I have had a lifelong fascination with the skies. I put this down to my father being a WW2 bomber pilot. Dad used to fly Wellingtons on night missions to bomb axis sites. He told me that pften he'd be overwhelmed by the sheer beauty of the skies. He saw meteorites, lunar eclipses and all manner of other things. He was taught astral navigation as part of his pilot qualification. If your compass failed, you had to know where the North Star was to get home safely! Dad explained that with the North Star and a watch, you could navigate anywhere in the Northern Hemisphere. He also informed me that if Germans were chasing you and ou needed to evade them, move at night and navigate by the stars. He bought me a chart of the night sky and would point out the constellations to me. It cemented an abiding love. He also bought me a small telescope for my 11th birthday. I would look for the crescent of venus, the moons of Jupiter and rings of Saturn. I felt affirmation of this love when my favourite musicians such as Bowie did Starman, Space Oddity and Life on Mars and Steve Miller did Space Cowboy (although maybe I misunderstood this connotation!). I have enjoyed many moments looking at the skies, although some have been a disappointment. Anyway here are my top ten moments
1. The partial Solar Eclipse on May 20th 1966. This happened at about 10 in the morning. I was 3 3/4 and I'd not started school. Life was good. Dad was very excited about it. He brought home a welding mask and showed it to me. He explained that the Chinese believed that it was a dragon eating the Sun. It never occureed to me to question this until now, but I just googled it and this was what came up "Yes, ancient Chinese mythology held that solar and lunar eclipses occurred when a celestial dragon or a heavenly dog (tiangou) tried to devour the sun or moon." . Dad explained all about eclipses and used a table tennis ball and a football to show how it worked. My Dad had been a pilot instructor for the RAF and I realise now he was an excellent teacher. Just because I was three years old, was no reason not to explain things properly.
2. Lunar Eclipse January 18th 1973. My sister Caroline was most excited about this. When there is a lunar eclipse, the Moon turns dark blood red. It was really spooky. We sat up on the balcony and watched it. Dad told us about watching a lunar eclipse when he was on leave in Italy in 1944. He said his crew drank wine and stared up. He said that he was wondering whether my Mum was looking up at the eclipse and thinking of him!
3. Watching a satellite pass overhead with the family in our garden in 1966. I recall Dad dragging us all out into the garden to watch a satellite pass overhead. It seemed like a big event. Dad was always fascinated by such things. He explained that as we could only see sateliites because they reflected light, they were only visible just after sunset. Now there are so many that we've lost our wonder.
4. Comet Kouhoutek January 1974. This was billed as perhaps the most spectacular comet ever, when first detected. It was going to be the brightest thing in the sky, barring the Sun. But it was nothing like that. It was a faint splodge in the sky when viewed through binoculars. I was much excited by comets at the time, however none has lived up to the hype.
5. The Bovedy Meteorite in 1969. This was the single most spectacular thing I ever saw. As was my want as a kid, I was sitting out on our balcony staring at the stars and suddenly this amazing fireball passed overhead travelling south to north. I'd never seen anything like it. It was on the news later, it crashed in Northern Ireland. Had it been a bit bigger, maybe I'd have met the same fate as the dinsosaurs! It was one of those moments I'll never forget.
6. The Persiends meteor shower in 1982. This is the most spectacular of all the regular meteor showers. In 1982, a bunch of us decided to watch it properly. We went up to Dunstable downs and took a picnic. I thought it was amazing, my then girlfriend was far less impressed. She enjoyed the night out and the socialising, but thought it all a waste of time! I googled why it was supposedly a special one and the reason was because it was a new moon, so the sky was darker than usual.
