The Star Attraction

Star Gazing is a wonderful thing, whether in your own back yard or at a planetarium.

 

One of my fondest memories is when I went with a group of friends to Murdoch University, Western Australia to watch Halley's Comet. We looked through high powered telescopes and saw the comet and its tail.

 

Halley's Comet, or Comet Halley, is only visible from earth every 75-76 years. It was first determind in 1705 by English Astronomer Edmond Halley, after whom it is named. Halleys Comet last appeared in 1986 and will next appear in mid 2061. 

They say the further you go into the country with no city lights, the clearer you see the stars. 

 

For people that don't have telescopes and live in the city with all the bright lights, I discovered a great website on the web.

http://www.worldwidetelescope.org/Home.aspx 

In 1608, Dutch eyeglass maker, Hans Lippershey, offered a new device to the government for military use. This new device used two glass lenses in a tube to magnify distant

objects.

There is question whether he may not have invented the telescope (at least two other Dutch opticians were also working on the idea at the time), but Hans Lippershey has been credited with its invention. He at least, applied for the patent for it first. 

Many people think Galileo Galilei discovered the telescope, he didn't. He made great improvements to it. His first construction was a three power instrument, which he quickly improved to eight, twenty and then thirty power. With this new tool, he found mountains and craters on the moon, discovered that the Milky Way was composed of stars and discovered the four largest moons of Jupiter. 

Back to earth and try my great Vegetable Lasagne!

 

Vegetable Lasagne 
Ingredients 
 
1kg pumpkin, skinned, seeded and cut into 2cm cubes
1 teaspoon chilli flakes
Sea salt
Freshly ground pepper
1 cup olive oil
8 sage leaves, finely sliced
1 large onion
2 cloves garlic
8 basil leaves, finely sliced
Half a tablespoon of  dried oregano
300g eggplant, peeled, cut into 1cm cubes and salted for 20 minutes
1 capsicum, diced
2 zucchini,diced
800 grams of chopped tinned tomatoes
75 grams of butter
75 grams of flour
500ml milk
300ml sour cream
500 grams of spinach
200 grams of instant lasagne sheets
80grams of Parmesan cheese, grated

Method 
 
Preheat oven to 175C.

Place pumpkin on a baking tray. Coat with chilli flakes and season. Drizzle with a little olive oil. Bake for 20 minutes. Add sage and turn pumpkin over. Bake a further 10minutes or until soft and golden.

Add remaining oil to a saucepan, cook onions and garlic with the herbs until soft for about 15 minutes. 

Rinse salt from the eggplant and fry with the onions for 5 minutes. Add capsicum and zucchini and cook a further 5 minutes. Check seasoning, add tomatoes and simmer until thick for about 20 minutes.

To make sauce, melt the butter in a saucepan and add flour. Cook gently for 5-10 minutes. Gradually add milk, stirring constantly to prevent lumps forming. Allow to boil, stir through sour cream. Put to one side.

Saute spinach in a little extra olive oil and cover the bottom of a 15cm x 20cm baking dish. Cover spinach evenly with lasagne sheets. Cover with pumpkin mixture and pour over half the tomato mixture and then half the white sauce. Layer with lasagne sheets and repeat with remaining tomato mix and white sauce.

Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and bake until golden for about 45 minutes.