Thursday 8 March 2012

Ladies and Gentlemen...Mercury!

The words of Captain Kaneda of the Icarus 2 were in my head, the beautiful music of the film Sunshine in my ears, and smack in front of me, floating on the top of a layer of jade green twilight, was planet Mercury.

The fact that given the window related shenanigans I had gone through to see it the night before, the fact I was watching it on my bike ride home from work seemed crazy.

It was about 3 and a half times the distance from Venus to Jupiter, and rather below an imaginary line connecting the two. It was about half a hand span above the horizon - say 8-10 degrees and plain as day, nothing anywhere near it in the sky.

It was a hell of a distraction as I cycled home, luckily it was still there visible through my bedroom window for a short while, sinking towards the cruel all swallowing horizon.

Can't belive I found it so easily after so long, although without the Venus Jupiter conjunction I think I would have struggled. But even at my ok not so collosal age, I'm glad I can still find new things to wonder at.

And I didn't share Kaneda's grim fate after he saw Mercury!

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