Those familiar with the night sky will have noticed the red planet, Mars rising in the northern part of the sky of late and drifting overhead through the course of the evening. Having just walked from the office to the house this evening (Tuesday) to fetch a cup of tea and noticed it was just rising, and having filmed it whilst covering the floods on Friday, I decided to photograph it for this week's 'Nature Watch'.

The photo is taken at 160x magnification, whilst Mars was just above the horizon, so there is a lot of atmosphere in the way. It's not exactly Hubble Space Telescope quality but it does however show the planet as brilliant a red disc.

Just imagine. There have been several space vehicles sent from Earth to Mars, some of which are still roaming the surface and there could be microscopic life on that tiny dot in the sky!

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From Earth, the planet Mars appears as a red disc in the black sky, as can be seen in this week's Nature Watch.

From Mars, for most of the year, the planet Earth rises as a slightly bigger, blue crescent in the pinkish evening sky as half of the Earth's surface lies in the shadow of Sol. During the Earth month of December, in recent years however, the view of the Blue Planet had changed.

Martian cosmologists working for MSETI (the Martian Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence) who had been monitoring the hydrogen line for centuries, noticed that at latitude 51 degrees, 55 minutes and 15 seconds North and 2 degrees 34 minutes and 45 seconds West, a brilliant white spot had had begun to appear regularly on the dark side of the Earth's disc.

Excitement among cosmologists and astronomers alike who were working together with the MSETI project grew rapidly with the new discovery, and word began to spread via the Martian Internet that funding for the MSETI project had finally been proved worthwhile. The event sparked a new, planet wide campaign and after several years, the new 'RST' (Rubble Space Telescope) was finally launched from the Mars Space Centre, located at the top of Olympus Mons.

Excitement among the Mars population escalated as planet wide, the Martian folk stayed up all night to watch the first live broadcast of the great white spot in fine detail. The Martian Theologists were out in force, of course, arguing that intelligent life was unique to Mars and insisting that the Great White Spot was purely down to Earth's lousy weather. On the whole though, the population's money was on the telescope discovering an Earth race which had learned how to use fire - and possibly even crude flint tools.

Imagine the planet wide disappointment when 'Capcom Mars' was overheard speaking to the Mars Shuttle Commander, 'Nah. It's just the Christmas lights from Three Crosses Road . . . might as well just hand this one over to MSET'.

Thank you to all those who have sent emails of support for my forthcoming campaign against dangerous driving. I am currently working on a downloadable petition form that can be printed and circulated, then returned to me once completed. Further information will be published soon.

I am very pleased to learn that The Safer Roads Partnership in West Mercia, which includes representatives from Herefordshire Council's Highways and Transportation department, West Mercia Police, the courts and NHS Primary Care Trust, are aiming to deliver highly visible targeted speed enforcement as well as co-ordinate, support and develop broader road safety activity.

At the meeting of Ross Town Council on Monday, Mayor, Councillor Bedford told councillors that he had recently attended a special service at the Cathedral for those who had lost loved ones in a fatal road traffic collision. He said that each of those who had lost a family member in this way carried an oak leaf to the front of the cathedral, adding that he had never seen such a long procession of people.

Dangerous driving is not just about speed. It is also about driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, talking on a mobile phone whilst in motion, driving without headlights when conditions of visibility are poor.

Please think carefully before taking the car out over the Christmas period. So may people think it safe to have just one more drink as it's Christmas, before driving home. They may well make it home, but some poor innocent may not, just because somebody had 'a wee one for the road.'

If you know you're going to have a drink, leave the car at home. Not just at Christmas, but always.
If you think you may have had one too many, leave your keys with your host and book a taxi home.
If you're going out as a group agree on who is going to be 'Des' (the designated driver)
If you are Des, then don't let anybody convince you that one drink won't hurt. It may do more than that.
Don't accept a lift from anybody who has been drinking or is under the influence of drugs..

I am still hoping that more offers of help with my campaign against dangerous driving will be forthcoming. If you would like further information on how I intend to operate this campaign, please click here. (Tina needs your help!)

I hope that everybody has a lovely Christmas, but especially a safe one.

Tina.

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