If you’re a UK reader, you may have noticed that we’ve had some clearer nights recently. Certainly makes a change after all the nights of mist, heavy cloud and snow (I’ve hardly had my telescope out recently). But the clearer night skies of late also coincide with fantastic news for stargazers: Mars is back at opposition this month, making it the perfect time to grab a view of the Red Planet.

It’s taken around 26 months, but our nearest neighbour will be at perfect opposition to the sun on January 29, at which point it will be the brightest object in the evening sky except for Sirius. If you’re hoping to catch a glimpse of Mars, be advised that it will rise in the evening and appear overhead at around midnight, which should be a good time to get a clear view if you can stay up.

Down from the heavens and back to events on terra firma, I’ve been using time which I would normally have spent watching the sky to enjoy some new hobbies (as you’ll know from my last few posts) and also to catch up with some friends.

First port of call was the cinema, where we watched Avatar. It’s great, especially in 3D, and I wholly recommend you go and see it (as you can tell I’m going to apply for Jonathon Ross’s job on The Film Programme when it becomes vacant). My friends and I also went back to the bingo club we visited before Christmas. Apparently bingo Manchester has been a bit quiet of late because of all the snow and bad weather but we were among those who braved a less treacherous night and actually went to a club.

As it goes, it was worth the visit, I won £10. Which is not bad considering the amount of fun we had. Considerably less fun was trying to get home afterwards – getting a taxi during the cold snap was a nightmare.

I also took the opportunity to speak to my friends about my potential move to Hebden Bridge. I’m starting to think that I might be having second thoughts, not just because of the potentially slower broadband but also because I think I’d miss town and my friends if I moved over there. I will have to continue mulling it over, but I don’t think anything will happen before summer at the earliest.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 20th, 2010 at 6:34 pm and is filed under Astronomy, Bingo, Films. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.