Image from Google My DH and I have spent the last couple of nights stargazing. The weather has been cool overnight and so the sky is clear and the stars bright. Above is the Southern Cross which we saw last night; we also saw Lupus Lupi (the wolf) and Corvus Corvi (the crow). Special stars especially for me to see. But the big thrill of the night was seeing Saturn through the telescope - and even its rings. Truly mind-blowing. So very far away and yet we are lucky enough to stand in our backyard and see it. Truly there is such majesty in the night's sky - the inky, infinite blackness and that great expanse of glimmering white.
When I was little, we had a set of old encyclopedias at home from the 1930s. In them was a drawing showing how far it was and how long it would take to get to the Moon on an express train (with peculiarly specific parameters like 'if it left from Victoria Station'). To consider ploughing vertically through the blackness for six months on a train was too much for my small brain. I would always have to shut the book and come back to it later. The whole subject just overhwhelmed me!
