another starry picture

....here's Leo, and a fireball, and the Alton Barnes white horse as seen from the canal near Honeystreet. Just a picture I wanted to do; and the generator charged up the boat batteries while I had the big computer running so that I could do the digital processing....

Been v busy sending off Christmas orders lately. I did a small print run of cards for my own use, like this- life on board nb Eve...

...I scanned it before I coloured it; was thinking I might do a colouring book, as they seem quite popular at the mo. If that is your thing, feel free to download the pic and have a go!

fire in the sky

hale bopp, originally uploaded by Dru Marland.

I was up on the roof at twenty to ten last night, ready to watch the International Space Station go by. It was a clear, still evening; a polar satellite quietly passed northward, far overhead, skimming the handle of the Plough as it went.

Two minutes short of the appointed time for the ISS to appear, a great fireball streaked across the sky above me, leaving a long trail and flickering and sparking as it went. I thought momentarily that it was a firework; but it was too white, and too silent. Utterly silent.

Then the ISS appeared, and ascended to a zenith right overhead, and so declined to the eastern horizon, dimming as it dived into the earth's shadow. Ordinarily, it would have been pretty impressive; tonight, though, it had been seriously outstaged. As I watched, my mobile rang. It was Brendagh, over in Long Ashton; "Did you see that?"

Later, I looked on Twitter. Other people around Bristol had also seen it; and someone in Reading, for whom it had been in the West.

Here's a picture of Hale-Bopp, which was really quite unlike a fireball in some ways, but was also a silent presence in the sky.

a low pass

a low pass, originally uploaded by Dru Marland.

This chap flew by, the other day, while we sat on the edge of the gorge. Very exciting it was too.

There's something about bridges that seems to attract aeroplanes. The best-known flight under the Clifton Suspension Bridge was one that ended in disaster; a Vampire jet fighter, that safely flew under the bridge but then appeared to attempt a roll and crashed into the cliff on the Leigh Woods side of the gorge.

Looking around over on PPRUNE, though, it seems that several other jets had previously flown under this bridge, too. Including a Gloster Meteor, a Canberra B2, and possibly a Hawker Hunter. One poster reckoned that it was quite a popular activity, and the pilots would fly low until well out over the Bristol Channel to remain invisible to radar, to avoid being identified and reprimanded....

the Hunter

the Canberra