Leonardo da Vinci, polymath, sculptor, engineer, scientist, inventor, painter and artist. The epitome of renaissance man and on display at Nottingham Castle, 10 of the finest drawings by Leonardo Da Vinci from the Royal Collection. They were never meant to be artwork or shown, a bit like my fag packet plans, most were used to […]
Rock On! Quarry Fossil Hunt
As I celebrate my 45th orbit of the sun, it would seem appropriate that one old fossil gets to visit some other old fossils, so today finds us extreme dog walking deep into Derbyshire at the limestone deposits of Steeplehouse Quarry by the National Stone Centre. This 50 acre site at Wirksworth on the edge […]
Veil Nebula
My image of the Veil Nebula showing the delicate wispy remains of a supernova remnant. A supernova is the final destructive explosion of a massive star and can temporarily outshine the output of the host galaxy it resides in at the stars dramatic death. The expanding shock wave from the explosion is the remains that […]
The Ride of The Valkyries – Die Walküre – A Beginner’s Guide to the Opera
Richard Wagner was a man with too much time on his hands. Der Ring des Nibelungen or better known as Wagner’s Ring Cycle took him 26 years to complete, the very definition of procrastination in action. It’s 15 hours over 4 nights of operatic indulgence linking 4 operas together for one story. Being the knuckle […]
Having a blast at the York Cold War Bunker
A warning, this is not the usual semi-romantic dog walking adventure you may have seen on this site before. It’s a grim reminder of a hopefully bygone era, today we are visiting the York Cold War Bunker. A retreat of safe haven in a time of unparalleled danger, in fact, it’s just the thing for surviving a […]
Monsal Dale
Following the River Wye in Monsal Dale is a pleasant journey through Taddington Woods and the subject of today’s extreme dog walk. To be honest its not exactly extreme and not exactly far . Park up the on the car park on the main road cross to the other side to follow the trail along […]
The Roaches
The Roaches form a gritstone escarpment in the Peak District looking over the Leek, Tittesworth Reservoir and the Cheshire Plain. This jagged crest of rocks, along with Hen Cloud and Ramshaw Rocks marks the south west tip of the Pennines. Today we take a trip to it, over it and around it while extreme dog walking. […]
Mercury Transit
That tiny round black dot is Mercury. The 2016 Mercury transit of the Sun in a relatively rare astronomical event and visible in the UK for the entire time that Mercury’s silhouette will cross against the face of the Sun. Mercury transits only take place in May or November, occurring approx 13 to 14 times a […]
EM-Con 2016 – The East Midlands Science Fiction and Fantasy Convention
The East Midlands Science Fiction and Fantasy Convention, or EM-Con 2016 in Nottingham, is a magnet for the nerds, dorks and geeks of the East Midlands, which is clearly why I am here. Be there and be square. Pure nerd porn and proud. With my Wookie in tow, sorry, I mean wife, we punch the coordinates […]
An Evening with World Cup Winner Geoff Hurst
Some people are on the pitch…they think it’s all over. It is now, it’s four! Those legendary words uttered by Kenneth Wolstenholme back in 1966 as Geoff Hurst scored the final goal of his hat-trick, the only man to do so in a Word Cup Final as England beat West Germany 4-2 to win the […]
Solar Sunspot AR2529 with ASI120MC Camera
A solar test of the ZWO ASI120MC camera on Sunspot AR2529 using Baader solar film white light filter. Nice to see sum detail coming through with a faster frame rate camera, although I’ve over processed the stacked image, and now regretting not getting a mono version instead. Mono is more advantageous, especially for when using […]
Meeting Astronaut Tom Stafford – A Space Lectures Legend
General Thomas P. Stafford is a veteran NASA astronaut who flew in space 4 times and in 4 different spacecraft, completing 6 rendezvous, orbited the moon and accumulated 507 hours in space. I am lucky enough to meet astronaut Tom Stafford today. A brief space summary. His first flight was piloting Gemini 6 for […]
Leo Triplet
My image of the Leo Triplet was taken over several nights, stacking Luminance, Red, Green and Blue data together for this final image. The Leo triplet is a collection of galaxies approximately 35 million light years away in the constellation of Leo and comprises the gravitational bound spiral galaxies of M66, M65 and NGC 3628. […]
The King in the Car Park
The King in the car park, what a way to be remembered, as if your reputation wasn’t bad enough already. King Richard III was killed at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485, the last king of England to die in battle, not quite the end of the Wars of the Roses but marking the end […]
Mush! Husky Sledding in Tromso
Our final day in Norway and Tromso sees us carted off into the snowy backdrop of Tromso on the island of Kvaloya (whale island). We are here to see other dogs behind our own dog’s back (he’d be heartbroken if he knew) and go husky sledding. This is our final excursion via Hurtigruten and we’ll […]
Snowmobile Safari in Kirkenes
Kirkenes is at the north-eastern end of Norway, 10 kilometres from the border with Russia and 400 kilometres inside the Arctic Circle, further east than Istanbul and St Petersburg. Kirkenes is not a charmingly attractive place at first glance, a frozen shore with functional buildings and plenty of snow. Everything looks pretty new, no surprise […]
Norway and The Arctic Circle
In some mad moment of wanderlust we booked a wild, windy, winter wonderland on the frozen fjords of Norway in the Arctic Circle in Winter. Land of Vikings, Midnight Sun, Northern Lights, majestic mountains and gorgeous glaciers. We’ve booked with Hurtigruten on their Arctic Highlights coastal route from Tromso to Kirkenes with the entire journey in […]
Yorkshire Sculpture Park
The wild frozen and barren wastelands of the north, also known as Yorkshire, is the focus of today’s visit, specifically the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. Located just off the M1 motorway at West Bretton near Wakefiled, Yorkshire Sculpture Park is set in 500 acres of rolling rural lands and freezing fresh air as we study stylish […]
Hathersage Moor
Today is New Years Day. Start of a new day, a new year and a new you according to Sam. So with this in mind, we finds ourselves exercising and extreme dog walking around Hathersage Moor to kick-start the rude awakening out of the post Christmas & New Year slumber to avoid slipping any further […]
Comet C/2013 X1 (PANSTARRS)
Comet C/2013 X1 (PANSTARRS) currently in the constellation of Andromeda at a brightness of magnitude 9.2. Comet C/2013 X1 is expected to get brighter with perihelion, its closest approach to the sun at a distance of 1.314 AU (astronomical units) on 20.04.16. Comet C/2013 X1 (PANSTARRS) is expected to pass within 0.6 AU of Earth mid June […]