The no-longer-full Moon hung like a big shiny coin in the pale blue morning sky today.
I hold a deep seated fascination with all things astronomical and the girls seem to have picked this up too. They ask lots of questions about the Sun and the Moon and the stars and I'm so happy when I can answer them.
Last night there was a kids' science show on the telly in the evening. An astronomer illustrated the size differences between the Sun and the Earth, and both girls were completely fascinated.
The nights are getting darker and soon it's dark early enough for the girls to look at the constellations before bed. Isabel's born in July and is a Cancer and she wanted to see her constellation.
I told her we'd have to look up what it looks like and when we might be able to see it. I'm not sure we can see it in the Northern Hemisphere.
Sofia's a Gemini and that constellation is actually visible this time of year, but it rises late in the evening so we night not see it.
I'm a Pisces and I'm pretty sure I can see that here as well.
On Saturday the Earth passed through the Draconids. Rickard and I went outside at 11 pm to see if we could see any shooting stars. There weren't many, but the sky was clear and I could see most of the constellations I know by heart.
Ursa Major, Ursa Minor and Polaris, The Pleiades, Cassiopeia were all visible but Orion hadn't risen yet. Jupiter was a bright dot, almost like a star.
I think we need to find a book with the Greek mythology stories regarding the constellations.
Rickard has an app on his phone that helps you find the constellations in the night sky. You just hold it up and it uses GPS signals to help you locate the stars, galaxies, planets etc. It even lets you "see through" the Earth at constellations on the other side of the planet that we will never see here.
