For some entertainment without leaving the comfort of your castle, if you have a reasonable pair of binoculars you could do a little star gazing, clear skies permitting.
An exploding star should be visible soon after twilight and you will be able to observe the flicker of light from its violent death throes.
The supernova is the nearest of its kind to be spotted in 40 years and lies in the Pinwheel galaxy, 21m light years from Earth.
It can be found by looking first for the Plough immediately after sunset. The handle of the Plough has three stars and if you draw an imaginary line through the second and third stars in the hand and follow that line up and left, the supernova is four degrees along or around the distance taken up by five full moons.
My binoculars are at the ready, the skies are fairly cloudy though now, but I'll have a go. Good luck.
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