Philipp Fauth's Map of the Moon

Philipp Fauth (1867 - 1941) was a German amateur astronomer who is best known for two things: his advocacy of Hans Hörbiger's semi-crackpot Welteislehre, and his amazing, highly detailed contour maps of the Moon.  The above image is a small section of his great lunar map on which he was working when he died.  Fauth's son later completed it and the map was finally published in 1964.  The contour lines are not based on proper measurements but are careful estimates based on drawings.  The large crater in the bottom right corner is Tycho.  A good account of the Philipp Fauth and his Moon Atlas can be found in The Astronomical Scrapbook, Joseph Ashbrook, 1984.

Early Morning Birds

Today I woke at 6am and left for the train at my normal time of 7am.  In spite of the sky being overcast, it felt strangely light; I had to look at my watch to check that it wasn't really 8am.  Maybe I felt that way because I had just had a particularly good night's sleep.

High over the River Kennet in the town centre, 5 cormorants flew in from the north-east, followed the river for a while and then turned towards the north-west.  Cormorants flying always remind of F-111 fighter-bombers with their wings in the forward position.  It must be something in the shape of the nose and the position of the wings along the fuselage.  They seem less back-heavy than geese and swans.

A bit further along an indian-looking man was creating a tremendous racket by simultaneously feeding the ducks on the river and the pigeons on the bank.  Splashing and quacking, and loud honks from Canada geese flying in to join the fun.  I don't think the inhabitants of  the nearby expensive flats will be too keen on being woken by this early morning feeding frenzy.  Just around the corner, a blackbird was quietly perched on a hawthorn bush, looking as if it was trying to pluck up the courage to go and join the pigeons.

The Misanthropic Principle

From a comment by Blake Stacey on a post at Evolution Blog:

...  "If the fundamental constants or physical laws of the Universe were the slightest iddle-widdle bit different, then evil could not exist. Therefore, the Universe must have been finely tuned for evil!"
I call it my Misanthropic Principle.

The 9-Day Old Moon

One of the pictures from Ball's Popular Guide to the Heavens that inspired me to take up astronomy back in 1971.  Even now it gives me a little thrill to look at it.

Kitchen Castle

Last weekend Zoe had to build a model castle for her history homework and this was the result.  I gave her some help with the gatehouse and the buildings in the courtyard but the rest of it was all her own work.  The outer walls are attached to the gatehouse, keep and turrets by small strips of velcro, which made it possible to dismantle the whole thing for transporting to school in a carrier bag.