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w/e 11 January 2026
Well, it’s been a cracking start to the new year with an outing to Royston Lake and a trip to Topsham Rugby Club to enjoy ladies rugby…for my husband Royston’s birthday weekend treats. In all the years I have lived in Honiton, I had not been to the area around Otterhead Lakes let alone seen the name Royston Lake, although to be fair, it was not something on my radar. Nevertheless, it is an unusual name. But not only that, there are two large tumuli next to the road to Taunton which I had not seen either, even though I have driven along there many times. Rugby is not really my ‘thing’ but the game was reasonably fast paced and the team had been coached by Roy’s son so it was good to support him. The chat with friends and the hot chocolate and cake in front of the log fire were much enjoyed, too.
With the lighter evenings gradually returning it is worth wrapping up warmly to enjoy Jupiter at opposition. What does this mean? It means that the massive, bright planet is opposite the setting sun so it’s easy to find in the night sky. I saw it last week through the Lockyer telescope at the Norman Lockyer Observatory in Sidmouth, with the 4 little Galilean moons nearby. Don’t forget the mornings for observing too, if you have time. The sun is still not rising before 8 yet so you have a couple of comfortable viewing hours.
Last but not least, come and listen to me talking about stargazing with copies of my books for sale at Seaton Library on Saturday 17 January at 2pm.
Top of the tumuli
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2026
And a woman still has to prove her identity every single time. Surely, by now there must be an easier way for organisations to check identity. The Inland Revenue know who and where we are, surely this information could be made available to others seeking verification? I cannot face going through all my papers yet again – wasn’t expecting to need to do this anymore so deleted info from my laptop – in order to take on a study role. I will plough on with my research and hope to find some funding elsewhere at some stage.
And another thing….a young lady has just been awarded a new music award…with a sad back story, but I would like to see my friend Iryna Ilnytska achieve a much-deserved wider audience too. She has a back story. Born in Ukraine, family home virtually destroyed in the Donbas, horrendous tales of Russians and Ukraine, she fundraises tirelessly for Ukrainian volunteers and is a suberb mezzo soprano and unique performer. How do some people make it through and not others? It’s a mystery.
Here is a nice happy photo.
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Last of the late sunrises.
The sun has had a good rest, now it will be back to getting up earlier and earlier. Today is the last day of the late sunrises…so tomorrow will be brighter for those back at work, by a minute, but a minute is a minute! Glad to have time to enjoy the changing seasons, although it was a bit of a rush after scraping the ice off the windscreen, to see the Moon before it was washed out by the bright sunlight.
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Happy New Year
What an odd occurrence, to have a new year in the midst of a run of the latest sunrises. Doesn’t make sense. The old Yuletide of 6 January makes more sense as the first day of the new year when the sun rises a bit earlier, minute by minute, from then on. Interestingly, the new year varies according to culture and custom around the world even today. For example, the Chinese new year begins in February, the Jewish in September. In times gone by, the Egyptians celebrated in September along with the rising of the Nile. I have been busy researching this for my story series involving the mischievous mouse, Maldwyn, who is busy over on Instagram. This year sees me trying to complete some of the many stories that are half finished. It is difficult to keep up with the amount of adventures that mouse has!
I love January 1st for the new year’s day concert from Vienna and the opportunity to do nothing totally guilt free. Usually, I feel the need to achieve. I tend not to phone people out of respect for late nights, broken nights due to fireworks, and to let them enjoy a day of peace too. Tomorrow though will see me begin to catch up with people to wish them a happy new year. And to start going through my old address book.
There was a moment of joy on a walk when I spotted the first snowdrop of the year.
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Stargazing for the New Year
Hello and welcome to another year of stargazing. Among the articles about the Star of Bethlehem I said there would surely be, there was one by a Mark Matney suggesting the object may have been a comet. This is not a new idea, indeed there were several plausible ideas put forward in a book by Mark Kidger, but this Mark’s suggestion is backed up by Chinese records of such an object in 5 BC. Certainly, a comet moves, but it is the standing still over a particular place that causes difficulties. Apparently, the comet in 5 BC may fit the criteria for standing still or at least appearing to stand still.
