11.00-16.00 at the National Maritime Museum

An annual symposium to explore concepts of time.

This year, inspired by the Festival of Time and Space, musicians and scientists will discuss creative, historical and cultural relationships between the concepts and perceptions of time and space in science and the arts.

Speakers include:

• Penelope Gouk, historian of 17th-century science and music, will set the scene of the foundation of the Royal Observatory in the scientific revolution.
• Jem Finer, musical artist, will talk about 'Longplayer' and 'Score for a Hole in the Ground'. Jem is a founder member of The Pogues and the composer of Longplayer, a piece of music which will play for 1000 years without repeating.
• Dominic Murcott of Trinity Laban will explain time granules in music and granular synthesis
• Artist Jane Grant with musician, composer and physicist John Matthias and composer and sound designer Nick Ryan will talk about The Fragmented Orchestra, an award-winning sonic installation based on the firing of the human brain's cortical neurons.

Cost: £25/£20

Booking: E-mail: bookings@nmm.ac.uk or tel: 020 8312 6608.
The Bookings office is open 10.00-16.00

Image: Shepherd Gate Clock, 1852. Repro ID: D5601-2 © National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London

The annual Leonids meteor shower is expected to reach its maximum at around 21:50 GMT tonight (17 Nov 2009), with up to 100 meteors an hour possible at the peak. Viewing conditions should be quite good, with clear skies over much of the UK (particularly the East and South-East) and with yesterday's New Moon meaning that moonlight won't hide the fainter meteors.

The Leonids are one of the most prolific annual meteor showers, with fast, bright meteors associated with Comet Tempel-Tuttle. The radiant (where the meteors appear to stream from) is at the head or 'sickle' of the constellation Leo, hence the name, and meteors can be seen each year over a period of about two days centred on approximately 17 November. Some of the meteors leave trails which can last for up to half an hour.

The Leonids have very brief periods when hundreds or even thousands of meteors can be seen. This seems to come to a peak every 33 years, the period of Comet Tempel-Tuttle. These 'storms' of shooting stars were seen in 1799, 1833, 1866, 1966 and 1999-2001 (although the expected 1899 and 1933 storms were very disappointing). The 1833 storm was particularly spectacular, with estimates of 100,000 meteors per hour. The 1999-2001 storms produced about 3000 per hour.

Image: Leonid shower; photo by Thomas Paulech and Juraj Toth, Bratislava, Slovakia

Directed by multi-award-winning composer Stephen Montague, Harmony of the Spheres is inspired by the constellation Pleiades, a cluster of sister stars immortalised in mythology. Explore the world-famous site at night and encounter 'scenes' created and performed by Trinity Laban students.

"The vast sky that surrounds us has fired our imagination from the beginning of Time. The heavens above with the earth below have inspired terror and tranquillity, mythology and religion, and humbled us with infinity. The 17th-century astronomer Johannes Kepler postulated a grand 'harmony of the spheres' for the universe, but on this night we look to more earthbound harmonies. For two hours this historic site will resonate with Harmonia mundi as 70 earthlings animate a small corner of Planet Earth on both sides of the Prime Meridian." Stephen Montague, Artistic Director

Harmony of the Spheres is timed to coincide with the end of the annual Leonids meteor shower.

Dates: Thursday 19-Friday 20 November
Times: 19.00-21.30; daily timed tickets from 19.00
Location: Royal Observatory, Greenwich
Cost: £12.00 adults, £10.00 concessions
Booking: Advanced bookings only - call 020 8312 6608 or email bookings@nmm.ac.uk

The nights may be drawing in but there's a glittering array of events at the Royal Observatory over the next month or so. Join us for stargazing, new planetarium shows, a space-themed arts and music festival, Halloween events and Sci-Fi-London's fabulous Oktoberfest.

Autumn Sky Watch

16 October, 19.00-22.00
£15/£11

This evening workshop explores the wonders of the autumn and early winter skies and provides an introduction in the use of binoculars and small telescopes. The session includes a planetarium talk, a short seminar and a practical session.

We Are Astronomers

Daily shows from 17 October.

Find out how cutting-edge technology and sheer dedication combine to answer some of the most exciting questions in the universe in this stunning new planetarium show for IYA2009. Narrated by David Tennant.

