Tonight (Tuesday 26th February) the sea was probably the roughest it has been at any time since we left Ushuaia. But even as the Fram pitched and rolled frighteningly, the Fearless Four remained undaunted and headed out on deck to do a bit of star gazing for tonight was also probably the clearest night sky of the voyage to date.
We managed to pick out the Southern Cross without too much difficulty but we were also delighted to clearly see Orion, one of the few constellations visible simultaneously in both the Northern and Southern hemispheres.
However, it quickly dawned that the constellation was inverted, in effect upsidedown, to the way in which we are used to seeing it. Betlegeuse, above the belt of Orion in the Northern hemisphere, was below the belt and vice-versa with Riegel.
It was an awesome and humbling reminder of just how far away from home we are.