Are you complaining about the Irish weather? You seem to have assimilated well.

Only because I missed a once-in-four-centuries event because of it! (though the next lunar solstice eclipse is in a mere 80 years...)

I wonder how many once-in-four-centuries events I've missed 'cos my parents were foolish enough to have me in the latter part of the 20th Century.

Can you guess why being an astronomer in Ireland was an odd career choice?

And yet, Ireland led the world in optical astronomy for decades. Or at least, had the largest telescope in the world.

I never said we were bright.

To be fair, professional optical and near-IR astronomy isn't generally done in the UK either. An expensive observatory at the top of a nice dry mountain far away is the way to go.

I think the Leviathan may not have been in the objectively best place, but it's understandable that Mr Parsons wanted it in his garden rather than, say, a few days sea voyage away in the Canary Isles. Given the circumstances, it's a perfectly sensible solution.

Impressive beast, mind.

This side of the little pond, bellinghwoman works in a relatively modern building named Greenwich House, on the outskirts of Cambridge. Yes, it's the former offices of the Greenwich Observatory, occupied by them for only a few years during their peregrinations. Greenwich to Herstmonceux to Cambridge to Edinburgh in little more than half a century. It's just as well they didn't have bulky, fragile instruments to worry about. Oh, wait ...

(They do have a nice historic telescope in Cambridge. The better part of two centuries old, but still good enough to be able to project the image of the sun during the recent transit of Venus.)

We're in the same boat. I missed it because it was snowing here. *sigh*

Us too.

Alas.

You and me both. Spectacular moon this morning. Thought Jim Carrey had been doing his 'Bruce Almighty' trick.

We had clouds and intermittent snow from before moonrise until after moonset.

Did you get a picture of the morning after? I'd love to see it.