Jupiter and the Moon

I watched the last episode of the Frozen Planet last night. It really has been the most extraordinary series. It is rather sobering to realise just how much the ice in the Arctic is thinning. I'm not sure I'd want to be camped out near the North Pole as the cracks start appearing, as we witnessed some people doing in this final show. The suggestion is that it will only be a matter of a few years before there will be open water at the pole in the summer. That just doesn't feel right. It gives me an image in my head of all the sea running away from the top of the world if there is nothing to hold it in place!

With rain and gales forecast for today, I decided to walk up to the Lower Tarn before going to bed last night. I was keen to try a few night-time shots, hoping to bag an early blip and avoid having to get out in today's bad weather. Jupiter is so intense at the moment. It was shining brightly even through a layer of cloud. I'm not sure how many people know that the brightest 'stars' in the sky are actually our planetary neighbours. I don't think this kind of thing gets taught in schools. I can easily imagine that young people in our cities have never seen a true star-studded night sky. And I'm sure very few indeed would be able to identify the planets. That thought makes me feel quite sad.

I was reminded, though, that this is something I need to see myself more often. It requires a bit of effort to get away from the light pollution which is everywhere, even in a small town like Ilkley. Last summer I was lucky enough to spend a couple of hours gazing at the Milky Way from a mountain village over 10,000 feet up in the mountains of Peru. That was utterly magical, for the southern sky is so much more spectacular than our sky in the north, but even at sea level, on a clear dark night, the experience is a magical one. To stand agape before the universe in this way surely provides the ultimate sense of place, and a sharp awareness of both the fragility and the ridiculous improbability of our existence. I think that's healthy.

When was the last time you stood and wondered at a brilliant night sky? Tonight, for those of is in the UK at least, probably won't be the best time to see one, but the next clear night we have, will you make a virtual date with me to find somewhere dark to simply gaze awhile?