The opening presentation was delivered by Jim Knight, former Director of the Solar Section of ASSA, with the topic "Solar Observing". The main structure of Jim’s talk centred around the various forms of solar observing, beginning with observations without optical aid (as may be the case with solar eclipse viewing) to sunspot counting with the aid of a small telescope. The audience thoroughly enjoyed learning how to identify sunspot groupings, performing a count, recording the results and the submission thereof to the AAVSO. The actual process of counting sunspots was a popular topic during open question time.
Jim is a dedicated solar observer (and one of only a handful in the Southern Hemisphere) who maintains an average of 22 observing days per month – the envy of many amateur astronomers who are forced to practice their branches of astronomy at less than convenient times of the day.
The topic of "the H.E.S.S. Gamma Ray Telescopes of Namibia" was presented by Professor Okkie de Jager of the Department of Physics, Potchefstroom University. A fascinating insight into this exclusive and (currently) fairly restricted branch of astronomy. Professor de Jager started his presentation with a description of the electromagnetic spectrum and very succinctly explained the importance and relevance of gamma ray observations.
The H.E.S.S. project is an array of imaging atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes used for the investigation of cosmic gamma rays in the 100 GeV energy range. The name H.E.S.S. stands for High Energy Stereoscopic System. H.E.S.S. is located in Namibia near the Gamsberg, an area well know for its excellent viewing conditions. The first of the four telescopes of Phase I of the H.E.S.S. project went into operation in 2002; all four should be complete by 2004.
Midday saw the much anticipated and well attended presentation by Dr Claire Flanagan, Director of the Johannesburg Planetarium, entitled "People In Space". Dr Flanagan’s easy and conversational presentation style was a delight for her audience who interacted freely and delightedly with her. Her ability to "play with the numbers" created an entertaining and informative look into what it would be like to say, stand on the surface of a pulsar. It would take more than 40 years worth of accumulated human energy to lift one’s foot just one centimetre from the surface of a pulsar.
Dr Flanagan also demonstrated, through numbers, the difficulty of reaching the next stellar system (alpha Centauri) and the amount of energy required to achieve 85% of the speed of light.
The lunchtime presentation was conducted by Dr Matie Hoffman of the Department of Physics, University of the Free State. The title of his talk was "Recent and Future Developments for Optical astronomy in SA: Boyden and SALT". As the title suggests, the presentation was in two parts, the first being a type of progress report on the development of the SALT telescope at Sutherland. The sheer enormity of the project, and specifically the telescope structure, was extremely well explained and demonstrated through the use of excellent graphics.
Dr Hoffman’s prowess with PowerPoint was demonstrated when he led his audience on a virtual reality tour of the Boyden Observatory and facilities near Bloemfontain. He simply clicked on key areas on an aerial photograph of the site which then drilled-down to that particular facility and its features. Thanks to the refurbishment of the 1,5m telescope, during the period leading to the Comet Shoemaker-Levy impact of Jupiter in mid-1994, this facility is very active and doing "useful science". Of particular note is the now very active solar observatory at the site.
The following captive title ensured a strong audience contingent for Dr Mike Gaylard’s presentation: "Is astronomy useless? No, it can tell you what the time is and where you are, courtesy of Space Geodesy at HartRao". If there was any doubt in the minds of the audience as to the importance and relevance of the Hartebeeshoek Radio Astronomy Observatory telescope, this was well and truly reversed by the end of the presentation. The work being performed at the site is diverse; from monitoring a plethora of blips from distant pulsars, measuring the speed at which the African Continent is drifting, to maintaining contact with and calibrating the swarm of global positioning satellites within the vast clutches of the radio telescope. Dr Gaylard ended his presentation by inviting any interested persons to tour the HartRAO observatory site – a visit that, if his talk was anything to go by, should prove fascinating and enlightening.
The presentation that many had been eagerly awaiting: Professor David Block, Director of the Cosmic Dust Research Laboratory, University of the Witwatersrand. The title: "Penetrating Masks of Cold Cosmic Dust". The moment Professor Block started addressing a capacity audience in the auditorium, one understood his popularity as a much sought after motivational speaker and public figure. His captivating style of delivery and clever manipulation of prose held an audience fascinated and enchanted for fully an hour.
Professor Block likened the masks of cosmic dust that populate galaxies to that of the obscuring effects of a dense aerosol spray. Outstanding graphics and photographs illustrated this pervasive material as being the main culprit for astronomers not being able to see the true features of a galaxy. His analogy of the wearer of a facemask powerfully punctuated his point that the true face of a galaxy cannot be predicted from the visual characteristics gleaned by optical telescopes operating in the visual spectrum. It is only when telescopes, operating in the infrared part of the spectrum, strip away these masks of cosmic dust, that we begin to see the true structural characteristics of galaxies.
A very young member of the audience bravely asked Professor Block "Where does the dust come from". Only his years of oratory skill and knowledge could possibly do justice to that one from a pre-teenager.
Who possibly would be brave enough to follow on after a presentation of Professor Block’s calibre? Sarah Buchner, astronomer at HartRAO, would. Her presentation was entitled "Interpreting the results from NASA’s Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP)". A stunningly prepared and well-researched insight into the period immediately following the big bang; specifically dealing with the cosmic background radiation currently being studied in the microwave segment of the electromagnetic spectrum.
Sarah proposed answers to such fetching questions as the age of the universe, the shape of the universe and the expansion rate of the universe (an updated and revised Hubble Constant). She also attracted some challenging questions from the audience, such as "Where, in fact, is the actual point of the big bang and why is it not possible to see it?" A fascinating, insightful and thought-provoking presentation.
Emmanuel Petrakakis, hotelier and restaurateur, is passionate about Mars. After presenting a paper at the founding convention of the Mars Society in Boulder, Colorado, Emmanuel returned to Southern Africa to form a branch of the Mars Society here. His polished and well rehearsed presentation started with a brief tour of the red planet followed by a history of unmanned flight to Mars. The final segment took the form of a practical and workable proposal for manned missions to the planet, complete with schematics of habitation modules and plans for extensive exploration and safe return. A delight to the audience, judging from the applause and enthusiastic post-presentation response.
The final presentation of the day was held at around 7pm, after the prize giving. I was unable to attend Richard Wade’s talk entitled "Archaeo-astronomy of Great Zimbabwe". However, I was pleasantly surprised by the audience turnout, given the lateness of the hour. Richard is owner of the N’Kwe Ridge Observatory, near Pretoria. Given his present involvement with a TV series, a doctorate, palaeontology, astrobiology, archaeology, meteorites, crater, anthropology, and the writing of a book, his talk promised to be nothing short of enchanting. And he delivered on that promise. I spoke with a few audience members as they filed out of the auditorium at the conclusion and the responses were: "fantastic", "amazing", "interesting", and "I’ve got to visit N’Kwe Observatory and speak more with this man".
One of the main objectives of ScopeX is the education of the public in astronomy. Did we achieve that objective through the presentations? I propose a resounding "Yes!" and more. The presentations entertained, fascinated, enthralled and challenged audiences to THINK COSMIC THINGS.