(Part 2 of the Summer Season 2014 series)

This year's Trevelyan College Summer Ball took place on 18th June and the theme was "Cool Britannia". Blue, white and red decorations everywhere with actors in fancy dress dotted around. There was a lovely drinks reception with strawberries in the , and there was an ice cream stand right next to the table of bubbly! Very fitting for a Summer ball (ha, summer get it?)

I had the pleasuring of walking round with a picture frame (Trev's ball chair, Hannah's idea) and the frame was extremely popular! Everyone loved the frame and wanted a photo through it. Even the "Queen" had a portrait through the frame! (Although Her Royal Highness got her footman, Humphrey to do the hard of work of holding the frame for her) Also the frame was surprisingly roomy, record for the night was fitting something like 11 people in the frame! 

Plenty of ents (=entertainment) around the college site (I think they really packed in as many as possible). There were some crazy ride in the car park which swings people around (I can't remember what it was called, please see the photos of people screaming their faces off below) and another one that literally spun you around (wasn't quite brave enough to find out what it was called...). Another notable one were dance machines inside, so much fun that even the "Queen" joined in (see photographic evidence down below).

Thank you to all the entertainers, live bands, DJ's staff, organisers and lastly, the guests for a great night! 

You can see the full album over on Trev's facebook here.

Fortunately it was a clear night on the 10th Aug, so I managed to capture the Supermoon of the year hanging over Hong Kong! (Wondering what Supermoon is? see here)

I am looking to print this out to go on my wall, something huge like 3ft by 5.5ft! Also considering selling huge prints of this photo, get in touch if you are interested :)

"Can we pretend that airplanes, in the night sky are like shooting stars? I could really use a wish right now, wish right now, wish right now..." (The little voice in your head sang that to the tune didn't it?)

If anyone is looking for a wish or many wishes, now is your chance to make them properly, to some real shooting stars...!

The Perseids are a meteor shower that occurs every year around mid of July to late August. The name "Perseids" originates from the shooting stars appear to come from the constellation Perseus, whereas in reality they are courtesy of the comet Swift-Tuttle (thank you!) 

Even though the showers occur over about a month, they usually peak between the first and second week of August, this year they are projected to peak on 12th-13th August (make a note or even check the weather now!) If you are lucky, you might be able to see some when you are out watching the Supermoon too!

Some comet viewing tips:

• Go somewhere far away from light pollution, ie really dark! (Dur... that almost goes without saying)
• Let you eyes adjust to the darkness, this would normally take around 10 minutes, give it 15-20 just to be safe.
• Avoid looking at bright sources of light to preserve "night vision". So avoid phones, torches etc.
• If you really must use light, like checking out the path or whatever, use red light wherever possible because that's apparently best for keeping your night vision. Google SkyMap has an "astronomer mode" built in, or you can even use free apps like Lux to give you a nice red filter on your phone)
• Wrap up warm. Speaking from experience, it still gets fairly cold despite being summer time, because you would be sat still most of the time. I was wearing 3-4 layers last year and was just about comfortably warm (yes, multiple pairs of trousers as well as tops)
• Bring something to sit on because the ground/grass is likely to be wet from condensation
• You might want to bring a friend/family member/significant other/loved one to keep you company. I think this would make an excellent occasion for some deep conversations/"romantic hang out"
• Lastly, prepare what you need in advance and get up earlier than you think you need to. For a special annual occasion like this one, it is probably better to be too early than too late (I learnt this the hard way....)

Last year, I tried to capture the Perseids with no success. Unfortunately I got out of bed too slowly at around 3am. It was nearly 4am by the time I got dressed and got out there. The sun had "half risen" and it was too bright to see normal stars by then, let alone shooting stars. I did see a truly epic sun rise with not many clouds in sight though!! See the photo at the bottom.

I wish you the very best of luck if you decide to go out and look for the Perseids! Even if they don't show, you never know what else you might find :)

Did any one catch the last Supermoon on the 12th July? These guys did, check out their photos - http://www.bbc.com/news/in-pictures-28283564

Supermoon happens because the distance between the moon and Earth varies continuously because of its slightly elliptical orbit around Earth. It appears bigger than usual when it is at the point closest to Earth (up to 14% bigger compared to its furthest point away according to NASA) and when that happens, it is call "perigee-syzygy" (Supermoon is fine, even wiki uses that term... see here for technicalities) 

No worries at all if you didn't see it in July, I didn't know about it either so I missed it too (hence no photo to show in this post, apologies...) BUT! There is another one coming up on the 10th August, at 11.25pm (UK time) and the moon will look even bigger compared to the last Supermoon! Thanks to the moon becoming a full moon within an hour of reaching its closest point to Earth in its orbit. So it's like the mother of all Supermoons.

Go write this in your diary/set a reminder on your phone/ask your friends to remind you, it really is something not to be missed. I will be trying my best to get photos too! 


Best of luck with the weather for those in the UK! *fingers crossed*

Source - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/10966962/Super-duper-moon-expected-in-August.html


PS. Blog post about the Perseids meteor shower coming soon! (spoiler: the meteor shower's activity peaks round about next week, just after mother of all Supermoons)

Wow it's August already! I meant to blog about every event that I covered individually but I forgot due to moving house and other reasons. Sorry guys, here are the highlights in “double bills” to make up for my lack of blogging.

Click Read More for the photos and short posts about each night :)