![\"\"](\"https:\/\/vermilionsands.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/2026-06-29spotsfull.jpg\")
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The sun has been very spotty recently, and this was taken this morning during a break in the clouds. The sun has been very spotty recently, and this was taken this morning during a break in the clouds. But what’s that greeny-blue dot between the pair of large sunspots? That’s us, that is. The Earth, roughly to scale; you can fit 109 Earths in the diameter of the Sun. Here it is zoomed in: … Continue reading “Spot the Spots”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[19],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vermilionsands.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22535"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vermilionsands.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vermilionsands.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vermilionsands.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vermilionsands.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22535"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/vermilionsands.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22535\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22548,"href":"https:\/\/vermilionsands.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22535\/revisions\/22548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vermilionsands.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vermilionsands.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vermilionsands.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nBut what’s that greeny-blue dot between the pair of large sunspots? That’s us, that is. The Earth, roughly to scale; you can fit 109 Earths in the diameter of the Sun. Here it is zoomed in:
\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/vermilionsands.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/2026-06-29spotszoom.jpg\")
A1 is reading Quite Ugly One Evening<\/em> by Chris Brookmyre. Thanks A2! CB’s first published novel was Quite Ugly One Morning<\/em> (1996), which introduced his journalist protagonist Jack Parlabane, and this novel continues — and possibly wraps up — Parlabane’s (rather doleful) character arc. While CB’s writing no longer provokes LOLs at his wonderful outrageousness (like the abseiling scene in Be My Enemy<\/em>, or the unfortunate bodily invasion in Boiling\u00a0 a Frog<\/em>), he continues to take aim at his b\u00eates <\/span>noires — in this case MAGA loonies, influencers, fanboyz, right-wing fanatics with a complete disregard for morality, and rich bastards. All easy targets perhaps, and the tale is complicated by an excess of characters in the family under investigation, who created a 1960s puppet show not a million miles from Thunderbirds<\/em>. Much is revealed about Parlabane’s background, and he perhaps achieves some kind of redemption. A satisfying read.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"