Starry Splendour over Prince Albert

-Hans Daenhe-

In August the days will already become noticeably longer, having already started to lengthen by one minute in the morning and one minute in the evening from the 7th of July. This is the time for the rich winter constellation Sagittarius in the dense part of the Milky Way above our heads at night; but the Archer is difficult to recognize as a man’s trunk with bow and arrow and an under body of a horse. It is much easier to look for a teapot with lid, handle and spout under the Scorpion where the Milky Way seems to split. This is the direction of the centre of our Milky Way galaxy and in this area of the sky we can find at least 20 Messier objects i.e. open clusters, globular clusters, double stars and nebulae that are awesome through binoculars and telescope.

Near Sagittarius is a clear little arch of star, like a crown, hence its name: Corona Australis, the Southern Crown.

For a naked eye observation before sunrise the grouping of bright Venus, dim Mars and the Moon in a nearly straight line makes a beautiful attraction on the 17th of the month.

Venus will remain the striking Morning Star for the rest of the year .

Full Moon is on the 6th of August with a penumbral lunar eclipse between 01h00 and 04h00. You have to look carefully because the darkening of the moon is very slight.

New Moon is on the 20th with the Moon at its closest approach (360,000 km) to Earth (perigee), which is usually a more favourable configuration for rain in the north of South Africa.

Jupiter is very bright just after sunset (mag. - 2.8) and is visible the whole night. The imaginary line from the Sun through Saturn and Jupiter helps to indicate the Ecliptic, the plane that the planets and the Moon describe around the Sun.

Saturn can only be observed for a short while after sunset at the beginning of August thereafter it will get too close to the Sun on its way to its conjunction with the Sun on the 17th of September.

Looking north a configuration like a large cross can be seen. This is Cygnus, the swan, thus also called the Northern Cross.

The Sun is our most observed star with six unmanned solar telescopes spread over the Earth, studying the Sun continuously. One of these automatic telescopes is at Sutherland where it tracks the Sun automatically and measures the oscillation of the Sun caused by the gravitational pull of the passing planets. There are also eight dedicated satellites keeping the Sun in their focus to measure solar flares, sun spots and the ejection of solar energetic particles that cause beautiful Auroras in the Polar Regions but that are dangerous to earthlings and especially astronauts. Never look at the Sun with unprotected eyes or through unsuitable equipment!

The beloved Southern Cross is now positioned on its side with the pointers above it, all of them soon to disappear behind the Swartberg until January; but the outstanding Magellan Clouds high in the sky will make up for this.

Keep the stars in your eyes!

Starry Splendour over Prince Albert

- Hans Daehne -

In June we can enjoy the beautiful thick part of the Milky Way in all its glory again over Prince Albert and what better way to do it than with a whole night gazing session on the night before Winter Solstice at Abrahamskraal. All members of SPACE are welcome to contact Hestie for arrangements with accommodation.

Now is the time to observe the huge constellations of Scorpius and Sagittarius above our heads at night as we are looking into the direction of the centre of our galaxy. Scorpius contains the red
super giant Antares that would extend right up to the orbit of Mars (Ares in Greek ) if placed at the position of our Sun. This star is also called Cor Scorpii, the heart of the Scorpion.
The Scorpion can only be seen in the winter while we can observe the Southern Cross nearly all year round and if viewed synoptically from south to south-east it comes as a surprise every year again to see these two beautiful constellations ( the Scorpion and the Southern Cross) so close together. The reason for this is that the Southern Cross is circumpolar i.e. always above the horizon for us while Scorpius is just outside the circumpolar region.
The bright stars in Sagittarius resemble the shape of a teapot ( rather than an archer of half horse half man configuration ) that could be pouring its contents into a fine string of stars arranged in the curved shape of a crown hence its name Corona Australis, the Southern Crown.

Venus and Mars are both morning objects with Venus very bright at magnitude - 4.5 and Mars fairly dim contrary to the claims made in an annoying e-mail that is doing its rounds again and that should be totally ignored.

Jupiter at magnitude - 2.5 is becoming an all-night object in the constellation of Capricorn. It is always very rewarding to observe the largest planet in our solar system with its four bright Galilean moons through a telescope. This is among other reasons because Jupiter rotates around its axis in under 10 hours and some changes of this fast spin can be observe during the night.

Saturn at a dim magnitude of only 0.9 is visible the whole evening with its rings getting really thin(viewed edge-on) and thus reducing Saturn’s reflectivity but now its moons can be found easier. This rare position of Saturn was last observed in 1995.

Full Moon will be on 7 June while the New Moon on the 22nd will be close to Earth.

Winter Solstice on the 21st June will mark the shortest day and longest night (good for star-gazing) and although the days will become longer thereafter it is termed as the beginning of winter in the southern hemisphere. Sunset in Prince Albert will be at 17h30 and will become later by one minute every evening from now on while only from 7 July will the Sun rise one minute earlier daily in the morning.

How successful the very fascinating undertaking of catching, refurbishing and setting free again the most famous space telescope Hubble by the space shuttle Atlantis on 11th May was, should become apparent soon with new and more detailed photographs becoming available on the internet.

