Stars in their eyes

JONATHAN SELF attractively described his celestial pleasures when unable to sleep, so rising ‘on Thursday morning at 3am’ (My week, December 5, 2018). However, I’m not convinced that what follows wasn’t, in fact, a dream, as he ‘recognised… a half-dozen planets’. Last month, in various parts of the ecliptic and at varying times, Venus, Mercury, Mars, Saturn and Neptune certainly made appearances in the night sky. However, a bit of Irish magic was definitely at work for Jonathan during his short vigil. Keith Robinson, by email