Well the last week has provided us with lots of opportunities to do this as every night that passes appears to present a more magical sight. Last night was simply stunning and I found myself laid out on one of our relaxer chairs looking skywards. It's a shame that I can't present you with a photograph of exactly what I could see but the view was an astronomer's paradise.
Part of the beauty of stargazing here must be the almost total lack of light pollution. In fact, when I stepped out of the caravan last night, I firstly walked into one of the loungers and then fell over one of the guy ropes on the awning! If takes a while for the eyes to adjust to the darkness here you know.
It has been fascinating during the last week watching the "super moon" develop. Super? I would say it was spectacular! I took the opportunity to view its surface through binoculars and the detail was stunning. It appeared to me that a chunk on its right side was missing. Perhaps it is made from cheese after all? It must have provided an incredible sight when viewed through a telescope.
Apparently there are 100,000 million stars and in excess of 100,000 million galaxies that we know about. The oldest thing to view in the sky is the Keystone of Hercules or as us lesser specimens know it, M13. It is a mere 9 billion years old and still going strong. How do we know these things?
Mind you, did you know the planets move across the sky and that stars stay fixed?
I feel that I am offering an element of education with my musings which I find quite satisfying but I end today's blog by returning to my own theory about what is out there. I think that the universe and beyond is so vast that there is a 61 year old called Alistair out there somewhere just completing his nightly blog from the Drome. Mind you, he probably wasn't stupid enough to buy his wife a sympathy card on their anniversary.
Photo attached of me falling over the lounger but also a couple showing perhaps why the area is so dark.
No comments:
Post a Comment