Winter Solstice 2015

Enjoyed a beautiful warm bonfire on a cold Saturday evening. Then on Sunday evening we stoked up the brazier and enjoyed a nice fire (and marshmallows!) in the front yard.
The Moon, Venus and Jupiter put on a nice show in a clear sky on both nights, and on Sunday I dragged out Dobby for a look at them. Beautiful craters on the terminator on the crescent moon, Venus showed a strong crescent, and Jupiter was just great as always - all four moons visible in a clear line.
Saturn came over the trees later in the evening (after marshmallows) and looked very pretty. Tried to take a few photos but didn't have much success this time.

Wakey Wakey!

Yay! Philae has woken up!



Yesterday ESA was able to contact Philae and download data and status information via Rosetta.

Sounds like Philae is in good shape to do more comet science (after a 7 month nap, it should!) So excited to learn more about 67P from ground level.

What is it about this 'little' 100kg cubic robot that provokes such warmth and affection?



Probably the adorable cartoons.

Sol 1000!

Wow! Today Curiosity has been on Mars for 1000 Sols!
I hope there is cake.

Total eclipse 2015 - live from Svarlbard!

Svarlbard! Svarlbard! Svarlbard!

The total eclipse of 2015 was predicted to be a good one, with totality lasting longer than many due to the Moon being at perihelion at the time.  However it was only making landfall on the Faroe Islands and Svarlbard.  So you could travel to Svarlbard like Tim did, or you could watch the webcast in the warm comfort of your own home and play cards - like we did.

The Faroe Islands were clouded out, but fortunately the skies over Svarlbard were clear and the was a great stream coming from the local news station.  We panicked a couple of times as the feed seemed to get overloaded and lag, but it cleared up in time and we got to see it all.

Not quite like being there, but pretty awesome anyway.

St Patricks Day Aurora Australis

I've always wanted to see an Aurora, and I still do.

Ón St. Patrick's day, 17 March 2015, a fairly big CME hit and caused awesome Aurora in the Northern Hemisphere - that much I was aware of - but then I discovered that we had unusually large effects down here in the Southern Hemisphere as well!  Amazingly, there were sightings of the Aurora even in Goulburn - here's a link to a YouTube video taken early on the morning of the 18th.

I'm not sure how good the Aurora looked in Melbourne, because - of course - we had total cloud cover that night.

Typical...

More comet joy...

So, another comet swings by...
Comet Lovejoy C/2014 Q2 is putting on a show this weekend. Approaching a magnitude where it is nearly visible to the unaided eye not far from Aldebaran and Orion.

Or so I'm told. Melbourne is covered in cloud this entire week.

Typical.

Thpptt!

Busy space days

So, the Japanese launched Hayabusa 2 yesterday, NASA tried to launch Orion for its first unmanned flight today (but it was scrubbed for 24 hours due to a valve issue) and on Saturday the probe New Horizons is going to be woken out of hibernation as it closes in on former planet Pluto.