Jupiter's impact scar

Jupiter's impact scar is still growing...! [Image below by Mike Hood as seen on SpaceWeather.com]

The last Tommies

From my home on the outskirts of Brighton, I have just watched five replica First World War aircraft fly past. They are marking the funeral of Henry Allingham, the last remaining RAF veteran of WWI who died last week aged 113 [BBC News]. By coincidence, I cycled past his house at almost the exact time he passed away.

It was also a week that Harry Patch died aged 111, the last British survivor of the First World War trenches. [BBC News]

We owe it to these gentleman, and the friends that they left behind over 90 years ago, to make sure that we do all that we can to prevent the horrors of a World War happening again.

And it is difficult to perceive the pain these guys must have lived with for so long. My own Gran held painful memories of her brother never returning home for 90 years, even though she was just 3 years old when she last saw him alive.

Least we forget.

Jupiter impact

On the 19th of July, Anthony Wesley spotted an impact in the cloud layers of Jupiter! (as reported at SpaceWeather.com).

It reminded most astronomer of the impact of Comet Shoemaker-Levy-9 which occurred on July 16th, 1994, 15 years earlier almost to the day!

The Hubble Space Telescope took the photographs below of this latest impact on the 23rd, of July.

But you do not need HST to see the impact - any medium-sized amateur telescope will show up the impact, even now a week later. And it is prime-time to see Jupiter, which is rising in the East at 10pm local time, and is visible throughout the night!

Welcome!

Welcome to my blog!

I am an astronomer, and so most of my postings will be about events happening in the night sky. I also dabble in photography, so expect lots of such postings as well.

For more details about myself, please visit my internet page.