Science | The Guardian

Despite what we hear from the media, the reasons so many are gathering are complex and variousBritain is in mourning. This is affirmed every time we turn on the television and see the huge numbers of people watching royal processions, or willing to queue for long hours to file past the Queen’s casket. They have gathered, we are told, “to pay their respects”. They are there “to thank the Queen”. Above all, they are “united in grief”. In this way, a picture is built up of a homogenous national community defined by its love of monarch and monarchy. But things are not that simple.I am part of a team of social psychologists who have long been interested in collective behaviour, and we are investigating the crowds at the various ceremonial events in Edinburgh and London. We are interested in why people gather, how they experience these gatherings and the consequences – both for the individual and for society – of their presence. The first thing we have learned is that any attempt to reduce crowd participation to a single, universal motivation is a distortion. People come along for many different and mixed reasons, not all of which involve allegiance to the monarchy.Stephen Reicher is a professor of psychology at the University of St Andrews, a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and an authority on crowd psychology Continue reading...

Footage circulating on social media purports to show a fireball crossing the sky over Glasgow. Astronomers say the fireball crossed over Scotland and Northern Ireland on Wednesday evening. The UK's Meteor Network say they have received more than 800 reports of sightings and now believe it was 'space debris'

According to the World Health Organisation, air pollution causes 7 million premature deaths every year. We’ve known for a long time that air pollution causes lots of health problems, including lung cancer – but exactly how the two were linked was somewhat of mystery. Last week, a team from the Francis Crick Institute and University College London presented findings that shed new light on the role between air pollution and lung cancer. And, in doing so, could make us rethink how cancer develops.Madeleine Finlay speaks to the Guardian’s science correspondent Hannah Devlin about how scientists uncovered this link – and what it might mean for the future of the field.Archive: Channel 4 News, BBC News, European Society for Medical Oncology Continue reading...

Transition to blue light radiation across Europe increases suppression of sleep hormone melatonin, say scientistsBlue light from artificial sources is on the rise, which may have negative consequences for human health and the wider environment, according to a study.Academics at the University of Exeter have identified a shift in the kind of lighting technologies European countries are using at night to brighten streets and buildings. Using images produced by the International Space Station (ISS), they have found that the orange-coloured emissions from older sodium lights are rapidly being replaced by white-coloured emissions produced by LEDs. Continue reading...

Scientists at Georgia Tech say press-on innovation opens opportunities for medical and cosmetic usePainless, bloodless tattoos have been created by scientists, who say the technique could have medical and cosmetic applications.The technique, which can be self-administered, uses microneedles to imprint a design into the skin without causing pain or bleeding. Initial applications are likely to be medical – but the team behind the innovation hope that it could also be used in tattoo parlours to provide a more comfortable option. Continue reading...

Trial finds supplements could slow decline by 60% but Alzheimer’s and dementia experts caution larger studies neededA daily multivitamin and mineral supplement may reduce cognitive decline in older people, according to a US study that is the first to demonstrate they may benefit ageing brain function.The trial, involving more than 2,200 over-65s, suggests that daily supplements may slow cognitive decline by about 60%, or nearly two years, with the most substantial effects seen in older people with a history of cardiovascular disease. Continue reading...

Shrimp-like Cystisoma are protected from predators by being virtually invisible – thanks to unique retina and a body that casts almost no shadowThe inky depths of the ocean’s twilight zone are home to fist-sized shrimp-like crustaceans with ridiculously big eyes. Most of Cystisoma’s head is taken up by its eyes – all the better for seeing in the dark. “The bigger you make your eye, the more likely you are to catch any photons that are out there,” says Karen Osborn, research scientist at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC.A big challenge for animals living in deep midwater, in Cystisoma’s case between 200 and 900 metres down, is to see while not being seen by predators. “It’s basically like playing hide and seek on a football field,” says Osborn. “There’s nothing to duck behind.”

Scheme gets under way as data suggests Environment Agency’s own monitoring leaves rivers unprotectedCitizen scientists are being trained as the best hope to protect rivers from pollution and over-abstraction as data suggests the Environment Agency’s new monitoring programme leaves waterways unprotected.A £7m programme to set up citizen science testing in 10 river catchments across England is under way in an attempt to standardise the way volunteers carry out the monitoring. Continue reading...

