By chance we saw the International Space Station fly over us on Sunday night. On the Monday and Tuesday I took to taking photographs of it. The first ones taken on Monday were short 30 second exposures. The last photograph taken on Tuesday at 23.45 was for the full duration of the visible portion of the flight. Unfortunately camera was not pointing quite the correct way, so we don’t see it fade out.
A Buzzard visited our garden, sitting on the fence between the paddock and the garden. As I approached, the bird flew off and sat on the fence further into the paddock. It then flew into the next door field. In the process the Buzzard was mobbed by the Red Kites. A bit of a change, the Red Kites themselves are normally mobbed by the Jackdaws and Rooks.
I have been meaning to see Mars, Venus and Jupiter for the last few days, but been thwarted by not waking up and the clouds. First saw them at 2.00am on Saturday morning, saw two bright objects in the sky, low to the horizon. I thought the other object must still be below the horizon. So went back to sleep, to wake at 4.45 am to find cloud.
After the Kingswood fireworks, I set the alarm for 4.45, prepared the camera and went to bed. Woke and it was misty, but the stars were still visible. This time I saw the two bright objects high in the sky? Where was the third. Puzzled, fired up google Night Sky and searched for Mars, Venus and Jupiter. Duh, of course Mars was not as bright as Venus and Jupiter. The red planet was easily spotted with binoculars. Here is a photograph of the planets, from left to right they are Mars (red), Venus (the brightest) and Jupiter.
Mars, Venus and Jupiter on 1st November 2015 a 5.42 EDT, Kingswood, Bucks, UK
Saturday we went to our local firework display at Kingswood organised by Ian and Julie and kindly hosted by George and Annie. Ian put on the display. Burgers and sausages cooked and serverd by Duncan, Keith, Karin and Charlotte. Good time as we get to meet and chat with others from the village we might not meet every day. Selina, Phil and Julian came over as well. Selina caught up with Julie and Smeg.
Lovely still evening, no wind and remarkably warm for the end of October. The bonfire included some of the stuff we had been collecting for years, including old doors and our “thermometer” which was placed on the crossways years ago when we were trying to get people to sign up for broadband.
Kingswood Bonfire
Erected a sign and thermometer at Kingswood crossroads to publicise our broadband campaign.
