Look Up!
Early Morning Astronomy.
Following a pointer in the "Astronomy Picture of the Day" website I've been looking at the early morning sky as H leaves for work. Not only is it going green-yellow in the south east but over the block of houses opposite are two planets.
Now Venus I recognise. It's big, it's silvery, it's shiny, it doesn't 'twinkle' and it doesn't flash & move (unlike passing planes!). The fact that it's sometimes the Morning star, as now, & sometimes the Evening star is neither here nor there. Jupiter is harder. It may be bigger but it's also a lot further away. Like out beyond Mars (which I also recognise - being golden with a reddish tinge).
So after careful study this morning I reckon that, while Venus is above #36 opposite, Jupiter is out over the road above #34! At 6.30am anyway. The Kitten did advise getting http://www.shatters.net/celestia/ , which we did but when H tried running it it quit & wouldn't say why. Any ideas, Kitten? I got the Nauticalia catalogue yesterday on my rovings. That has a 'scope' on which you dial up latitude, date & time then peer through with one eye while looking at the night sky with the other. The 'scope' has a labelled star map. Hmmm, maybe we'll invest in that. Having tried various books etc the scale is never the same. Thinx: Do we have sufficient spare arms & legs?
Watched the "Horizon" programme on BBC2 last night - "96% of the Universe is Missing". Of course, having gone through the development of the 'Dark Matter' theory they then introduced the guy who came up with the 'Dark Energy' theory which makes the maths work, even if they can't find any physical evidence for either!
Now if I did calculations and came to the conclusion that 96% of something was missing the first thing I'd do would be to check my calculations to see what I'd got wrong and whether I'd maybe gotten a conversion factor or two the wrong way up. But then, Maths was never my strong subject. Though I reckon that, if their maths is actually correct, the Dark Stuff which actually holds it all together and makes it all work is God, & they've severely underestimated His involvement too!
So to yesterday's Rovings. After lunch I checked out the "What's On?" page in our local paper then headed off to the Dockyard. Partway on the way to Southsea me brain kicked in so went the long way! Having reparked Jade outside the dockyard (do I look like a bomber? There were bikes all over the place anyway, employees I suppose!) I went to the Art in the Dockyard exhibition. If you're in or near Portsmouth, Hant, England, in the near future it's worth a look, & FREE!
The main theme is pictures of flowers, but there are intricate wooden carvings, a textile piece and two magnificent glass hangings. The hangings are strung from copper pipe (horizontal) pieces of coloured glass, wired on copper wire, hanging down in single colour 'strings'. One is about 8' high and coloured from mauve through red, rainbow sequence back to mauve. The other is about 3' deep and bits of sea glass in shades of blue, green & white.
The effect of the rainbow one, halogen lit against the 18th century redbrick wall was magificent. It'd look even more spectacular in a sunny window. So there's another idea for a craft project some time. Better hie me down to the beach & start collecting seaglass. Copper wire I already have.
The a cup of Fair Trade cappucino in the Costa coffee shop overlooking HMS Warrior and the common Hard. It was gloriously sunny yesterday, out of the wind it was balmy even. There were a couple of amorous pigeons too. I know male pigeons are always up for it but she even seemed slightly interested. Must be the Spring coming!
Decided, as the sitting outside area is North-south, to sit in and enjoy the view & sunshine. Then cycled on along the Front, oh the Solent was blue yesterday, and eventually round to the Southsea Whole Food Shop. Then up to B&Q for some Ericaceous compost so I can plant me Camellia, some pot feet for it and the rose I planted Monday, and a ceramic pot for the Hippeastrum which, on opening the Front Room curtains yesterday, I noticed was coming into flower - white striped with deep pink, extremely pretty but very top heavy. Hence the need for the heavier pot.
Got the lot, plus three lots of summer 'bulbs' - Lilium longiflorum, Ranunculus and Lily of the Valley - then decided the compost was a bit much for Jade & got a taxi home. I specify that I need one big enough to take a bicycle & they send one. Otherwise it's load stuff into taxi & hope H is home to pay it while I cycle! This afternoon's project will be to get at least some of that lot planted.
Speaking of planting, I did get a few Coleus seeds in yesterday. Must sort me seeds into planting month order, as they suggest in the gardening progs & mags. I know there are others I can plant from now on. Thinx: there are the pyracantha berries too. They need a period of cold when they've been sown to help germniate them. I need the pyracantha to provide spiky twigs to protect the rest of the garden from That Cat. It's less hazardous to me than all these bamboo skewers too.
Have you signed up to Help the Aged's campaign to prevent Elder Abuse if you can? After all, everything else being equal, we'll all be old ourselves one day. I don't fancy being subject to abuse then any more than I fancy the idea now, or of anyone else being abused either.
So it's "Good Morning" from me, and a wave of the ears from the elephants!
Right, time to go get ready. I want to go swimming this morning before going down the Pub with Together.