Researchers call on governments to implement national obesity strategy to help stem further rises in preventable cancers

Walking around, then sitting down and holding baby for up to eight minutes seems to be the most effective techniqueRather than stumbling back to bed in the early hours after finally soothing their crying baby, sleep-deprived parents may want to peruse the latest scientific literature on the transport of altricial mammals.In an attempt to help those rendered numb by sleep loss, researchers have conducted a series of experiments to find out which approach to wailing infants settles them the best. Continue reading...

Governments and businesses failing to change fast enough, says United in Science report, as weather gets increasingly extremeThe world’s chances of avoiding the worst ravages of climate breakdown are diminishing rapidly, as we enter “uncharted territory of destruction” through our failure to cut greenhouse gas emissions and take the actions needed to stave off catastrophe, leading scientists have said.Despite intensifying warnings in recent years, governments and businesses have not been changing fast enough, according to the United in Science report published on Tuesday. The consequences are already being seen in increasingly extreme weather around the world, and we are in danger of provoking “tipping points” in the climate system that will mean more rapid and in some cases irreversible shifts.The past seven years were the hottest on record and there is a 48% chance during at least one year in the next five that the annual mean temperature will temporarily be 1.5C higher than the 1850-1900 average.Global mean temperatures are forecast to be between 1.1C and 1.7C higher than pre-industrial levels from 2022-2026, and there is a 93% probability that at least one year in the next five will be warmer than the hottest year on record, 2016.Dips in carbon dioxide emissions during the lockdowns associated with the Covid-19 pandemic were temporary, and carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels returned to pre-pandemic levels last year.National pledges on greenhouse gas emissions are insufficient to hold global heating to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.Climate-related disasters are causing $200m in economic losses a day.Nearly half the planet – 3.3 to 3.6 billion people – are living in areas highly vulnerable to the impacts of the climate crisis, but fewer than half of countries have early warning systems for extreme weather.As global heating increases, “tipping points” in the climate system cannot be ruled out. These include the drying out of the Amazon rainforest, the melting of the ice caps and the weakening of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation, known as the Gulf stream.By the 2050s, more than 1.6 billion people living in 97 cities will be regularly exposed to three-month average temperatures reaching at least 35C. Continue reading...

Two patients take sharply differing approaches as they attempt to beat life-threatening tumours on their own termsReleased to coincide with World Cancer Research day, Thomas Meadmore’s tricky yet involving documentary follows two Britons going rogue in search of a better quality of treatment. Grant Branton, from Brighton, is a sometime biologist reeling after early tests spotted tumours in his bowels while missing shadows in his bones; Surinder Paul, landed with breast cancer, hopes to avoid a mastectomy by leaning hard into oils, juicing and cravatted energy healers – what oncological voice-of-reason Rob Glynne-Jones calls “quackery”. Both have taken their lives into their own hands, which notionally affords them greater control but also obliges them to take critical decisions – even fashion their own suppositories – on ever-dwindling energy reserves.

As we collectively mark the loss of the longest-serving monarch in British history and all that she represented on a national scale, many people are feeling a much more personal impact. The Guardian’s science editor, Ian Sample, talks to Prof Michael Cholbi about what grief is, how losing a public figure can have such a profound impact on our lives,​​ and why there’s value in grievingArchive: Channel 4 News, BBC News, Sky News Continue reading...

New Shepard rocket fails shortly after launch, but uncrewed capsule jettisons successfullyAn uncrewed rocket belonging to Jeff Bezos’s space company, Blue Origin, failed shortly after launch in Texas on Monday morning, a potential setback for the Amazon founder’s wider ambitions of sending humans into orbit.The malfunction of the New Shepard booster, a type of rocket that is similar to the one Blue Origin has used this year to send three crews of up to six people on suborbital flights, came 1min 4sec after launch and just as the vehicle was reaching its maximum dynamic pressure, known as “max q”. Continue reading...

