Tonight I had the very great pleasure of meeting fellow UMSF member John Spencer, who kindly offered to come and give a talk to my astronomical society here in Kendal whilst on holiday in the UK.

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There was a great turn-out for John's talk at the museum - almost 40 people - and his presentation on NEW HORIZONS, detailing the past, present and future of the mission was very well received and given a long and well-deserved round of applause at the end. Both during and after John's talk he was asked, and answered very fully and charmingly, a lot of very good questions about NH and previous missions he'd worked on.

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John also was more than happy to record an interview with local BBC Radio Cumbria presenter Martin Plenderleith, again about NH, for broadcast on the station this weekend.

After the meeting we retired to a local pub, where John was more than happy to chat about NH and answer even more questions over a pint of ale, which was a great round-up for the evening.

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I'd like to thank John for taking the time to come and talk to us, and for being so easy-going and happy to answer so many questions, too. Everyone was fascinated and delighted by his presentation, and was very grateful to him for taking time out of his holiday to come and talk to us. And of course, for me it was great to meet another fellow UMSFer!

Thanks John!

Well, look at you two! Very cool of John to do this (and, of course, you're perennially cool for doing these things, Stu; talk about giving back & educating!)

What on earth was John doing on the wrong side of the pond

Enjoying a well-earned hol!

It was a fantastic night, it really was. Spookily, John and I both dressed all in black, but whereas I was told by one of my members that I looked "very funereal" (cheek!) he was told he looked "very smart"... then back at the pub later someone commented that we looked like members of the Johnny Cash Appreciation Society... See how much respect I get?!?!

Ahh, you always did "Walk the Line...." ...take it as a compliment!

Actually I was wondering what he was doing over in the UK as well. (Clearly, I gotta get a job that allows neat trips like that and/or pays me enough to afford such vacations...just figured out what 'hol' meant!)

I think you need to get more sleep Stu. You look really tired.

Thanks.

Apparently, nobody in the UK ever sleeps; too much fun stuff to do! I'm thinking of emigrating...

Oh don't get me wrong. You're a good looking fella. I meant it more out of concern for a friend. I know I could do with more sleep these days.

EDIT: On second thought I should probly just stop digging.

No, I meant thanks I appreciate the concern, as in oh my god, I do look tired, don't I..?

zzzzz time now... it's 1am here and I'm up again for work at 6.

Don't sell the Homeworld while I'm away, ok?

Ah, sleep...I remember it well. Used to do it quite often--almost daily--as I recall.

While Allison was away several weeks ago I had overlapping sick/lonely/restless kids coming in to get me during the night so that I was getting about 2 hours total. The following week when I was on my vacation in New England I went to bed at 11:00pm in Concord, New Hampshire and was stunned that I slept until 10:30 am the next moring. Wow that felt great. You gotta love those heavy dark hotel curtains and the quietness of a midweek hotel room on the 3rd floor.

Sounds good. I've been going from leaving for work @ 0600 to leaving for work at 2400 (midnight!) for a couple of days, so my bod really hasn't figured out just what the hell is going on....

But, but, but, but... they offered me *cash*, Stu! Twelve whole dollars! And all these really neat trinkets!

Sorry, everybody...

-the other Doug

I think this might have something to do with it.
http://www.saturnaftercassini.org/conference_schedule.htm
" 14:30 Chapter (22) Enceladus : a cryovolcanic active satellite (Spencer) "

If the boss pays your flight, you might as well tag on a foreign holiday

Some more sleepless nights coming up 10-11-12 August with the Perseids meteor showers

Yeah... . That's a great shower, for sure.

As a kid in Montana, I spent a couple of Aug 11ths camping way, way out in the boondocks, far away from city lights of any sort in a flat high-altitude area with unobstructed horizons...talk about spectacular, never knew how good I had it. Half the time the northern horizon had a dim green auroral glow, the zodiacal light was very obvious, and the Perseids were everywhere. The limiting magnitude for visual observation had to be 7 or greater (towards morning, you could see 10 or 11 Pleiades), and the smaller Perseids would blast through every few seconds...unforgettable.

By far, my favorite memory is a bright bolide that actually exploded right in the bowl of the Big Dipper. That persisted for more than a minute...still can't believe I actually saw something like that.

Nowt foreign about it- I grew up about 50 miles from Kendal, in Colne, Lancashire. In fact as I said at the time, I'd visited the meeting venue, Kendal Museum, back in 1972. Anyway, I had a wonderful time- great to meet UMSF legend Stu in the flesh, and I got a lovely reception from everyone at the Society. Thanks, Stu, for posting the pictures!

And yes, I was in the UK for the Saturn meeting and the Enceladus talk. Well spotted, remcook!

John.