Standing stone

It’s 50 years since a group of undergraduates from the Cambridge University Astronomical Society had a holiday surveying megalithic sites in Argyll to investigate possible astronomical alignments. It was a lot of fun, and we even wrote it up and the results were published in a paper in Nature 253, 431‑433 (1975) which was probably something of an achievement at the time, though I’m not sure that we realised how much!

We had a great time meeting up and revisiting old haunts in the area.

Trinity College Great Court

I recently attended the Annual Gathering at my college for those who matriculated in 1972 and 1973. It was very enjoyable, and great to be back with old friends in very familiar surroundings after such a long time.

After a period of rather sporadic posts on here, I am finally (I think) in a fit state of mind to post a bit more stuff, and catch up with some of the things that might have been posted at the time. The last few years have been hard for many people, and though physically I have been fine, the effect of lockdowns and the abysmal behaviour of many governments in particular depressed me greatly. Let’s hope that people are never daft enough to let it happen again.

Advent crown

Posts have been sparse this year. I am really pleased with my telescope but haven’t yet taken any more photos that I consider to be worth posting about. Most communication is directly with friends and family, which is definitely what I prefer; I have pretty well had enough of social media. I’m looking forward to a peaceful festive season and hoping for a better New Year for everyone.