Extremely clear vision

Yesterday the air was so clear that La Gomera's neighbouring islands could all be seen very clearly and seemed much closer than they actually are. Even Gran Canaria could be seen distinctly. I took above photograph from Juego de Bolas (near Agulo) with a simple little camera at about 10:30 am yesterday morning. La Palma's capital Santa Cruz can clearly be seen and even one of the observatories (red arrow) on Roque de Los Muchachos is distinctly visible - a distance far in excess of 100 kilometres as the crow flies.

Rarely can La Palma be seen from here with such clarity and in such detail. Extremely clear vision when distant objects seem much closer is generally considered a sign of coming rain and this morning the skies look fairly grey...

Meteor shower to be seen tomorrow night

Observatories on La Palma island's highest peak Roque de los Muchachos at about 7500 ft.

Astronomers predict that a meteor shower which is expected to be seen in the sky in the early hours of Saturday morning will be the most spectacular for many years. Scientists who have been monitoring the comet 209P/Linear predict that a major meteor  shower could light up the pre-dawn sky in the early hours of Saturday, May 24th 2014, when debris from the comet will fire off perhaps hundreds of shooting stars. The comet was discovered in 2004 and orbits the sun once every five years. In 2012 it had a relatively close encounter with Jupiter and this resulted in the comet's path coming closer to earth. The meteor shower will probably be seen best from North America, but from many parts of Europe and especially from the Canary Islands it can also be observed.