Stargazing

We got a big telescope for Christmas, not observatory big but consumer level big - it takes up space in the house. It's fancy too, we can mount an iPhone on it.

An app uses its black magic to know where you are looking and takes you on a guided tour of celestial objects.

With the prospect of the Lyrid meteor shower lighting up the night sky I threw the scope over my shoulder and announced we were hiking up the hill behind the house.

"Expect to see around 10 to 15 meteors an hour with surges of activity that could bring up to 100 an hour." Said the beeb, and with a clear sky I was hopeful.

Of course I didn't see a single meteor but that didn't matter. Luca claimed 3, maybe 5 and I do believe we saw 3 of Jupiters moons.

We didn't stay out too long, you can push these things too far. The experience of hiking up through the trees, playing with head torches, surprising bugs and breaking the evening routine made it worthwhile.

It has felt like a long winter, this felt like a reawakening.