Dr Susan Howard says psychologists in the 1980s were inspired to challenge the system when treating patients with mental health problemsAs a semi-retired clinical psychologist, I find it depressing that Dr Sanah Ahsan’s article (I’m a psychologist – and I believe we’ve been told devastating lies about mental health, 6 September) should sound so revolutionary. When I trained in the early 1980s, a module entitled “community psychology” was part of the curriculum and addressed the very issues she raises. Like Ahsan, some of us were inspired to challenge the system alongside treating our patients’ mental distress. Unsurprisingly, the module didn’t survive the rise of individualism characterised by the Thatcher years.When, 20 years later, I became a trainer of clinical psychologists, I was surprised and disappointed by how few of my younger colleagues engaged with the impact that structural, socio-economic issues had on our patients’ mental health. The role of clinical psychology had become one of picking up the pieces. Thus we inadvertently reinforced the idea that mental disturbance was the individual’s responsibility. Constraints in our role, with an increasing emphasis on therapeutic work, made it almost impossible to address how structural issues could be ameliorated – for example, by bringing a psychological perspective to community efforts aimed at effecting change. Continue reading...

Research shows Sydney residents devising increasingly sophisticated ways to keep highly intelligent but ‘bloody annoying’ birds out of household waste

This week the brightest objects in the constellation are the planet Saturn and the star Deneb AlgediIt is a great time of the year to search out Capricornus, the sea goat. This constellation was identified a few thousand years BC in Babylonian astronomy as the goat-fish, a hybrid creature with the body and head of a goat and the tail of a fish. In Greek mythology, the constellation is often associated with either Amalthea, who suckled Zeus, or Pan, the shepherd god.This week, the brightest object by far in the constellation is the planet Saturn. The chart shows the image looking south from London at midnight as 12 September becomes 13 September. Compare the brightness of Saturn with the brightest star in Capricornus: Deneb Algedi, just off to the east. Then carefully trace out the constellation. Continue reading...

‘Internet commentary personnel’ told to deluge social media with thoughts on anything from cooking to their personal mood

Doctors hail new era for cancer screening as major research shows effectiveness of Galleri testDoctors have told health services to prepare for a new era of cancer screening after a study found a simple blood test could spot multiple cancer types in patients before they develop clear symptoms.The Pathfinder study offered the blood test to more than 6,600 adults aged 50 and over, and detected dozens of new cases of disease. Many cancers were at an early stage and nearly three-quarters were forms not routinely screened for. Continue reading...

The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific and philosophical conceptsIf every person in the world isolated from each other for a certain period of time, say a month, would all transmissible diseases disappear? Lily PaulsPost your answers (and new questions) below or send them to nq@theguardian.com. A selection will be published next Sunday. Continue reading...

Experts agree on importance of traditions seen after Queen’s death in enabling bereaved to process lossThe death of Queen Elizabeth II has plunged the royal household and much of the country into a period of mourning, with black armbands and flags at half mast. While such traditions may seem far removed from everyday experiences of bereavement, experts say rituals can help us cope with death.“Mourning plays an important role in bereavement because it’s a way of externalising the emotions and thoughts of grief and, through that, incorporating the loss into your life and beginning to heal,” said Dr Lucy Selman, an associate professor in end-of-life care at the University of Bristol and the founding director of Good Grief Festival. Continue reading...

When Christie Watson put on an HRT patch she found herself thinking about sex, all the time. What was going on?I began using HRT patches at 42, after a seemingly catastrophic breakdown that resulted in my climbing into a Sainsbury’s fish-finger freezer. My mental health was horrendous. I felt totally outside my own skin, dissociated, and that I’d lost my sense of self. I told a therapist that I related to Mrs Dalloway, a chronically depressed – and arguably narcissistic and bourgeois – fictional Virginia Woolf character. She suggested that these feelings could all be down to perimenopause, a term I’d only heard of vaguely, in passing, even as a former nurse. Perimenopause, she told me, can be an extremely rocky road, lasting up to a decade before menopause itself.My GP didn’t bat an eyelid at my bizarre symptoms, but offered me low-dose HRT patches and described the side-effects as minimal in most people. Some women experience breast tenderness or feeling sick, or headaches but, she said, this usually settled down. I hoped the patches would lead to fewer perimenopausal symptoms and a balancing out of my mood, some comfort and at least some realism. Continue reading...

Guardian Australia picture editor Carly Earl explains the dos and don’ts of photographing the moon

This week, Yvonne Roberts on the importance of small talk (1m34s), Emine Saner meets Nickelodeon actor Jennette McCurdy to discuss her explosive new memoir (7m15s), and Hadley Freeman has an out of body experience with shoe designer-turned-psychedelic-guide Patrick Cox (22m56s) Continue reading...

