Starry Night

June 18

Had a great tour of the night sky from Sam at Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory last night. Marion, my guide on Tuesday, emailed to say there was an overnight school group and Sam, part of the Science Awareness Outreach Programme, was doing stargazing. So, after a meal of ostrich at the Post & Rail, I head to the observatory.

Sam greets me and says the kids didn’t want to go out in the cold, but he could give a tour for me. It was a high school group from Limpopo province, in north eastern South Africa. Apparently the teacher was asleep already (8:30pm) and the kids seem to be in a party mood, not too interested in the night sky. Sam worked in education and was saying that undisciplined children seem to come from the more underprivileged background, exactly the group that needs discipline, while very privileged children seem to be the most disciplined.

Later, Sam talked about being black and needing good role models, unfortunately there were few or none in a field like astronomy. He said kids want to be doctors, because they see successful black doctors. He had been to New York once, and visited the Rose Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History. Sam proudly said he had met Neil de Grasse Tyson, head of the planetarium and one of the few prominent black Americans in astronomy.

Sam finds an object in the 18 inch telescope, Milky Way above him.

Having a guide to the southern sky was great for me. Sam rolled out a very large telescope and set it up on a concrete slab behind one of the buildings. I saw stars, constellations that we can’t see in the northern sky. We traded various objects: Southern Cross (south), Big Dipper (north), Magellanic Clouds (south), Orion (north). It was darker at the observatory site than at Apricot Hill, so I managed to get some nice photos of the faint Milky Way and the 26 meter radio antenna.

Drove to Rustenburg, about a 1 ½ hour drive. A small town north west of Johannesburg, they are host to several first round and second round games. I meet up with Stephane, who is one of the AFP staffers based in South Africa. We are at the Loerie-In Guesthouse, on a quiet street away from the town center. He talks with Nicolas, an AFP reporter who has been in Rustenburg for 2 weeks reporting on the soccer. Fortunately, they begin talking food, so soon Stephane has 2 restaurants, for lunch and dinner today. Saturday evening, the guesthouse is planning a braai (barbeque) so that will be fun.

We have lunch at Dors, a classic South African chain, and have mediocre salads. Off to the stadium where we photograph the practice of Ghana and Australia. The Ghanans definitely seem to have more fun than my Socceroos. They join together at the end to sing, clap and a little dance in their language, then they pray. Ghana is supposed to be the best African team, so the Australians will have a tough game tomorrow. First match for me, I’m glad its in the afternoon since it is still cold at night.