Now granted, those keen enough to spend the £50,000 per ticket will only be able to fly 37 miles above the earth but it will fly at twice the speed of sound and will offer those onboard the viewing spectacular of a lifetime. Ordinary, albeit wealthy, people will be able to see the earth as people like Neal Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin have also done.

You have to admit it would be an amazing experience, but I am not too sure I would be brave enough to do it. I like the earth from this perspective - on the ground.

Now granted, those keen enough to spend the £50,000 per ticket will only be able to fly 37 miles above the earth but it will fly at twice the speed of sound and will offer those onboard the viewing spectacular of a lifetime. Ordinary, albeit wealthy, people will be able to see the earth as people like Neal Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin have also done.

You have to admit it would be an amazing experience, but I am not too sure I would be brave enough to do it. I like the earth from this perspective - on the ground.

Night owls can catch one of the great spectacles of the night sky early tomorrow morning - the last “proper” total eclipse of the moon for seven years.  If the skies are clear, those who brave the cold will see the earth’s shadow take a “bite” out of the moon just after 1.40am.  At 3am, when the total eclipse gets under way, the moon will turn blood-red for 52 minutes as it passes completely into shadow.

 The shadow will then slowly retreat until partial eclipse ends at 5.09am.  Although lunar eclipses take place around twice a year, this will be the last time one will be visible from the whole of the UK until 2015.  A lunar eclipse occurs when the sun, earth and moon form a straight line and the earth’s shadow falls on the moon.

It may not be as dramatic as a solar eclipse, when the moon passes in front of the sun, but it can be looked at directly with the naked eye, unlike with the precautions required to view a solar eclipse.  

Eclipse watchers are advised to stand away from street lights and use binoculars or a telescope-for an even more dramatic-view.  The moon will start to dim just after 12.40am as it passes through outer part of the earth shadow.  However, the true partial eclipse begins at 1.43am when a “bite” will appear on the edge of the full moon.

At 3am the earth’s shadow will cover it completely.  It should change colour because the only light to reach it has passed through the earth’s atmosphere, which scatters blue light, but allows red light to pass through unaffected.  This is the same effect that turns sunsets red and the sky blue

This is one of natures treats that should not be missed!

The reason the solar system’s smallest planet is so elusive is due to its close proximity to the sun. The light from the sun makes Mercury difficult to see from Earth and when spacecrafts have flown close to the planet on previous occasions only one side has been bathed in sunlight while the other has been shrouded in darkness. 

The new pictures from the Messenger craft show features as small as six miles across on the planet which is 57 million miles away from Earth.

Among many new sights, the picture shows the full Caloris Basin, a huge impact basin more than 620 miles across that sits on the border between the known and previously unknown regions of the planet.  More unprecedented images of the tiny planet are expected as the spacecraft completes three flybys of Mercury before settling into orbit in March 2011. For so long we have viewed these magnificent astral neighbours of ours, to be able to see them in close up is just fantastic.

A great range of new age gifts is available at The Spiritual Dimension. A variety of gift choices in the range of feng shui, essential oils, figurines and incense burners is sure to provide inspiration when you are buying a very special gift for someone special.

If you choose one of their birdfeeders you will be choosing a gift that will enable that special someone to connect with nature in their own home. Birds bring a sense of peace traditionally; of reconciliation. Maybe this would make an ideal gift for someone who you have not seen for some time and wish to reconcile with. What greater gift of peace could there be?

One thing though they are still discovering much about is the Northern Lights display and now they have solved the mystery of how and why they shimmer so brightly. If you don’t want your illusions shattered then look away now..

The glow from the Northern Light (aurora borealis) occurs when tiny little solar particles are trapped along by temporary ‘magnetic ropes’ that link the earth to the sun during what is called a substorm. This substorm moves at an incredible speed and covers 400 miles in 60 seconds flat. Truly amazing stuff indeed.

So now you know. You’ll never see them in the same way again eh?.

That’s right. The way to a lady dolphin’s heart is with a nice wet clump of seaweed fresh from the ocean bed. And apparently it never fails for the guy dolphins!. A group of dolphins in Brazil were observed for a period of time when the males were noticed to be carrying various objects around the females during the ‘wooing’ ritual. Assorted objects were sticks, pieces of debris but it was the seaweed that did the trick.

We all know how intelligent dolphins are but how fascinating to know that they even have a ‘culture’ of courtship, something that is behavioural and not genetic. How romantic. But are all male dolphins as clued up to what women want as human males are?…maybe not. Probably that’s why we never saw Flipper with a wife.