I seem to be in a nostalgic mood at the moment!!

I woke in the early hours and went to open the window as it felt quite warm in the house. The sky was fabulously clear and the stars sparkled like precious jewels against the velvet darkness.

The constellation that I saw immediately was Orion. As a child I fell in love with Orion. My bedroom window was not overlooked and I used to sleep with the curtains open and watch the stars move across the sky as the seasons progressed from autumn to winter and finally to spring.

Orion is such a dominant feature of the northern winter sky. So easy to spot and so wonderfully diverse with the bright blue Rigel at one corner and the equally stunning red star Betelgeuse at another. Then just below that constellation sits Sirius, the brightest star in the sky - often called the Dog star, as its part of Ursa Major.

I used to watch them endlessly. Almost hypnotised by their splendour.

Their sight gives me joy. It reminds me why I've had a lifelong fascination with astronomy. Why space and our interactions with it still hold my interest.

The enormity of our universe is beyond human comprehension... we can hypothesise as much as we like about its beginnings - and even its end - but we are unlikely to find the irrefutable answer. Instead we can just relax enjoy its beauty and marvel at its maker.