Following a pointer in the "Astronomy Picture of the Day" website I've been looking at the early morning sky as H leaves for work. Not only is it going green-yellow in the south east but over the block of houses opposite are two planets.
Now Venus I recognise. It's big, it's silvery, it's shiny, it doesn't 'twinkle' and it doesn't flash & move (unlike passing planes!). The fact that it's sometimes the Morning star, as now, & sometimes the Evening star is neither here nor there. Jupiter is harder. It may be bigger but it's also a lot further away. Like out beyond Mars (which I also recognise - being golden with a reddish tinge).
So after careful study this morning I reckon that, while Venus is above #36 opposite, Jupiter is out over the road above #34! At 6.30am anyway. The Kitten did advise getting http://www.shatters.net/celestia/ , which we did but when H tried running it it quit & wouldn't say why. Any ideas, Kitten? I got the Nauticalia catalogue yesterday on my rovings. That has a 'scope' on which you dial up latitude, date & time then peer through with one eye while looking at the night sky with the other. The 'scope' has a labelled star map. Hmmm, maybe we'll invest in that. Having tried various books etc the scale is never the same. Thinx: Do we have sufficient spare arms & legs?
Watched the "Horizon" programme on BBC2 last night - "96% of the Universe is Missing". Of course, having gone through the development of the 'Dark Matter' theory they then introduced the guy who came up with the 'Dark Energy' theory which makes the maths work, even if they can't find any physical evidence for either!
Now if I did calculations and came to the conclusion that 96% of something was missing the first thing I'd do would be to check my calculations to see what I'd got wrong and whether I'd maybe gotten a conversion factor or two the wrong way up. But then, Maths was never my strong subject. Though I reckon that, if their maths is actually correct, the Dark Stuff which actually holds it all together and makes it all work is God, & they've severely underestimated His involvement too!
So to yesterday's Rovings. After lunch I checked out the "What's On?" page in our local paper then headed off to the Dockyard. Partway on the way to Southsea me brain kicked in so went the long way! Having reparked Jade outside the dockyard (do I look like a bomber? There were bikes all over the place anyway, employees I suppose!) I went to the Art in the Dockyard exhibition. If you're in or near Portsmouth, Hant, England, in the near future it's worth a look, & FREE!
The main theme is pictures of flowers, but there are intricate wooden carvings, a textile piece and two magnificent glass hangings. The hangings are strung from copper pipe (horizontal) pieces of coloured glass, wired on copper wire, hanging down in single colour 'strings'. One is about 8' high and coloured from mauve through red, rainbow sequence back to mauve. The other is about 3' deep and bits of sea glass in shades of blue, green & white.
The effect of the rainbow one, halogen lit against the 18th century redbrick wall was magificent. It'd look even more spectacular in a sunny window. So there's another idea for a craft project some time. Better hie me down to the beach & start collecting seaglass. Copper wire I already have.
The a cup of Fair Trade cappucino in the Costa coffee shop overlooking HMS Warrior and the common Hard. It was gloriously sunny yesterday, out of the wind it was balmy even. There were a couple of amorous pigeons too. I know male pigeons are always up for it but she even seemed slightly interested. Must be the Spring coming!
Decided, as the sitting outside area is North-south, to sit in and enjoy the view & sunshine. Then cycled on along the Front, oh the Solent was blue yesterday, and eventually round to the Southsea Whole Food Shop. Then up to B&Q for some Ericaceous compost so I can plant me Camellia, some pot feet for it and the rose I planted Monday, and a ceramic pot for the Hippeastrum which, on opening the Front Room curtains yesterday, I noticed was coming into flower - white striped with deep pink, extremely pretty but very top heavy. Hence the need for the heavier pot.
Got the lot, plus three lots of summer 'bulbs' - Lilium longiflorum, Ranunculus and Lily of the Valley - then decided the compost was a bit much for Jade & got a taxi home. I specify that I need one big enough to take a bicycle & they send one. Otherwise it's load stuff into taxi & hope H is home to pay it while I cycle! This afternoon's project will be to get at least some of that lot planted.
Speaking of planting, I did get a few Coleus seeds in yesterday. Must sort me seeds into planting month order, as they suggest in the gardening progs & mags. I know there are others I can plant from now on. Thinx: there are the pyracantha berries too. They need a period of cold when they've been sown to help germniate them. I need the pyracantha to provide spiky twigs to protect the rest of the garden from That Cat. It's less hazardous to me than all these bamboo skewers too.
Have you signed up to Help the Aged's campaign to prevent Elder Abuse if you can? After all, everything else being equal, we'll all be old ourselves one day. I don't fancy being subject to abuse then any more than I fancy the idea now, or of anyone else being abused either.
So it's "Good Morning" from me, and a wave of the ears from the elephants!
Right, time to go get ready. I want to go swimming this morning before going down the Pub with Together.