A Moon Called Peggy and Earth 2.0

Hot news from the heavens this past week - the Cassini spacecraft has witnessed the birth of a new Saturn offspring.  It is the proud parent of tiny ice moon, named 'Peggy' and is measured as being half a mile across. If it thrives, it will be one of Saturn's 63 known moons, but is at risk of cannoning off its older sisters and turning into a giant lunar slushpuppy. Still, it is an interesting event and the full extent of Peggy's fate will not be known til 2016.

Full story -  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-27056698

Another piece of starlight news, is that another possible 'Goldilocks' planet has turned up on the radar - the not-so-catchy Kepler 186f (or 'Earth 2.0', as one wag astronomer joked. How we laughed o_O). It is rumoured to be rocky,10% bigger than Earth and has the capacity to hold water, potentially to sustain life.  It doesn't appear that we can visit it anytime soon, because it is 500 light years away, but at least for now it can stay out of human's harms reach quietly in the 'habitable zone.' It is one of five planets circling a cool dwarf star - however, little '2.0' is probably bombarded with too many solar flares and radiation to really make the grade (reminiscent of Nick Cage's film Knowing).

Anyway, success is due to the Kepler Scope, which has been responsible for nearly 1,000 new planet discoveries.

Full Story - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-27054366

Jamaica Inn - Series (Part 1)

Jessica Brown Findlay in the BBC's 2014 dramatisation of Jamaica Inn

Just watched the new Jamaica Inn series on Beeb 1.  My classmates are scathing about it, understandably - varying from 'shocking' to expletives not really suitable for printing.  It's ok, camera angles very reminiscent on Andrea Arnold's version of Wuthering Heights (2011), some of it worked really well, some plainly didn't.  Perhaps if they changed the words 'based on' to the words 'briefly alluding to' Daphne Du Maurier's gothic novel, it may have worked....or not.

The accent is a bit confused too - Bristol and Dorset, via County Fermanagh. It's a shame, because this classic was due for a remake, but they didn't even use the original Jamaica Inn - doubly annoying.  Oh well, I will watch with interest (and with popcorn).  I feel a drinking game coming on, though.....

Link -------> http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0426t6z/Jamaica_Inn_Episode_1/

EDIT ::: According to a fellow classmates, this was shot in Yorkshire!!! Why? Is Yorkshire granite more photogenic than Cornish? No wonder I recognised the moorland scene - it was from the Wuthering Heights film, circa 2011!!! Not seen tonight's episode as yet, am hoping the sound quality improves. Not a lot of hope for the storyline, which have been chopped about for artistic licence.