(no subject)

[vyvyanx]

The stars are very clear tonight. I am getting better at identifying constellations now, and even recognising the different colours of stars. For instance, Orion has just rounded the roof (my "western horizon" from the vantage point in the bathroom) and it is clear that Betelgeuse and Aldebaran are more orangey in colour, while Rigel is more bluish. G is getting me some binoculars for Christmas; I will be able to look for M31 and the nebula in Orion's sword then :-)
Mars is just sailing out of view on my eastern horizon now (the frame of the open window), but Saturn should be visible later tonight, in Gemini. The Cassini-Huygens craft must be very close to it - the probe is due to land on Titan mid-2004!

Comments

[scy11a.livejournal.com]

Wow - to think that we were watching Orion from Sydney too last night. Amazing to think of it being visible in Cambridge at a similar time (even if he is upside down here!)

[robinbloke.livejournal.com]

I find it very humbling that I can look at something up in the sky that very well no longer exist.

[lnr]

the nebula in Orion's sword

Oddly enough we were just out there looking at that through rjk's binoculars, it's really quite strikingly fuzzy :-). And counting how many plaeides we could see (two I *thought* might be there by naked eye turned out to be real with assistance). And the moon looks good too.

[rowan-leigh.livejournal.com]

I completed that OU course at the end of October - you seem to be doing a far better job of getting on with the work...

[vyvyan.livejournal.com]

I think it's a really enjoyable course. I've finished the assignment (though I haven't typed it all up neatly yet) even though it's not due until the end of January. I think I must have been feeling deprived of organised learning, after several years of working, teaching and doing research!