First and last S@N

[Ptarmigan]

A long time ago in another century I watched the first S@N

Now I have watched Patrick's last , , very sad

In the beginners forum a question was asked (Josh Wilson, on 04 January 2013 - 03:56 PM) "what shall we name the Betelgeuse supernova remnant?"

and I replied

Patrick1

or SPM1

or Caldwell1, - oh bother that is already taken ,,

maybe it will look like a humungous monocle ,,

Today I bought the latest "New Scientist" and in the Letters section there is a cartoon in which two astronomers are talking, one is seated at a big telescope and in his bubble he is saying :-

"An interesting constellation has appeared - it's sort of monocle shaped"

!!

[Ptarmigan]

A long time ago in another century I watched the first S@N

PS

It was a good year, S@N was launched,

and Sputnik1, didn't see it - cloudy ! Heard it on my amateur radio gear !

Saw my first aurora and my first unaided eye sunspot, it was a very active solar cycle, much more active than this one

( which is looking like we are heading for another Maunder min ! roll-on global warming!)

Sputnik2 followed soon after with poor Laika ( a dog murdered by the Ruskies, never forgave them ) saw that one in a brief interlude between clouds, but in retrospect I think we saw the 3rd stage rocket body, not S2 !