In 1997 during a docking test with the use of an onboard remote control, an unmanned cargo vessel collided into the Russian Mir Space Station. The collision punctured part of the space station, leaking air and causing Mir to spin while knocking out much of its power supply. It remains the most serious collision ever […]
Solar Viewing with Coronado PST
The weather is scorching, the residual heat from a thousand local BBQs are not helping the situation and it feels like my sunglasses have melted on to my head. The sun in shining and I can feel its heat on my head, its radiation giving me a redneck, all from 93 million mils away. It’s […]
The Home of Gravity – Woolsthorpe Manor
We’re feeling the the undeniably pull of attraction to visit Woolsthorpe Manor deep in the rural Lincolnshire countryside, a site of scientific interest for it is the birthplace, family home to Sir Isaac Newton and the home of gravity. Probably the most influential scientist of all time, Isaac Newton was born at Woolsthorpe Manor on a […]
At the Edge of the Empire – from Housteads to Hadrain’s Wall and the Northumberland Coast
The Northumberland Coast, a few days of extreme dog walking adventures in England’s least populated county at the edge of the empire in Northumberland, along the coast of Northumberland from Newbiggin to Berwick-upon-Tweed to Hadrian’s Wall. A bit like the original tourists here, the Romans, and later, the Vikings, but with less colonising, raiding, raping, […]
Nerding it up in Nottingham at EM-Con 2017 – East Midlands TV and Film Convention
Geeks, you may have heard, have inherited the Earth. Not a bad thing, I’m the biggest nerd I know, and it fits nicely with my plans for my galactic conquest as guardian of the galaxy, Master of the Universe, all the way to infinity and beyond. How fortuitous then that I once again find myself […]
Meeting Tom Cruise’s Middle Finger & Top Gun Shuttle Astronaut Scott Altman
I remember the 80s…a time for heroes, high-five flyers and top gun shuttle pilots. Just as well then that today, thanks to the team at Space Lectures, I met Scott Altman, a veteran F14 Tomcat pilot flying as Tom Cruise’s middle finger in that famous scene in Top Gun and a veteran of 4 Space […]
The Craic with a Dublin City Break
Top o’ the morning to ya, what’s the craic? Thanks to a four leaf clover in my pocket and the luck of the Irish, we find ourselves in the Emerald Isle in the Fair City of Dublin (and all said in an Irish accent) as the locals gear up for St Patrick’s Day. To escape […]
A visit to the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin
I’ve been accused in the past of not being able to organise a $iss up in a brewery, so what better way or better place to prove them all wrong by organising an actual $iss up in a brewery and beating the queues with pre-booked tickets to the Guinness Storehouse Tour. This had better be […]
NGC 2359 Thor’s Helmet
NGC 2359 commonly known as Thor’s Helmet. This bubble shaped emission nebula also has some complex filaments that help to give NGC 2359 a distinctive shape with the wing like structures to give Thor’s Helmet its name. Located in the constellation of Canis Major, it is nearly 15,000 light years distant and 30 light years […]
Geysers and Gullfoss in The Golden Circle Tour in Iceland
Day 3 and the last day in our short trip to Iceland and we’re feeling the need to see something in a more natural environment, certainly more natural than some of the ‘curiosities‘ we saw yesterday in Reykjavik. We’re off to explore the wilds of Iceland on the Golden Circle tour, Iceland’s most popular tourist route, […]
Icelandic Phallological Museum
The jokes are endless, the giggles a plenty, the museum unique. Feeling a little flat from yesterdays walking, it’s time to perk up and be proud as we pound the pavement with a visit to an art gallery with a difference, The Icelandic Phallological Museum in Reykjavik, Iceland. You heard that right. A curious […]
Iceland – Reykjavik
Iceland, land of of fire and ice, volcanoes, Vikings and visitors. Thousands of them, including us. All to see the sights that the original visitor who came here didn’t see. Floki Vilgerdarson came here from Norway in 870 AD but was disappointed because all he could see was ice. A practical man, with his incredible […]
The Twins Paradox – Meeting the twin Astronauts Mark and Scott Kelly
Mark and Scott Kelly are the only siblings to have travelled in space with 4 spaceflights each and NASA’s only set of identical twin astronauts . Today, thanks to the great team over at Space Lectures, I’m meeting the time travelling twin astronauts Mark and Scott Kelly. The team at Space Lectures announced the twins line […]
Messier 15 Great Pegasus Cluster
My image of Messier 15 The Great Pegasus Cluster. In the constellation of Pegasus, easily found approx 4 degrees north west of the star Enif. Slightly smaller and fainter than the similar looking cluster of Messier 13 The Great Hercules Cluster, Messier 15 is relatrively bright at magnitude 6.2 and is resolved as a fuzzy […]
Glencoe – James Bond’s Back Garden – Scotland Road Trip Part 5
Prepare yourselves dear reader, for a story of betrayal, misery and murder, for today we visit Glencoe for its gorgeous glen and its murderous mountains. The weather is appalling, ‘pishing it doon’ as they say up here. We’re also well aware that the local inclement weather of the UK can do a perfectly reasonable job of […]
The Road to Skye – Scotland Road Trip Part 4
Another day in our Scotland road trip and this time we make for the road to Skye, and we’re accompanied by a fine Scotch mist. This is significantly better than be being accompanied by a squad of suicide Scottish midges. Never underestimate the power of the midges, all females with teeth, taking a bite. It’s like […]
Glenfinnan to Morar – Scotland Road Trip Part 3
After the disappointment of Loch Ness, this time we’re heading to west Scotland’s spectacular scenery of Loch Shiel and Glenfinnan to the silver sands of Morar away from screaming sirens of society. This is after all, a digital detox away from the madness of mankind. At least we were hoping it would be but that […]
Loch Ness and Beyond – Scotland Road Trip Part 2
The Great Glen is a huge geological fault, not nearly as many faults as me as my wife likes to point out, that cuts diagonally across the highlands 62 miles long with shadow of Ben Nevis, Britain’s highest peak dominating nearby Fort William in the south. Today though we are heading a little further north […]
The High Road to the Highlands – Scotland Road Trip Part 1
We’re north of the wall, one built by the Romans to keep the buckfast binging, bagpipe bashing, tartan totting, kilted claymore wielding clansmen and painted Picts at bay. This is the wild frontier of “auld enemy”, visiting our geographic Celt cousins and waving to the half-naked highlanders in the rugged highlands, luscious lochs and gorgeous glens, […]
Trifid Nebula
The Trifid Nebula, also known as Messier 20, is located over 5000 light years away in the constellation Sagittarius in a stellar nursery, a star forming region of the Scutum arm of the Milky Way. It is a combination of an open cluster of stars that surround a rare O type star, emission and reflection […]