She may not have been part of our immediate family but many of us feel that, during her 70-year reign, we have ‘grown up’ with her

Weeks after installing a network of meteor-detecting cameras, the members of Fireballs Aotearoa were granted their dearest wish: a rock that fell to EarthIt looks like a scene from a crime show as a search party in hi-vis jackets walks in formation, heads down, searching the brush for clues. But this group is not looking for evidence of a crime, they are after something harder to find: celestial debris from the formation of our solar system.On 28 August, just before 11pm, an immense bright light was seen streaking across New Zealand’s southern sky, followed by a sonic boom. The spectacle, like a brushstroke of white paint on black ink, was captured by 20 hi-tech cameras across Southland set up for this exact event – a meteor entering the atmosphere above, and hopefully landing in, New Zealand. Continue reading...

Student’s find provides new evidence region may be one of first places early humans settled outside AfricaArchaeologists in Georgia have found a 1.8m-year-old tooth belonging to an early species of human that they say cements the region as the home of one of the earliest prehistoric human settlements in Europe, and possibly anywhere outside Africa.The tooth was discovered near the village of Orozmani, which lies about 60 miles south-west of the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, and is near Dmanisi, where human skulls dated to 1.8m years old were found in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Continue reading...

A dozen women to receive womb transplants as part of clinical trials at Royal Women’s hospital in Sydney

Giant ice sheets, ocean currents and permafrost regions may already have passed point of irreversible changeThe climate crisis has driven the world to the brink of multiple “disastrous” tipping points, according to a major study.It shows five dangerous tipping points may already have been passed due to the 1.1C of global heating caused by humanity to date. Continue reading...

Results believed to be first compelling evidence that modern humans were cognitively better than NeanderthalsNeanderthals have long been portrayed as our dim-witted, thuggish cousins. Now groundbreaking research has – while not confirmed the stereotype – revealed striking differences in the brain development of modern humans and Neanderthals.The study involved inserting a Neanderthal brain gene into mice, ferrets and “mini brain” structures called organoids, grown in the lab from human stem cells. The experiments revealed that the Neanderthal version of the gene was linked to slower creation of neurons in the brain’s cortex during development, which scientists said could explain superior cognitive abilities in modern humans. Continue reading...

Readers and healthcare professionals respond to Dr Sanah Ahsan’s article which argued that for too long, the dominant mental health narrative has located problems in individuals, and not in social injustice or inequalityLike Dr Sanah Ahsan (I’m a psychologist – and I believe we’ve been told devastating lies about mental health, 6 September), I too work as a clinical psychologist and I see every day the impact of inequality, social injustice and abuse of power on individuals’ mental health (and by association, the mental health of their children, partners, colleagues and acquaintances).For too long, the dominant narrative locates problems in individuals, medicalises them and leaves people feeling helpless, ill and stigmatised. It is as though they are defective, and not positive and resilient enough. This lie affects people from all walks of life, but most severely those who are already disfranchised through poverty and inequality. Continue reading...

Eggs from chickens kept indoors due to bird flu outbreaks could still be labelled free range, raising concerns among UK producersEggs produced in the EU could continue to be labelled as “free range”, even if the birds are not allowed outside, under new proposals.The European Commission has put forward plans for scrapping the time limit on the marketing of eggs as free range if chickens are forced to be housed to reduce the risk of outbreaks of bird flu. Continue reading...

According to a recent study, more than 14% of the world’s population probably has, or has had, tick-borne Lyme disease – an infection that can cause long and debilitating symptoms. That number is set to rise too, as climate and environment changes continue to increase tick populations and distribution.To help prevent some of these cases, pharmaceutical company Pfizer and biotech company Valneva will soon be testing a new vaccine against Lyme disease with 6,000 volunteers across Europe and in the US.Madeleine Finlay speaks to Dr Eoin Healy about what Lyme disease is and how the vaccine works, and hears from a special guest about their own experience of getting ill with the disease.Archive: BBC News, TODAY Continue reading...

This ocean warming controls the rate of climate change, and the effects such as sea level rise are irreversible on human timescalesOver the last 50 years, the oceans have been working in overdrive to slow global warming, absorbing about 40% of our carbon dioxide emissions, and more than 90% of the excess heat trapped in the atmosphere.But as our research published today in Nature Communications has found, some oceans work harder than others. Continue reading...

