Mars attacks

Mars attacks
To Hampstead Observatory last night on an impromptu invitation from Candace & Paul. Mars is as close to Earth as it gets, and its disc can be seen through the Hampstead Scientific Society’s 6-inch telescope. All I could see was a blurry white disc, but I was assured that this was exciting, being much larger than the much smaller disc I would normally see. Outside the dome, a smaller telescope was aimed at the Pleiades and I gazed through it as long as I decently could. In the telescope’s tiny field a small patch of stars burned cold, clear and sharp. Afterwards at home to calm down with the last of the summer beer.