In quite extraordinary circumstances, John Salini (SDM#010) has turned his secondary mirror into a lacewing breeding ground. John swears that he left the scope unattended and uncovered for no more than 30 minutes whilst waiting for NGC253 to rise above his house, during which time an enterprising insect took advantage of his diagonal.

The species was confirmed by CSIRO Entomology – “They belong to the green lacewings (Order Neuroptera) from the family Chrysopidae. The adult will deposit a thread of silk from her abdomen and top it off with an egg. Because the eggs are elevated it makes them less prone to predation from potential predators such as ants which will walk around the base of the silk thread, oblivious to the food (egg) perched directly above them!”).

Needless to say, John is less than happy and the rest of us can only scratch our respective heads in bewilderment. You really don’t see that every day!