Techniquest

Galw unrhyw seryddwyr newydd!

Mis Seryddiaeth Fyd-eang yw mis Ebrill, ac i ddathlu, mae seryddwr brwdfrydig Techniquest, Paul Varley, wedi arlunio digwyddiadau seryddol gerllaw a rhannu tips ar sut i ddechrau.

Os rydych chi’n ansicr o sut a ble i ddechrau, mae ganddo Paul cyngor eithaf syml: edrych lan.

Dwedodd e: “I would start with the naked eye — it can’t zoom, but it has an amazing field of view — and start out by looking for easily recognisable patterns in the night sky, as well as other bright objects such as planets.

“The more familiar you become with the simpler patterns, such as the Plough, or Orion, the Winter Hexagon, or Winter, Spring and Summer Triangles, the easier it becomes to spot smaller or fainter ones in the gaps.

Nifwl Orion Coch

“A few months back I remember looking at the night sky in a supermarket car park, just spotting the things I was familiar with, and I saw the International Space Station go over!”

Ar 8 Ebrill, fe profodd Gogledd America eclips llawn, a chafodd ei weld olaf yn yr Antarctig yn 2021. Roedd yr un yma wedi parhau tua dwywaith mor hir â’r eclips llawn ddiwethaf, yn troi America fel y fagddu am dros bedair munud.

Serch hynny, bydd yna digwyddiad llawer mwy prin yn dod dros y misoedd nesaf: “A recurrent nova is likely to, well, recur soon,” dwedodd Paul.

“T Coronae Borealis is a white dwarf star that periodically accumulates enough material to explode again.

“It happens every 80 years or so, so it’s a once-in-a-lifetime kind of event, and scientists are expecting that it will happen again sometime between now and September.

“When it happens, the nova is expected to be about magnitude +2: about as bright as Polaris — not super bright — but easily visible to the naked eye in even a moderately light-polluted sky.”

Felly, efallai mai gennych chi blas am seryddiaeth, ond mae pris yr offer wedi difetha eich archwaith?

Mae Paul yn dweud dydych chi ddim angen torri’r banc i weld golygfeydd hardd: “A telescope isn’t necessary at first, and you may want to go for powerful binoculars before considering one, though a tripod and binocular mount will probably help you get the most out of them.

“10×50 is the gold standard for astronomy in terms of offering a good compromise between zoom, field of view and cost.

“And in terms of looking at stuff through binoculars, you get more from looking at planets or deep sky objects such as the Pleiades than you do from looking at individual bright stars, as those still just look like points of light.

Pleiades

“The Moon is an excellent place to start with this, particularly the time around half-moon being great for looking at its craters through binoculars or a scope.”

Mae yna nifer o adnoddau sy’n dangos chi beth i edrych amdano, fel y wefan Stellarium neu hyd yn oed — i’r traddodiadwyr — y planisffer dibynadwy.

Paid a phestruso i alw ar rheini os ydych chi eisiau gwybod sut mae Polaris neu’r Plough yn edrych cyn i chi trio ffeindio nhw eich hun. A chofiwch, rydym ni wastad yn cynnig Star Tours yn y Planetariwm os oes angen hogi eich synhwyrau a sbio rhannau o’r bydysawd dydy hyd yn oed y telesgopau gorau ddim yn gallu sylwi.