Chairman’s Chat

Incredible Journey

Firstly, a little bad news. Some of our treasured assets have, yet again, been involuntary redistributed. In November, we fell victim to a pair of particularly malicious burglaries at the Sir Herbert Baker Building. Some of our prized possessions, including the autographed Marsha Ivins collage, have been re-appropriated. We also lost, inter alia,  our refrigerator, hot tray, the audio-visual projector and a number of valuable books, posters and catalogues. The theft also had a malicious taint to it; our librarian, Evan Dembskey, discovered a portion of our AAVSO Variable Star Catalogue used for kindling in the nearby vicinity.

Our response was swift. After an emergency committee meeting, we decided to install an alarm and armed response system in all the buildings, including the two observatories. This was done in order to attempt to safeguard what assets we have left. How unfortunate that in this day and age we are forced to allocate a portion of your precious annual subscriptions to what I consider to be a non-value-adding expense. 

This traumatic experience has forced us to look introspectively and at the bigger picture. Your committee has known for some time that there are a number of members who will not risk life and limb to attend monthly meetings or make use of the telescopes because of the perceived - and, I must add reluctantly, real - danger of driving to a rapidly deteriorating part of Johannesburg. 

We have therefore started looking for alternative convenient meeting venues. Some of the ideas proposed include moving our meetings to the Planetarium, the Johannesburg College of Education, or the Military History Museum. This final option does appear to be the most attractive from the perspectives of centrality, ease of access, safety and, of course, our very good working relationship with the management of the Military History Museum (as a consequence of annual ScopeX).

Your feedback and suggestions would be most valuable and a quick email from you to the editor, Chris Penberthy, giving us your endorsement or alternative suggestions, allows your committee to move forwards with the knowledge that the majority of the membership would be satisfied with the outcome.

And now, at last, the good news: For the next three months you will not be subjected to my awful attempts at telling jokes at meetings. By the time you read this, I will be in the Southern United States on a mission to visit as many of the famous and large observatories as time will permit. I will be taking many photographs and interviewing working astronomers as well as observatory staff. 

I intend visiting the McDonald Observatory in Texas, (home of SALT forerunner, HET), Lowell Observatory, Kitt Peak Observatory and, if time and finances permit, the Keck I & II, Gemini North and Subaru Telescopes atop the extinct volcano of Mauna Kea in Hawaii. 

Then, around mid-January, I plan to catch buses southwards, through Mexico (spending time visiting the Aztec Pyramids), Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Ecuador, Peru (Machu Picchu and the Inca ruins), Bolivia, Chile (visiting the ESO Telescopes) and completing my journey in Buenos Aires, Argentina for a flight back to South Africa on 30 March 2004.

I will be travelling light and will follow a skeleton itinerary with the flexibility to change plans as circumstances unfold. If internet access permits, I hope to keep you informed of my progress. 

Why am I doing this? The experience will cross-pollinate virtually everything I am passionate about: astronomy, ancient history and adult training, particularly leadership skills in business. However, to lower the communication frustration levels, I have been teaching myself Spanish; the South American peoples no hablo inglés. 

So, as you see, madness manifests in a variety of forms. One thing is certain – the experience will be of cosmic proportions.

Until I see you all again.
Adiós! 

Dave Gordon