Starry Splendour over Prince Albert

-Hans Daehne-

The lunar eclipse came and went without much fuss because of the exceptional cloud cover over the whole country but even through the gaps in the clouds the different stages of the covered moon looked quite beautiful but I must admit you had to be a fanatical night owl to sacrifice sleep for that observation.

What we experienced as fascinating was the eerie shadows that the clouds projected on the Swartberg and the valley below... ... the moon even illuminated some rocks into spooky appearances which you can only observe at full moon rising.

In April the three brightest planets will be visible in the evening sky.
Venus is climbing higher and higher and is very bright after sunset . The best spot to observe it is on Gordonskoppie .
Saturn is the bright object a little in front of the alpha star(Regulus) of Leo and was well defined through the telescope the other night.
Jupiter is increasing its brightness during April to magnitude -2.6 compared to the brightest star Sirius at mag. -1.5.

New Moon is on the 17th of April.
The April Lyrid Meteor shower is also active during the month and its peak is in the second part of the night of the 22nd when the viewing should be favourable especially for night owls because it will happen from 02h00 - 05h00 .

During the Prince Albert Olive Festival we (Astro Tours) will host two star-gazing events :

Friday 27th April:
"Star talk and amazing star-gazing" at Swartberg Hotel and
Saturday 28th April :
"Star walk and star-hopping" on Gordonkoppie.

For more information contact the Tourism Bureau on 023 5411 366.

Keep the stars in your eyes !