Solar eclipse & other planetery things
We had a solar eclipse today. It was in the evening - around 6pm or so. Clear skies. Frank made us a very simple viewing device (a piece of cardboard with a tiny hole in it). Standing with our backs to the sun, we held a plain white sheet of paper at arm's length behind the cardboard. We peered around the cardboard at the teeny image of the sun that squeezed through the pinhole and projected itself on to the paper. Clever thing really. The moon moved across the sun very slowly from the right hand side and eventually disappeared again on the left.
It was quite lovely to see this tiny display on the paper. And to remember how small we are in this amazing universe.
We also had the annual meteor shower, Perseid. Read more about it here. Apparently, the best time to see it is in the very early hours of the morning. I didn't stay up for that one though.