It's gonna be cold...

So for the last 30 or so hours, I've been following the wonderfulness that is John and Hank Green as they've been conducting an amazing fundraising project. Now in it's 6th year, Project for Awesome is an annual event that aims to decrease world suck by raising money for various charities, using Youtube as a platform. The Youtube community comes together, creating videos to promote their favourite charities. The videos are then voted on by the public, and the top 5 split the donated money between them!

This is the first year I've seen Project for Awesome, and it is pretty um... well, awesome! John and Hank (along with a few guest hosts) have been livestreaming for about 30 hours now, and the total so far is closing in on $375,000! Amazing stuff!

Now, to say I'm inspired is a slight understatement, so I've decided to do something I've been talking about doing for the last couple of years - a Christmas Day swim! Basically, first thing on Christmas morning I'll be jumping into the sea near where I live in order to raise money for 2 amazing charities. The charities I've selected are the Children's Leukaemia Association and Operation Smile. Both of these organisations do incredible work and are very deserving of donations! I'm hoping to raise €100 but honestly, I'll be happy with anything!  

So if anyone feels like sponsoring me to jump in the freezing cold Atlantic, click the link below! 

(I'm hilarious!)

Huge thanks go to anyone who donates, it is hugely appreciated! 

P.S. John and Hank also do a really awesome webseries called Crash Course, which is well worth checking out! 

Earthshine!

I was heading home from work this evening when the moon caught my eye - it's a beautiful crescent at the moment, but what I was looking at was the earthshine. I dragged my scope out as soon as I got home and snapped a few quick pics...

(Ah, happy place!) 

(Mad earthshine!!) 

Unfortunately, the clouds rolled in pretty fast and it started to rain, so I had to head back in, but t'was nice while it lasted!

A Nerd's Eye View of London

So I recently went on a trip to London to visit the blog-famous Joanne! It was a brilliant trip, and Jo very very nicely put me up in her house for the few days! While I was there I (obviously!) fully took advantage of the awesome science-nerd activities that are available in London... and there are a lot of them!

(Jo works on the top floor of the tallest building in Canary Wharf! The view is amazing!!)

We went to the Dickens Inn for dinner when I arrived and I found a knight to cuddle on the way home!

Next day, I started in the Natural History Museum! They have dinosaurs, therefore it's awesome!

       

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(Bawww!!!)

Click to see more pics!

A night of Jupiter-gazing!

Last night was the most beautiful night I've seen in ages! I spent hours outside, and by the time I got back in I couldn't feel my feet! For the rest of the night, no feet!! But it was so worth it! The atmosphere was so still and the seeing was beyond perfect!

I hadn't been planning to go out, but on the way home from the cinema, it looked so wonderful, I couldn't stay indoors! It meant I had nothing planned though, and my red-dot finder is still battery-less, so I spent most of the night aimed at Jupiter.

(You can actually make out banding on the planet through the scope.)

I managed to get this snap of Jupiter and it's moons holding my (lovely new) camera up to the eyepiece. Not the ideal way to image planets, but I'm still working on getting a webcam setup... One day I promise I will take a decent picture of Jupiter. It is my favourite planet after all! 

Just before it got too cold and my fingers stopped working, I moved slightly north of Jupiter, up to my favourite star cluster, the Pleiades! I always forget how spectacular it is through the 25mm eyepiece! So beautiful! Again, my camera doesn't even remotely do it justice!

In reality, it was much brighter and there were hundreds more stars visible! 

In other news, I'm thinking of slightly changing the focus of my blog... Still probably going to be mainly astronomy, but with more general science and nerdiness thrown in! Think costumes/crafty things I've made, tv shows/books I'm raving about and so on... Doctor Who will definitely be included, sorry Jo! 

Anyhoo, it's a beautiful night out again tonight, so I'm off to brave the cold and give the scope another whirl!