Research involving 103,000 French adults shows sweeteners ‘should not be considered a healthy and safe alternative to sugar’Artificial sweeteners are linked to an increased risk of heart disease and “should not be considered a healthy and safe alternative to sugar”, according to researchers.The harmful effects of added sugars have been long established for multiple chronic diseases, leading food companies to use artificial sweeteners instead in a wide range of food and drinks consumed daily by millions of people worldwide. Continue reading...

The protein, named Maia after the Greek goddess of motherhood, appears to be involved in the fusion of sperm and eggsA fundamental step in human fertilisation has been discovered by researchers who say it may offer new insights into unexplained infertility.Experts have identified a new protein that is found on the surface of human eggs. Nicknamed Maia, after the Greek goddess of motherhood, the protein appears to be involved in the fusion of sperm and eggs. Continue reading...

High levels of distress before coronavirus infection raises risk of long Covid, say Harvard researchersPeople who are highly stressed, anxious, lonely or depressed before catching coronavirus are more prone to long Covid than those in good mental health, according to a major study.A Harvard analysis of health data from nearly 55,000 US volunteers, most of whom were women, found that high levels of psychological distress before Covid infection raised the risk of long-term illness by 32%-46%. Continue reading...

Scientists drew on 72-year-old Scot’s rare condition to help identify people with neurological conditionScientists have harnessed the power of a woman’s hyper-sensitive sense of smell to develop a test to determine whether people have Parkinson’s disease.The test has been years in the making after academics realised that Joy Milne could smell the condition. The 72-year-old from Perth, Scotland, has a rare condition that gives her a heightened sense of smell. Continue reading...

In 2020, scientists found sparkling Peinaleopolynoe on hydothermal vents in the eastern Pacific – and were irresistibly reminded of the king of rock’n’rollNearly 4,000 metres (13,000 feet) underwater in the Pescadero basin in the Gulf of California lie some of the Pacific’s deepest hydrothermal vents – and they’re covered in small iridescent worms. “You’ll see little pink sparkly worms, blue ones, red ones, black ones and white ones,” says Avery Hiley, a graduate researcher at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego.These are hungry scale-worms, or Peinaleopolynoe – peinaléos meaning “hungry” or “famished” in Greek – named as such because they were first found clustered around a pile of food that scientists had left experimentally on the deep-sea floor. For years they have been nicknamed “Elvis worms” for their sparkling scales, reminiscent of the sequined jumpsuits worn by Elvis Presley. Continue reading...

Study of 130,000 women used genetic analysis to establish causal link between activity levels and cancer riskIncreasing physical activity and reducing time spent sedentary is likely to decrease the risk of breast cancer, a study of more than 100,000 women suggests.An international team including researchers from Australia, the UK and US have used genetic analysis to establish a causal relationship between overall activity levels and cancer risk. Continue reading...

Children aged 5-11 will no longer be offered Covid jabs, except those in clinical risk groups, UKHSA confirmsThe decision to reduce the number of children who are offered Covid jabs has prompted outcry from parent groups and academics.The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said children who had not turned five by the end of last month would not be offered a vaccination, in line with advice published by the UK’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) in February 2022. UKHSA said the offer of Covid jabs to healthy five to 11-year-olds was always meant to be temporary. Continue reading...

Milder winters could threaten crop yields as plant-eating insects spread northwards and become more voracious, researchers sayAgricultural pests that devour key food crops are advancing northwards in the US and becoming more widespread as the climate hots up, new research warns.The corn earworm (Helicoverpa zea) is considered to be among the most common farm pests in the US, ravaging crops such as maize, cotton, soya and other vegetables. It spends winter underground and is not known to survive in states beyond a latitude of 40 degrees north (which runs from northern California through the midwest to New Jersey), but that is changing as soils warm and it spreads to new areas, according to research led by North Carolina State University. Continue reading...