125 years on the line:
The Greenwich Meridian and its significance to the World

20 October, 19.00-20.30
£8/£6

Find out how Greenwich became the zero point of time and space for the world.

Oktoberfest 2009: Sci-Fi-Universe

23 October, 18.30-22.30
£10

Sci-Fi London Oktoberfest 2009 have teamed up with the Royal Observatory to create a brand new Planetarium show: Sci-Fi-Universe. Do you know where Space 1999's Moonbase Alpha was located? What would the sky look like from Vulcan? Journey to a 'galaxy far far away' in this unique planetarium experience, premiering on 23 October. The evening includes DJs, photo opps with a stormtrooper unit and access to the Royal Observatory galleries.

• Sci-Fi Universe, 18.50, 19.30 - A planetarium tour of some of the most famous locations in science fiction.
• Battle of Ideas, 20.00-22.00 - Are space research and science fiction trading on nostalgia?
• SFL Lab: Simon Guerrier: Mining for SF stories, 20.00
Simon Guerrier presents a workshop on using magazines like the New Scientist for story ideas based on real science.
• Screening of For all Mankind, 20.15 - During the Apollo lunar missions 1968-1972, those on-board were told to film anything and everything they could, in space, in orbit, and on the surface of the Moon itself.
• A Space of Waste, 20.15 - Should science fiction be concerned with what's happening on Earth, such climate change, pandemics and population growth?
• Special screening of Star Trek (2009), 20.15 As part of our Planetarium event we will present the movie to just 80 special guests! Register for Star Trek.

Visit Sci-Fi-London for more information on the evening's events.

Festival of Time and Space

25 Oct - 21 Nov

Trinity College of Music and the National Maritime Museum celebrate the International Year of Astronomy with a four-week festival of music and the arts. Festival events are created by expert scientists, world class musicians and music and dance students from Trinity Laban, within locations across the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site.

• Planetarium shorts (25 Oct-21 Nov), suitable for 5+. £6.00 adults, £4.00 children/concessions, £16.00 family ticket.
• Time and Space sound installations
  (25 Oct-21 Nov)
• Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2009 (10 Sept 2009-10 Jan 2010)
• Make and Play: Space Music (26, 29 October), children all ages, FREE
• Time Hear (8 Nov), children of all ages, FREE
• Journeys in Time and Space (10 Nov), children all ages, FREE
• Poems of Space (10 Nov), £8
• Music of Space and Stars (14 November), suitable for 5+. FREE
• Harmony of the Spheres (19-21 Nov), £12/£10
• Greenwich Time Symposium (21 Nov), £25/£20

An Evening with the Stars

30-31 Oct
3, 24, 26, 27 November
17.30, 18.10, 18.50, 19.30
£15/11

Come for an evening of star-gazing with astronomers at the Royal Observatory using our 28-inch telescope - the largest of its kind in the UK. The evening also includes a planetarium show and an opportunity to take in the incredible view from the Prime Meridian after dark, with small telescopes for further stargazing.

Halloween events

31 Oct - 1 Nov

Halloween Skies

Come and find out what the night sky has to offer this Halloween in this Halloween-themed live planetarium show.

Howling at the Moon

A short talk exploring superstitions and spooky traditions associated with the Moon.

Today (9 October 2009) two unmanned NASA spacecraft will impact the Cabeus crater in the lunar South Pole, in the final stage of the LCROSS mission (Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite).

The first spacecraft, the 2200kg Centaur rocket stage, will hit the Moon at about 4800 km/h or twice the speed of a bullet, throwing up debris plumes to an expected height of 10km above the lunar surface, visible from Earth-based telescopes 10-12" and larger.

The smaller 'shepherding spacecraft' will follow, descending through the debris plume to impact 4 minutes later. As it travels through the plume, onboard spectrometers will monitor the chemical components of the debris, looking for water, hydroxyl compunds, salts, clays and organic molecules, and relay this information back to Earth before impact.

Projected first impact is currently 12:31 BST.

You can watch the impact live online on NASA TV.

Image: Artist's rendering of the LCROSS spacecraft and Centaur separation (NASA).