Stars in my eyes.......

The 'spectacular' meteor shower predicted for last night was a bit of a damp squib although I did pad outside at about 11.30pm, in my PJs and dressing gown, with Small Dog along for moral support.

Gazing skywards, it seemed to take ages for my eyes to adjust and it was about 10 minutes before I saw anything resembling a shooting star. However once I'd 'got my eye in' I did manage to spot about a dozen, whizzing around the sky. The trick, it seems, is to sort of unfocus and stare into space (literally) rather than fixing your gaze on a specific area. The meteors were so transitory that it was difficult to catch them......no sooner had I spotted one streaking across the night sky than it had gone. However, PP did join me later and we both witnessed a quite spectacular shooting star - the best of the evening.

Light pollution was a problem though, especially as Small Dog kept running up the garden, switching on the remote security light each time. Eventually I had to capture and hold on to her, at which point she calmed down and following my lead, stared up at the stars.

Perhaps she thought I was looking for the Celestial Squirrel, a little known star from the Sciurus constellation, recognisable by the cluster nebula which forms the tail.