Comet ISON

It is strange to think that whilst I will be chomping on pizza and sipping cider tonight, one of the oldest objects in our solar system will be hurtling around the sun! The sun-grazing comet will reach perihelion (the point at which the comet is closest to the sun) this evening at 18.37 UTC/GMT, and only then will we know if comet ISON has survived the perilous heat of the sun.

According to NASA, ‘Comet ISON was first spotted 585 million miles away in September 2012’. That is five hundred and eighty five million miles away. Incredible. And now just over a year later it is but only 730,000 miles away from the sun. I find it hard to wrap my head around those figures, that distance and that vast unrelenting space.

Not only will this beautiful cluster of rock and ice look magnificent against our night sky, it will also if it survives, contribute towards scientific research; the comet is thought to be 4.6 billion years old. This means that this untouched, untainted and accessible comet is as old as our world; it could help us get closer to solving those age old questions. Oh what a cliché we are ... Always searching for that answer and never living in the moment of ultimately transient beauty.

To find out more:

http://www.cometison2013.co.uk/

Cycling: London to Amsterdam via Brussels - with all of the trimmings in between. °A Biking Adventure °

What started as a drunken suggestion between two old pals escalated quickly into the planning stages of a long bike tour, which begins in London and ends in Amsterdam, 2014.

Yes, London to Paris seems too mainstream for these two amateur cyclists (who - might I add - have never cycled outside of the UK). London to Amsterdam? Now there is something exciting; for the windmills and tulip fields appeal to the romantic swashbuckler's heart whilst the luxurious, flat roads appeal to the mind. We are in the planning stages at the moment, and at the very beginnings of that too - I don't even own the bike that I am going to be riding! I mean I do own a bike it is just very robust and weighs a tonne.

Rather brash, spontaneous and exciting - don't you think?

Stay loyal for more information on how we are getting on with planning our route to sore thighs and saddle-butt.