT MONTH accessible via the Menu above (ASTEROIDAL EVENTS). Thanks For those Andrej !

REMOTE PLANETS. The paths of URANUS, NEPTUNE, and PLUTO, have been updated for 2021. 

POEM by Richard H Mann 'FRIENDS OF MINE' added to the ASTRONOMICAL POETRY page (see MENU above)

THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION.

For information about suitable times to see the ISS, other satellites, and interesting objects, and to download the application if you wish, go to the following admirable site:

http://heavens-above.com

INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION - Visible passes from SCARBOROUGH. UK

The TIMES shown here are UNIVERSAL TIME.

Please remember that SUMMER TIME is now in force,  so you must  ADD ONE HOUR to the times given in this table.

MAY 2021 MOONPHASES

REMEMBER ------- NEVER LOOK DIRECTLY AT THE SUN unless you have the proper astronomical filters for the purpose, NOT the one often provided by the telescope manufacturer. IT IS SAFER TO PROJECT THE SUN'S IMAGE ONTO A SCREEN.

Never look through view finders at the sun. instead look at the shadow of the instrument on a card. When the shadow is as small as it can be, it is pointing towards the sun, and you will see the safe image of the Sun on the card. NEVER LOOK DIRECTLY AT THE SUN------ IT CAN BLIND YOU !

The PLEIADES and MARS in conjunction, FEBRUARY 28, 2021. Imaged by Wakefield Astronomer Maurice Bradwell. Notice the contrasting colours of the hot blue stars and the 'Red Planet'.
You can see also that Maurice has captured the brightest areas of
the Pleiades nebulosity, especially in the vicinity of the star Merope
Thanks Maurice

THINGS TO LOOK FOR:

The times when ALGOL (Beta Persei), the famous eclipsing variable star reaches its MINIMUM brightness may be found in the monthly SKYNOTES summary for each month. The star has a page dedicated to itself also, accessible via the MENU above.

ASTRONOMICAL EVENTS due this month may be found in the MONTHLY SKYNOTES, accessible via the MENU above.

SUNRISE and SUNSET,  SCARBOROUGH.

LOCAL UK TIME (BST)

MAY 15, 2021.

RISE: 04h 56 SET: 20h 59

DAY LENGTH (SUNRISE TO SET)

16h 02m 45s

(The INCREASE is by 03m 24s)

MOONRISE and SET, SCARBOROUGH.

RISE: 06h 54   SET: 00h 05

TIDE TIMES, SCARBOROUGH, NORTH SEA

MAY 15, 2O21

LOCAL TIME (BST)

LW:   00h 53 

HW:  07h 01

LW:   13h 14

HW:  19h 23 

The images of SCARBOROUGH preceeding and following these tables are by kind permission of people who live here, and who are justifiably proud of their seaside town on the Yorkshire Coast.