Extreme Dark Sky Excursion near Lady Grey
26 – 29 June 2003
As the car reached the summit of Joubert’s Pass, the GPS read 2240m. Behind us, Lady Grey nestled serenely in the valley far below; ahead – the Lammergaai nature reserve, and our dark sky observing home for the next three nights.
The guest house was roomy and comfortable. Electric blankets on the beds – outstanding. Anthracite heaters in the dinning room and lounge – perfect. A large kitchen to prepare delicious food, debate, argue, joust and resolve – heaven!
The dining room table was permanently enshrouded in star charts, astronomy books and telescope accessories. The kitchen was quickly adopted as the official eating area. As is typical of any self-catering arrangement, we all brought far too much food. We ate like kings and drank (sometimes non-alcoholic beverages!) like thirsty hunting dogs on a dry salt pan.
Our observing location was an open field 100 or so meters from the main house. No crime or petty theft to worry about as we simply left our scopes under canopy for the duration of the weekend. Our biggest challenge to and from the observing site was negotiating mine fields of fresh cow pats, and ensuring we didn’t fall over sleeping cattle at night. Many a time we were forced to wake sleepy cows to negotiate our entry and exit from the field.
After delicious dinner every evening, it was time to don protective clothing – layers and layers of protective clothing. The observing group: Christopher Middleton, Tony Halliday, Mary MacKinnon, John Somers Vine and myself resembled Michelin men on steroids. Newspaper in the shoes or three pairs of thermal socks. Long underwear and two additional layers of trousers. At least four layers on the torso and the obligatory, beanie, balaclava, scarf … and John’s "Liewe Heksie" Belgian hat. The challenge: to beat -6 to -10 degree Celsius deep freeze. Hey, we’re tough astronomers – no problem!
As we all waddled out for our first evenings observation, I could not help but reflect on the madness and passion of the amateur astronomer. A rare breed teetering on the edge of certifiable insanity. What a pleasure!
We arrived at our scopes and all stood mouths agape for a few moments; five friends staring stupidly into the early evening sky. It was crystal clear night sky with Carl Sagan’s Billions and Billions shining back at us, challenging us to recognise even the brighter constellations in a sky so filled to the chock brim with crystalline diamonds. Tony asked for his dark glasses because the Magellanic Clouds were irritatingly bright.
Suddenly, five people attacked the coverings on their scopes like a hoard of starving war refugees at a food distribution point. No sooner were lens caps discarded when the first whoops of joy shattered the silence of the Lammergaai reserve. Christopher used some base adjectives to describe the sheer magnificence in his eyepiece. The exclamations of delight were not too dissimilar to that of a Tai harem during happy hour. The Hollywood Objects now in new found glory: Omega Centauri, Centaurus A, Jewel Box, Tarantula Nebula, Sombrero Galaxy …
Moments later, four curious observers turned to an uncharacteristically quite Tony Halliday and enquired:
"Tony, what’s that strange smell coming from your area?"
"Oh, its nothing," he sheepishly replied. "I’ve just attached a 12 volt battery pack to my 6 volt hand controller and completely fried the electronics!"
10pm was break time each evening. Back to house for a second course of dinner left-overs and a steaming mug of hot chocolate/coffee. Lots of excited chatter on what we had just then observed and the plan of attack for round two.
By the time of our return, the sky had rotated sufficiently for a whole new set of delights to behold. Now it was time to try out my new oxygen III filter. Carina and the Keyhole Nebulae – dust lanes and gas clouds de-lineated with knife edge definition. Lagoon and Trifid Nebulae – thick with nebulosity and texture. The Swan and Eagle Nebulae detail, size and complexity as we had never before observed.
While Christopher and John embarked on a double star festival, Mary and I marvelled over two objects we had given our own adoptive names: The Chinese Lantern (NGC 3293) and Star City (NGC 3532). All this while, Tony worked feverishly to digitally capture the perfect image of Mars.
Evening number two started with a gusting wind sporting needle-like teeth that cut straight through the protective layers of clothing. The wind meant astro-photography was out of the question and seeing was significantly worse than the previous evening. The mid-time snack was a welcome break from the wind and we all felt a little dejected as we trundled back to base. After an extended astronomy debate around the table we emerged for round two to find the wind had completely disappeared and the skies were crystal clear; even better than the previous night.
The final evening saw the farm management entourage arrive for a special tour of the skies presented by all of us. They were treated to various objects in four different telescopes. What an impression we must have made with our enthusiasm to share knowledge about the menagerie of objects overhead. The farm manager, Dick, offered to build us an observatory for our next visit!
What a wonderful TOTAL astronomy experience. As the big man in the terminator so aptly put it - "I’ll Be Buck!"
Dave Gordon