7. UFO in 1972. As I mentioned, I used to love sitting out on our balcony looking at the stars for hours on end, before I discovered punk rock and girls. The holy grail for me was to see a UFO. I used to hope they'd abduct me and give me trip around Mars, Venus and Saturn. I wasn't aware of the claims of the terrible things they are meant to do then. I usually sat staring at the stars, when I was supposed to be doing my homework. I never saw one until one time I was staring up at the night sky. I saw a strange orange cigar shaped object travelling from Southwest to Northeast. It had no lights or other markings. It made no noise. It travelled at the speed that a plane normally would. The conditions were perfect. I never saw anything like it again. There were no press reports of anything. It was rather mundane in every other way. As it passed directly overhead, I got a proper look at it with binoculars. It had no distinguishing features at all. This is what it looked like. I did this on paintshop, but even if I'd had the best camera in the world it would look. What was it? I've always wondered. It was not chased by the RAF. It was either massive or at the height that planes normally fly over London. It was evenly lit, so I do not believe it was reflecting light, as it was well past sunset. It was moving far too fast to be a balloon. I am sure that there is a mundane explanation, but I've never had one. Apparently 17% of UFO sightings are this shape, but not normally this colour. I know what it wasn't. A planet. a metorite, a comet, a conventional plane, a balloon or a satellite. As I knew all of the stars etc, and checked the satellite tables in the papers, I knew it wasn't one of them. A satellite wouldn't have a shape like that visible with the naked eye. I asked my Dad about it, I assumed he'd know. He said "Draw a picture of it, describe all of the conditions, and sooner or later you'll figure it out". I haven't!
8. The near total solar eclipse in London. The 11th August 1999 there was a near total solar eclipse over London. I was working for Centrefile and we went up on the roof. It was quite eerie and the temperature dropped several degrees. I was pretty overawed by it. When the moment passed, we all went to the pub!
9. Two Suns in the sky. I saw this with my mates John McGeough and Pete Conway in the infant school playground at St Vincents in 1968. We all wrote about it in our "News" book. The teacher told us not to be so silly and that we shouldn't make stories up. I told my Dad about it, he said it was called a Sun Dog and was caused by ice crystals in the sky forming and orb like configuration and reflecting the Sun , appearing as a 2nd Sun. He told me it was rare and we were very lucky to see it. Around this time I started doubting whether my teachers were worth listening to at all!
10. A black line in the sky. Regular readers will know I walk my dogs regularly and I always keep an eye on the skies. About 10 years ago, I was in Mill Hill park and I saw the most strange straight black line, in a clear blue sky. It looked as if someone had taken a pen and drawn it across the sky. Apart from the fact that it was completely straight, I would have said it was a massive rope. I was thinking "That is really strange" when I noticed a plane flying along the line. Behind the plane is what some people call a chemtrail and others call a contrail, that blotted out the black line. It was the most curious thing I've ever seen. I have done some research and the best explanation I have seen is that it was a shadow cast by the contrail. Had I known this possible explanation, I'd have checked the postion of the Sun, but as mundane explanations of odd things go, it is very plausable.
Writing this blog made me realise just how much I miss my Dad, even though he's been gone for 39 years. He was a sane, rational man, who always sought answers and neve dismissed what even my teachers dismissed as childish fantasies. I often discussed UFO's with him. He said that he knew dozens of pilots who'd seen bizarre things. He said that people such as pilots are good observers and cannot be dismissed. He said that if something is unexplained, you shouldn't assume anything. He said that in his opinion, there is no reason why there shouldn't be more advanced civilisations in the Universe, but there are all manner of practical reasons why it would be very unlikely for them to account for most of the sightings. He said that usually a simple explanation eventually surfaces, such as undocuented atmospheric phenomina, experimental military craft, optical illusions. However to discount every testamony or to ascribe things that were clearly "bad answers" to difficlt questions was most counter productive. His view was that most sensible, advanced aliens would probably give us a wide berth until we learned how to peacefully co-exist with each other, before they sought to engage with us. It is a view that I have realised is very wise. He sought to educate me and taught me to ask questions and seek answers. I couldn't be luckier really to have had such a man in my life.
