Nights on the hill

Last weekend (1-3 August) a small ASSA contingent once again invaded Boyden observatory in Maselspoort, near Bloemfontein. Our mission was to enjoy relatively good skies at the dark of the moon, play with the "big gun" (the 60" Rockefeller), and soak up the historical aura in tranquil surroundings. With only six of us (Ed, Dominick, Evan, Jean, Johan and myself), we had plenty of room to space ourselves out comfortably.

On arrival, we noticed some changes since our last visit. On the good side, there is now hot water and even a bath (!) in the librarybuilding, as well as some heaters and a stove that works, all of which made our stay more comfortable. The 60" now has shaft encoders, though we did not use them, and the dome has been resurfaced. Gradually, the attempts to consolidate and improve are paying off.

On the down side, the holiday resort and water purification plant next door are both expanding, and have installed many more lights. Needless to say, these are carefully designed and positioned to flood the sky with light to an altitude of about 45 degrees. How this makes for improved comfort or "security" is beyond me. Along the horison, one can see streetlights inexorably closing in as the rural area electrifies and becomes more populated. Sigh.........

After a brief settling in period to dump our stuff, grab some tea and a snack, and put on some cold-weather gear, we cranked open the big dome and began the evening's viewing. The 60" may have a huge light-gathering surface compared to what we as amateurs are used to, which helps, but the size also counts against one. With a focal length of about 23 metres, the field of view in the lowest magnification eyepiece we could find can just about accommodate the span of Jupiter's moons. This of course makes finding things quite a mission, a problem exacerbated by the inaccuracy of the setting circles. Nonetheless, we persevered and were rewarded with stunning detail. Unfortunately, the mist rolled in in the early hours and curtailed our viewing session, so we repaired to the library to warm up. Fortified by copious quantities of observing fluid, we chatted until about four. During this time, we of course managed to solve most of the world's problems and came to some concensus as to "how things should be". If we could remember it all, we'd tell you.

Saturday saw us up bright and early (yes, really). As the sun rose, it peeked out from below a thick layer of cloud and was soon gone. This did not bode well but in the afternoon the cloud passed over and we were blessed with clear skies.  After the usual ... OK, maybe not so usual, since we had never before had the luxury of a hot bath at Boyden ... ablutions, breakfast and so on, we kept ourselves occupied by exploring the site, visiting Bloem for provisions, reading the fascinating things to be found in the library and so on. After a light lunch and a short kip in the late afternoon, we were ready for the evening's doings. Having cranked open the 60" to allow it to acclimatise, we (that is to say, Johan, Dominick and Evan, who are evidently latent pyromaniacs ) stoked up a fire with consumate skill and and we had an excellent braai. Matie Hofman of the UOFS arrived, with his wife and a visiting astronomer from the 'States in tow, and we had a pleasant chat.

And so to business. We removed the instrument box from the big scope so that I could try a bit of astrophotography. Jupiter was strutting his stuff, with a fine display of detail and interesting moon configurations. As one satellite came out from behind the planet, so two others were casting shadows on the planet. Unfortunately, although the night was clearer (and colder) than Friday, there was a lot of turbulence to make things difficult. Achieving sharp focus was another difficulty to be contended with. Having hogged the scope in this way for a while, I reluctantly stepped back of the others. Once we had had our fill of Jupiter, it was Saturn's turn. Despite the seeing difficulties, the Crepe band, Cassini's division, the shadows of the ring and body of the planet on one another, as well as some bands and white spots on the planet itself were clearly visible. Every now and then the atmosphere would behave and faint details at the edge of vision would tantalisingly tease one. It was a real treat to see so many moons; there must have been about seven, whereas before I have only seen three or four under the best of conditions. They clearly showed disks, which we never see in our own instruments. In a moment of silliness, we put on a 9mm Nagler eyepiece, yielding something in the order of 2500x magnification. OK, so it was a fuzzy image, but have you ever seen Saturn fill an 80-degree eyepiece field?

After spending some time grappling with the difficulties of locating faint fuzzies, hampered by the newly-illuminated sky but having had some small success, we migrated to the 13" Alvan Clark refractor. This is a joy to use: its smaller aperture is less affected by the seeing conditions and it is much more manageable. Also, with a roll-off roof, much more of the sky is instantly accessible. Thanks to superb workmanship and an unobstructed optical path, it gives stunningly high-contrast images. The Tarantula nebula was truly awesome. Finally, at around four, we turned it on the Great Nebula in Orion as it cleared the edge of the dome wall. Reacquainting ourselves with the ethereal beauty of this stunning favourite was a real treat. Unfortunately, attempts to find the Andromeda galaxy were totally thwarted by the lighting from next door. Tired and cold, we retired at around five. Needless to say, sleep came easily.

The trip back to the big smoke was relatively uneventful, although a truck rolled and dumped its load of asphalt on the road, causing a major blockage. I had no trouble in getting to sleep on Sunday night.

We are very grateful to Matie Hofman and the UOFS for kindly making the facilities available to us. Already, I can hear Boyden beckoning again. We should make the most of it while we can, but without overstaying our welcome.

Chris Stewart
email: cstewart@eng.alcatel.altron.co.za
 
 

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During the heat of the space race in the 1960s, the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration decided it needed a ball point pen to write in the zero gravity confines of its space capsules. After considerable research and development, the Astronaut Pen was developed at a cost of about US $1 million. The pen worked and also enjoyed some modest success as a novelty item back here on earth.

The Soviet Union, faced with the same problem, used a pencil.
 

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