Now it may not feel like it but we are actually speeding through winter as the Earth moves faster in January than it does in July. This is due to the Earth’s elliptical orbit around the sun as well as the orbit being tilted 23 and a half degrees to the plane of that orbit. A consequence of all this is that solar noon becomes slightly out of phase with clock noon. You can try this should the sun shine!
Although we are now well past the winter solstice, the latest sunrises still occur until 5 January. There are many days when the sunrise is at the same late time, while the evenings are lengthening minute by minute. Fascinating stuff. It’s when thinking about this, you can really get a feel for being on a planet in motion.
What can be seen this month? Well, with the full moon at the beginning of the month, on the 3rd, there is plenty of opportunity for viewing the craters as the moon wanes, as well as moonless nights for stargazing. Do wrap up in layers of wool and wear fingerless mittens to keep your hands warm while still able to use equipment. It is advisable to set up any telescope in daylight so it can adjust to the cooler temperatures.
Jupiter is next to the Moon on the 3rd making that an easy object to spot. There will be glare from the light of the full moon though but you should be able to see the planet which is also a very bright object. At the end of the month, on the 23rd, when the Moon begins waxing, you will find Saturn near the Moon. This time, you may be lucky to see more of the planet before the brightness of the full moon obscures the detail.
When the moon is at first quarter, you will see the pretty cluster of the Pleiades – see how many you can count and let us know. This is a good guide to how dark your skies are. Seven sisters? Or is it 44 or is it more?
If you want a chance to see Mercury, do be careful as this tiny planet is visible just before sunrise in the early part of the month – you have to be ready with any equipment so you can see the planet safely before the sun gets in the way. I have to keep saying this as it is so important – please never look at the sun directly.
Betelgeuse in Orion is one to watch as it is nearing its supernova stage. But no one knows exactly when this will happen. It will have no effect upon Earth as it is so far away – it is approximately 700 or so light years away – with 1 light year being 9.3 trillion kilometres. However, because the star is so bright, it is difficult to obtain accurate measurements. Of course, the annual favourite is the nebula, a joy in the better winter observing months when there is less atmospheric disturbance. A reward for those cold nights. See if you can count the four stars of the trapezium asterism within it.
To the left of the Pleiades is the Hyades cluster, near the red star Aldebaran in Taurus. Although it is not actually within that constellation but appears so from our perspective, in reality Aldebaran is about half way between us and the constellation, and conveniently placed to appear as the red eye of the bull constellation. Elnath, a bright star at the end of one of the ‘horns’ is shared by another constellation, that of Auriga, in which lies Capella, the overhead star of winter. So, with Capella, Aldebaran, and Orion, you are well on the way to locating the big winter hexagon asterism.
Andromeda Galaxy and the double cluster in Perseus are well placed for observing and would make a nice double target for a viewing session. Each of the two clusters contains many bright stars including some red ones, and lie in a spiral arm of our galaxy about 7 and a half thousand light years away. It is from Perseus that you get the Perseid meteor shower in August. The galaxy appears as a fuzzy smudge to the naked eye.
Another star of the winter hexagon, Pollux is one of the two stars of Gemini. Did you see any meteors from the Geminids in December? We saw one or two when out and about in Sidmouth. They were, apparently, very good this year. The partner to Pollux, Caster is actually 6 stars, made up of 3 sets of binary stars. There is a lovely open cluster made up of trails of stars between Gemini and Taurus, M35 containing over 100 stars.
Well, there is a certainly a lot to enjoy and also some excitement in the coming months as NASA prepares to launch another rocket in its Artemis mission in preparation for future human landings on the Moon. It is hoped to set up a lunar base which will act as a stepping stone to Mars.
Happy New Year of Stargazing and thank you for listening.
Karen Hedges
January 2026
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Christmas bonus
Just watching the lunchtime news…apparently one Christmas meal costs nearly £40. Eh?! I’ve just spent £40 on a massive amount of vegetables, and a large turkey in Lidl. Oh, and I make a Christmas pudding in October which means I can buy the ingredients a bit at a time. It’s not only cheaper, but tastier than bought puddings. I make my own, rather large, pigs in blankets with separately purchased sausages and bacon. No fancy dressings, just good quality food.
