Five past midnight in the fens...

I'm gutted that I missed seeing the Aurora Borealis yesterday...I saw the first pictures at about 11pm, and on the spur of the moment all four of us decided to head off into the fens in the hope that there might be some vestige left. Alas, we were too late...

Nevertheless it was an amazingly clear night, and was well worth the trip to experience such a beautiful starscape. This was taken in a north-westerly direction and the orangge glow is Peterborough. The very bright object more or less in the centre of the sky is Jupiter, which is sitting in the centre of the constellation of Gemini. The two bright stars above Jupiter are Castor and Pollux, regarded as twins since ancient times, even though they had different fathers.

Near the bottom of the image, just above the silhouette of a willow, you can see the three stars of Orion's Belt, one of the most readily recognised features in the night sky. The bright star above is Betelgeuse, which is a variable red supergiant, although digital sensors don't pick up the colour well. Betelgeuse marks the hunter's head, while a little way to the right are Melissa and Bellatrix, which mark the end of Orion's bow. An arc of fainter stars further near the lower right edge of the image mark out his shield.The two bright stars of Canis Minor are visible to the left of Jupiter, near the edge of the image. This is one of Orion''s two dogs, but the other isn't visible.

We didn't stay too long, as it was pretty chilly and Alex had to get up early for work this morning. But we all decided that going out at night is something we should do more of!