Astroblog: Umm, about the occultation of Neptune

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Umm, about the occultation of Neptune

I haven't been as diligent in updating over the past few weeks, even with the exciting comet Holmes around. I've had some really persistent viral thing, Sky&Space deadlines and el mucho exam marking to do.

So I forgot to mention the occultation of Neptune. Heck I forgot it myself. On the day I spent a large chunk of it sitting in a doctors waiting room, only to find that although I feel like death warmed up, there appears to be nothing wrong with me. Then in the evening Chez Reynella headed of to be part of the Port Adelaide Twilight Christmas Parade. We formed part of the contingent walking with SmalestOnes kindergarten. We all wore elf hats or reindeer ears as part of the Christmas Spirit, and handed out small containers of bubble mix to the crowds. So the parade was accompanied by a cloud of rainbow bubbles.

Again, like Halloween, Christmas doesn't quite work in Australia.

It's hard to conjure up images of snow when at 8:00 pm in the evening it is quite bright and around 30 degrees C .

Still, the kids had fun, Santa Claus arrived in a sleigh pulled by a red FJ Holden. Then we hung out at the street festival, listened to kids bands and danced to Jungle Jooce (a sort of 70's -80's cover band, I think). SmallestOne even tried some break dancing (not entirely intentionally, I think). Then we watched the fireworks and went home with a car full of tired pumpkins.

And so I fell asleep, completely forgetting about the occultation (or finishing my bit for Sky&Space). I don't think I could have stayed up even if I had remembered. Ironically, the skies were beautifully clear. Over Australia, most sites were clouded out, a couple of people saw it though. Oh well, I only have to wait until 2017 for another chance at a Neptune occultation.

# posted by Ian Musgrave @ 10:31 pm