Don't Pack Those Bags Just Yet.

In my post last week, I mentioned that the poor old Hubble Telescope was showing it's age and is soon to be replaced.

Well I was glad to read this morning that it's going out with a bang - not a Big Bang though, so don't get too excited.

Yes it trained it's slightly cloudy electronic eye 'out there' and, to quote the article, found........

one of the best pieces of evidence for the existence of dark matter, a mysterious quantity that pervades our Universe.

The article was amazing in one other way - there was no mention of anything to do with the 'origins of the universe'. You're not sticking to the plan, Hubble !!

Anyway in case I wanted to pay several £billion and have those nice commercially minded and financially strapped Russians blast me off to explore this dark matter, I think I'd need more than a down sleeping bag and the complete set of Doctor Who dvds to keep me amused on the trip.

I get quite tired on the 200 mile flight to London and positively zombie like on the 4000 mile flight to Detroit. I dread to think what I'd be like stepping off, or more likely being stretchered off, the flight to, say, Sydney.

But this dark matter is 5 billion light years away. Yes that's right.........5 BILLION light years. Lets see now. The light from this 'stuff' set off towards us before the start of Coronation Street ! How's that for mind blowing.

I'm not letting that put me off although I have hit a teeny snag in my cunning plan based on Northwest Airlines adding the route to their schedules. I need the airmiles you see but given the destination, and that there IS no air in space, I might have a problem there.

Guess I'll have time to think about that on the way back and on the upside, Leeds United might be in the Premiership by then. Maybe.