Society’s understanding of mental health issues locates the problem inside the person – and ignores the politics of their distressWe are living, we’re told, through a “mental health crisis”. Mental health services cannot cope with the explosion of demand over the past two years: 1.6 million people are on waiting lists, while another 8 million need help but can’t even get on these lists. Even children are showing up at A&E in despair, wanting to die.But there is another way to see this crisis – one that doesn’t place it firmly in the realm of the medical system. Doesn’t it make sense that so many of us are suffering? Of course it does: we are living in a traumatising and uncertain world. The climate is breaking down, we’re trying to stay on top of rising living costs, still weighted with grief, contagion and isolation, while revelations about the police murdering women and strip-searching children shatter our faith in those who are supposed to protect us.Dr Sanah Ahsan is a clinical psychologist, poet, writer, presenter and educatorDo you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a letter of up to 300 words to be considered for publication, email it to us at guardian.letters@theguardian.com Continue reading...

Last week, a team of inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) arrived at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. The plant was seized by Russian forces in early May and has recently been the target of sustained shelling, increasing the risk of a nuclear disaster. The head of the IAEA, Rafael Grossi, who is leading the inspection team, has reported that the integrity of the plant has been violated several times.Ian Sample speaks to Prof Claire Corkhill about what this could mean for Zaporizhzhia, what the risks are if the plant loses external power, and how a nuclear meltdown can be avoidedArchive: BBC News, 60 Minutes Continue reading...

New Zealand researchers believe the isolated spruce could reveal much about the Southern Ocean, one of the world’s major carbon sinksIt is regarded as the “loneliest tree in the world” but the Sitka spruce on uninhabited Campbell Island has been keeping good company of late – with a team of New Zealand researchers who believe it could help unlock climate change secrets.The nine-metre tall spruce holds the Guinness World Record title for the “remotest tree” on the planet. It is the sole tree on the shrubby, windswept island, 700 kilometres south of New Zealand in the Southern Ocean. It’s the only tree for 222km around; its nearest neighbour grows on the Auckland Islands. Continue reading...

The solution to today’s puzzleEarlier today I set you this puzzle about PINs, the four-digit passcodes we use for phones and bank accounts.In the comments, many people said that the answer was obvious. These people fell into the trap.xx--x-x-x--x-xx--x-x--xx Continue reading...

From subatomic particles to human beings, interaction is what shapes realityQuantum theory is perhaps the most successful scientific idea ever. So far, it has never been proved wrong. It is stupendously predictive, it has clarified the structure of the periodic table, the functioning of the sun, the colour of the sky, the nature of chemical bonds, the formation of galaxies and much more. The technologies we have been able to build as a result range from computers to lasers to medical instruments.Yet, a century after its birth, something remains deeply puzzling about quantum theory. Unlike its illustrious predecessor, Newton’s classical mechanics, it does not tell us how physical systems behave. Instead, it confines itself to predicting the probability that a physical system will affect us in one way or another. When an electron is fired from one side of a wall with two holes, for instance, quantum theory tells us where it will end up on the other side, stubbornly saying nothing plausible about which hole it has gone through. It treats any physical system as a black box: if you do this to it now, it will react like that later. What happens in between? The theory simply doesn’t tell us. Continue reading...

Strategies for security codesUPDATE: You can read the solutions hereWhen it comes to choosing PIN numbers for our bank cards or our phones, the most popular numbers are the obvious ones , such as 1234, 1111, 1212 etc, according to what you read on the web.Today’s puzzle is about what is the best strategy when you choose the digits randomly. Continue reading...

When zoos were closed some primates became solitary and sedentary while others displayed dominant behaviourHumans weren’t the only ones to develop bad habits during lockdown. According to new research, some primates in zoos became more solitary and sedentary, and others displayed more sexually and physically dominant behaviour.The study compared the behaviour of bonobos, chimpanzees, baboons and gorillas in a zoo and safari park in 2020, when they were hidden from the gaze of humans during lockdown, with how they behaved after visitors returned. Continue reading...

The nights are drawing in to help stargazers, and this pair will be brilliantly brightSeptember in the northern hemisphere sees the start of astronomy’s observing season, when the nights begin to draw in, making stargazing easier. Greet the new season this coming weekend with the pleasing pairing of Jupiter and the virtually full moon.The chart shows the view looking east-south-east from London at 22.00 BST on Sunday 11 September. Also visible in the south-east, so just off this chart, will be Saturn, shining with its soft ochre colour. But the stars of the show are Jupiter and the moon. Both will be brilliantly bright, especially the moon, which will be 97% illuminated from our viewpoint. Continue reading...