The Sun

Today its all about the sun. Well, to be more precise, more than one, I mean the stars.  Our own sun, the closest star arrived with the start of March today- better late than never! It truly felt like the first day of spring with the new teeny crocuses and narcissi making an appearance.  

I managed to do my first couple of observations this evening of two rather more distant stars, for my astronomy course. I chose a star at the bottom left of Orion (just looked it up- called Saiph, "sword of the giant") and also Sirius (no, not Black of Harry Potter fame but the brightest star in the Canis Major constellation, meaning "glowing"). I have to line each up with a building, stand pressed against another building and note the time it passes (and not look like a weirdo in a woolly hat!). Each night the passing time will come a little earlier. I need a few readings to make my graph but with the high probability and unpredictability of cloudy nights followed by the earlier evenings on their way means I need to grab my timings when I can.

I was busy with work today so getting out for a few minutes just to take a couple of photos in the garden was lovely, the sun beating on my back and my boy making chalk whales on the patio- bliss. The colours in this picture are sunny and happy, very representative of the day as a whole. 

Happy, sunny, smiley, lovely.  :)