US skywatchers get Earth's first peek at new meteor shower Astronomers, both professional and amateur, are gearing up for the first glimpse of a meteor shower as our planet moves thought the trail of a recently discovered visitor from the stars. Comet 209P/LINEAR was first spotted in 2004, and was first thought to be a large asteroid or minor planet – but as it fell sunwards it began …
"It may have even existed before the Earth existed, and there it is burning up right in front of you. So you're watching a billions of years journey end right in front of your eyes.”
Astronomy is probably the best way to get a sense of proportions... Well, screw it, do anyone have a piece of fairy cake?
Ah, the BBC series of the 80's. The theme music and titles were really scary, my sister used to leave the room. The other thing that sticks in my memory is the bloke from '2.4 children' as Torrence, and what a crap job he did of it too, totally un-threatening as a villan. I read the book many years later, which was short, very dated, but alright. The Howard Keil film though, that was shit.
"I read the book many years later, which was short, very dated, but alright."
I was amused recently by the thought of the expensive designer flat where Bill and Jo holed up for a while, because it might have cost 2000 pounds in rent for a year, and how that compared to my not-so expensive flat in a village between Oxford and Reading. Well, that and the flat I saw advertised in Finsbury Square (on the City Road north of Moorgate tube) somewhere around 2006. The rent? About 800 a *week*, or more than 41000 pounds a year.
Inflation, gotta love it.
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