Many people will receive homemade truffles this year…if I haven’t eaten them all. They freeze well but are somewhat addictive.
Christmas is an emotional time of year and can be hard for many people so here is a poem to help :
Christmas is hope
is love
is healing
coming to terms with things in the past
is a pause in the bustle of life
The present is holding on
throughout the year
to the peace that comes at
Christmastime
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Book Fair at Totnes
Not exactly a snappy title but I’m tired from the drive, the event, the drive back, via a cameo performance in Iryna Ilnytska’s Carmen at the University of Exeter… A successful day in which I met many lovely people interested in the Norman Lockyer Observatory, space, stars, and my books. Peter from the Beyond the Horizon series of space adventure tales was there doing his best to attract interest. The SumUp machine worked well – thank you to my son for setting it up! An unexpected find was that people liked my homemade bookmarkers (which craftily contained my details on the back). No one bought any cards. There were carol singers, a puppet show, and a great deal of networking, and lots of mutual support for ourselves, books, libraries, and independent bookshops.
Here is Peter…
As you can see, we were also promoting the Norman Lockyer Observatory in Sidmouth. I am researching into Sir Norman and am happy to chat at length…but also am passionate about using the historic telescopes for observation.
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Synchronicity…
In a nice display of life’s synchronicity, my birthday was book-ended either side with a Cookham Tuesday. ??? Last Tuesday I gave a talk about William Lassell who lived at Ray Lodge, Maidenhead…which meant I could display a photo of the prettiest stretch of river from Maidenhead to Cookham, and last night Cookham was shown in all its beautiful river glory to the world in an archaeology programme about the Cookham Dig.
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Remembrance Day always makes me thoughtful. I loved working at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission as a secretary where I learned about far away countries and how each grave is carefully tended, sometimes by many generations of the same family.
I have had a cracking weekend with a trip to the theatre on Friday to see an HG Wells play, The First Men on the Moon. This was performed by a solo actor playing multiple parts by changing his body posture, remarkable and wonderfully done. I now want to read the book! HG Wells certainly was spot on with the scientific aspects of space travel and what the moon’s surface may be like, although he was a bit off the mark with his Selenites…
On Saturday I gave my cameo role in Iryna Ilnytska’s Carmen everything I had in order to do her proud. She is a very good friend, and most talented performer and director. Everyone gave their best and the audience were wowed by the talent and warmth of the cast.
Here is a glimpse of the chorus in action:
There are lots of posts flying around about being kind to everyone. I hope that staff are also polite and give good customer service with a smile. Not talking into a headset when there is a real life person in front of them. They need to resist the pressure to ‘multi task’! It is confusing to say the least, and rude from my memories of customer service training.
Rant over…tomorrow I continue my path towards being a Grumpy Old Woman and have made a pretty cake for the celebrations.
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Modern Living
As you know, I have a partner in crime on social media. Little MaldwyntheMouse has lots of adventures and fun as he discovers the world around him and also enjoys the many customs and festivities throughout the year. Through him, I have learned that fireworks are not readily available on the high street any more. I think I knew this, but the reality hit home yesterday as I was hoping to buy some sparklers for his Instagram post. This led me down the route of thinking about what else has been ‘lost’ over time: Andrews liver salts, only buying Hot Cross Buns on Good Friday, chemists – with little packs of bathcubes and other sundry items, wearing smartish clothes to go outside for shopping, being aware of other people (I was about to join a queue in the local supermarket, when an elderly lady rushed over and ‘bagged’ a place for her partner pushing a full trolley), post offices, people in banks, pushing stuffed effigies around the street, and no doubt many more.
Is the world a better place? Some may say it’s safer, we certainly don’t have the amount of firework related accidents any more, but the lack of a friendly face as you post a parcel, return a library book, buy some shopping – these are great losses. My local supermarket has reached the very nadir as its assistants now wear headphones to receive instructions while serving customers. Not good customer service. I walked away when the assistant began talking into the headset. I was trained to deal with the live person in front of me, then phone calls.
In other news, do go see Carmen this month or anything that Iryna Ilnytska is in or produces. You will not be disappointed. You will be amazed at her talent.
