I met at astronaut!

Last Saturday, I awoke at 5.30am, hopped on a train to Cork city, then a 3 hour bus to Dublin for a small adventure.

Commander Chris Hadfield was doing a book signing in Easons on O'Connell Street and I was determined to see him. He was incredible during his time on the ISS, sharing details of life in space with everyone via twitter and youtube. I am a huge fan, and so to Dublin I went.

For some reason, I was not expecting there to be many people at the signing. I figured maybe 50 or 100 people would show up to see an astronaut signing his book. This is Ireland after all, and I didn't think there was a particularly huge space fan-base here. 

Boy, was I wrong. 

I arrived in Easons at 11.10, and saw what looked like a fairly short queue so I had a little wander around the shop for a few minutes. I figured I should pick up a copy of the book, but I couldn't find one. I asked an assistant, who seemed awfully stressed and she told me that they were selling so fast, they had moved all the remaining copies behind the counter. I headed up and bought one, and the lady behind the counter told me they could no longer guarantee a signed copy to anyone not already queuing. So I went to the back of the queue where I was met by a security guard who directed me out the door to the actual back of the queue, which stretched several hundred people down the street! 

I was amazed to see so many people there. And such a mix of people. I was speaking to an elderly man for a bit, and there was a family with a little girl in the queue in front of me, and a family with two teenage boys behind me. And absolutely everyone was in such good form. Despite the pouring rain and freezing cold, and the fact that we were queuing outside for 2 hours, everyone was visibly happy and excited. It was brilliant to see. 

So 2 and a half hours after I arrived in Easons, I got to meet Commander Hadfield. He was super nice, very humble and gracious. I had to shake his hand, cos you know, when am I going to get to touch an astronaut again?! He said 'Thanks for waiting' and I said 'Thanks for coming to Ireland!' 

A super nice security guard took this photo for me. I think my excitement is visible. Also my damp coat.

All in all, it lasted about 30 seconds, but it was completely worth it. A great day! 

PS. His book is a great read. Highly recommended.

Gravity! *Potential Spoilers*

I've now seen Gravity in the cinema twice, in both 2D and in 3D. It is awesome. Stunningly beautiful to watch, and pretty much non-stop action from start to finish.

Obviously, a certain amount of artistic licence is taken, and the film is not 100% realistic. I was so caught up in the story that most of the inaccuracies went over my head, but the one I noticed was, during the crying scene, when Sandra Bullocks tears did a sort of sweet, gently floating off her face thing.

I remembered a video Commander Chris Hadfield did showing how crying in space really works...

...And it was nowhere near as sexy as Sandra made it look! 

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! 

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!

The game is afoot!

I was reading a thread of astronomy jokes recently and this one popped into my head. It combines two of my very favourite things; stars and Sherlock Holmes!

Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson were going camping. They pitched their tent under the stars and went to sleep. 

Sometime in the middle of the night Holmes woke Watson up and said: "Watson, look up at the stars, and tell me what you see." 

Watson replied: "I see millions and millions of stars." 

Holmes said: "And what do you deduce from that?" 

Watson replied: "Well, if there are millions of stars, and if even a few of those have planets, it’s quite likely there are some planets like Earth out there. And if there are a few planets like Earth out there, there might also be life." 

And Holmes said: "Watson, you idiot, it means that somebody stole our tent."

According to Wikipedia, this is the second funniest joke in the world...

Happy Towel Day!

A towel, it says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have.

If you don't get this, then check this out. Thank me later!

Cloudy skies: Day 9

In no particular order, here's a list of my favourite space-related songs!

1. Space Oddity - David Bowie

2. Saturn 5 - Inspiral Carpets

3. The Space Race Is Over - Billy Bragg

4. Starman - David Bowie

5. We Are All Connected -  Symphony of Science

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This is keeping me happy until the clouds go away and I can take the telescope outside again!

It's May, what is going on with the weather!? 

This. A Thousand Time, This!

My sister sent me this today.

Sort of sums up what it is I love so much about astronomy and space... 

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A friend then posted this to my facebook page!

Love!