Carpe Diem

In a few hours (Friday at 00.27 UK time; 19.27 EST on Thursday in US), an asteroid the size of a small truck (though estimates of its size range from 3.5 to 9.5 metres) will fly over Cape Horn at a distance of about 3600km. That's roughly half the distance from Cape Horn to Panama - close enough to see the smile on its face. "Don't worry", says NASA, "there was never any chance it would hit us" (I paraphrase), "what's more, if it had been on a collision course it would have broken up in the atmosphere and just (just!) created a few large meteorites". Reassured? I'm not sure I am

What would be reassuring is to know that this event had been foreseen for years, and that it was detected by one of the near-earth object monitoring projects created for the purpose. Er, no. It was detected by an amateur astronomer called Gennady Borisov (his real name, honestly), on Saturday!!!

I spent some of today trying to find out about Mr Borisov, without a lot of success, though he is much celebrated in amateur astronomy circles. He is genuinely amateur, in that he does not do astronomy observations for a living, but he does have an astronomy degree and his job is to design and build telescopes, so he has a head start on most of us. But even given that, he is quite a phenomenon. He builds his own kit, of course; at the beginning, he even ground his own mirrors. He discovered the first inter-stellar comet ever observed (one not orbiting the sun) - which is now comet Borisov, of course - and in total he has discovered nine comets, as well as several other near-earth objects. His life ambition now is to find ten comets, but he reckons he only has 2 to 5 years before the window of opportunity for amateur astronomers closes for good

He is Russian and lives and works in Crimea, which of course puts him at the centre of current world events. I searched in vain for any hint of what he might think about that, or how it might be affecting him. I found that he has two sons, which I suppose could mean he has even more at stake. I watched a face to face interview with him, with a hilarious in-line English translation, but it was an astronomy channel - a geek interviewing a geek - so the only personal information I got was that when he found his first comet, he woke his wife to tell her (her reaction was not reported)

I'm reminded slightly of William Herschel, who joined the Hanovarian army in the mid 18th century to pursue a career in music. He was posted to Britain (at the time, George II was king of Britain and Hanover) but recalled to fight in the seven-years war. He deserted, to return to England, and had an enormously successful career as a musical performer, conductor, composer and impresario. At the same time, in collaboration with his equally-brilliant sister, Caroline, he was a highly inventive and successful amateur astronomer, designing and building his own telescopes, grinding and coating his own mirrors by hand. From the back garden of his house in Bath, he discovered the planet Uranus, the first-discovered planet that cannot be seen with the naked eye. His former house is now a small museum, which does a good job of conveying the complexity of his life

I've snapped these Aconites several times, as a hopeful reminder of spring advancing, but other blips keep intruding. I planted them "in the green" a couple of years ago, and I'm pleased with how they have thrived. I thought I should get them out there today, before anything drastic happens