.....There's a star man.....

So here it is! The new Wow! factor in my lab.
A 4m by 3m image of Galaxy Cluster M101.
Can be seen near the Plough (Great Bear/Big Dipper/Ursa Major) with a telescope
25 000 000 light years away from earth, photographee by the Hubble Space telescope and reproduced by permission of NASA.
Made up of at least 1 TRILLION stars, of which approximately 100 000 000 000 are similar to our Sun.
Twice the size of our galaxy, the Milky Way, it is 170 000 light years across.
As well as M101 the cluster also contains galaxies, NGC 5204, NGC 5474, NGC 5477, NGC 5585 and Holmber IV.
On August 24th 2011 a type 1a Suoernova was spotted in the cluster.

Impressive or what?

Took this blip at 7.55 this morning, later saw two other brilliant shots I could have used...... a terrific sunset.....and at the end of the quiz tonight at the Shoulder of Mutton, up in the hills......a goat in the bar!

Typical....days scratching round for a blip....then three come along at once!

Tonights quiz....our first win of the season....what a relief!

First round, really tough questions.
Score 3-4
Round 2 Individual questions, drew 5-5
My topic? TV girls "Who played the part of Diane in Cheers"?....dragged up Shelley Long from somewhere and then got a bonus with "Who played Hotlips in M*A*S*H"? Loretta Switt
Score 8-9
Round 3 Won 4-8
Score 12-17
Round 4 drew 4-4
Score 16-21
Round 5 won 4--9 Score 20-30
Round 6 won 8-9
Score 28-39
Round 7 Indidviduals again, won 2-8
My question on the theme of Pilgrims. Gained a bonus first when the opposition didn't know where Oceanus Hopkins was born....worked out it had to be aboard the Mayflower and then my question "Which ship was abandoned in Plymouth Harbour before the Pilgrims even began their voyage"? again dragged up the answer from some deep dusty corner of the brain...The Speedwell.
Score 31-47
Final round drew 5-5

Final score 36-52.

A few for you.

1. What was the code name for the German bombing raid on Covebtry during WWII?
2. What was the name for the British part of the Berlin Air Lift?
3. Which Castle in Kent is the residence of the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports?
4. Born in 1813 which composer wrote a Faust Symphony in 1840?
5 The Sounds of Silence theme
a) What is the common name given to the order of Cistercian monks who uphold a vow of silence/
b) Which part was played by Sir Anthony Hopkins in The Silence of the Lambs?
c) What do Americans call a silencer on a car?
d) Which Shaekspeare play ends with the line "The rest is silence"?
6. Which Italian explorer died destitute in 1506 at Valladolid?
7. E numbers are found on many food labels, what does the E stand for?
8. Which Italian artist died insane at Amois Castlein France?
9. Which European country is divided into nine states two of which are Corinthia and Styria (Careful, not as obvious as it looks)?
10. Until the 13th Century Coimbra was the Capital city of which European state?



Das vidanya moy padruga.




Answers
1. Moonlight Sonata
2. Plane Fare
3. Walmer Castle
4. Wagner
5. a) Trappists, b) Dr Hanniabal Lecter, c) Muffler, d) Hamlet
6. Christopher Colombus
7. European
8. Leonardo da Vinci
9. Austria
10 Portugal.