These beautiful images of the vast space around us could be interesting discussion material for a whole evening and maybe we should do just that some time.

Keep the stars in your eyes!

Starry Splendour Over Prince Albert

- Hans Daehné -

Autumn is an ideal star-gazing time because the last glimpse of the Summer Constellations can still be enjoyed together with the Autumn Constellations and a pre-view of the rich Winter Constellations.

As Orion, the hunter, prepares to depart from the celestial scene in the west together with his dogs, canis major and canis minor we have to take leave ofsome splendid sights like the Orion nebula, the huge red giant, Betelgeuse, and of course the brightest star, Sirius in the large dog.

The two bright stars of the twins (Gemini) Pollux & Castor are high up in the north early in the evening.

In April, Leo, the dominant autumn constellation, moves into prime observation position, the zenith but it has to be imagined as a lazy lion lying on its back. To the east of Regulus, the main star in Leo, we find a bright “star” which is actually Saturn. The rings of Saturn are viewed edge-on at the moment which happened last in 1995. Towards the end of the year the rings will open up again and then we will look onto the northern surface of the rings of Saturn in the constellation of Virgo.

It is now the best time for the year to look for Mercury after sunset from Gordon`s Koppie.

Venus and Mars are both morning objects with Jupiter in the very early morning in the constellation of Capricorn.
Full Moon is on the 9th and New Moon on the 25thApril.

Looking in the southern direction we find the gems of the southern sky namely the crosses and the Magellanic Clouds. As any boy scout will be able to tell you the two bright Pointers point to the Southern Cross, Crux, while the neighbouring Diamond Cross and the False Cross do not have such markers.

The long axis of Crux points in the direction of the celestial South Pole and extended further beyond the pole leads to the Small Magellanic Cloud while an extension of the long axis of the Diamond Cross will lead you to the Large Magellanic Cloud close by.

On a dark night the Coalsack, next to the Southern Cross, and Magellanic Clouds are beautiful naked eye objects while a pair of binoculars shows fascinating details.

Kepler, the space telescope that can detect very faint changes in the brightness of stars, has been successfully launched by NASA to search for earth-like planets for the next six years.

Love and protect our Earth- it is the only planet with chocolate! Keep the stars in your eyes!

Starry Splendour over Prince Albert

- Hans Daehne -

The International Year of Astronomy (IYA2009) started with a partial solar eclipse on the 26th of January and the rest of 2009 will have many more observational highlights like the lunar eclipses in August and December.

To make the most of the IYA2009 the astronomical fraternity world-wide has decided to offer as many persons as possible a Galilean experience by letting them look through a telescope at the wonders of our universe. This will also be the case in Prince Albert when Astro Tours together with the Starfriends of Prince Albert will hold open viewing evenings at suitable venues. More information to follow.

The aim is to let Prince Alberters acquire a basic knowledge of and appreciation for the starry splendour above their heads, as the motto of the IYA says: The Universe – yours to discover.
Venus, the bright “Evening Star” at the moment, will become really bright (mag. - 4.5 ) after sunset in February and should be observed with dedication as she will disappear from the evening sky in March to become the “ Morning Star”.

Mars and Jupiter are already morning objects and the latter is also getting brighter as the months go by.

Saturn, in retrograde movement in the tail area of Leo, is on its way to its opposition to the Sun in March, and is visible with increasing brightness after sunset for the whole night in February.

Full Moon is on the 9th and New Moon on the 25th of February. The Full Moon will work its appearance more and more to the beginning of the month until in December there will be room for two Full Moons in one month ( 2nd and 31st ) with a partial lunar eclipse during “ Blue Moon” - a really “once in a blue moon” occurrence.

Orion with the “maternity ward”, the Seven Sisters, the red giants Aldebaran and Betelgeuse, the Magellanic clouds and the Southern Cross are still splendid sights. In February they will be joined by the largest globular cluster, Omega Centauri, and the most colourful open cluster, the Jewel Box.

Keep the stars in your eyes!

Starry Splendour over Prince Albert

- Hans Daehne -

In September, according to the calendar, Spring should start in the Southern Hemisphere with the Equinox on the 22nd .

This is manifested by a look into the night sky where the prominent Spring Constellation of Pegasus high up in the north gives the same seasonal indication. On earth longer and warmer days already become evident together with the characteristic flowers and blossoms at eye-level.

Pegasus, the flying horse (reminding us how fast time is flying), can easily be identified by four bright stars arranged in a huge square, the Square of Pegasus, representing the body of the horse with its neck extended to the left, westwards. It is one of only a few northern constellations that is in the upright position for us and you should have no difficulty in finding it.
The fast planet Mercury is an evening object until the end of the month but because of its closeness to the Sun, is best observed from Gordon’s Koppie after sunset.

Venus has become the splendid evening star again and will proceed to shine brighter and brighter towards the end of the year.

Mars in Virgo sets soon after sunset and thus also becomes a Gordon Koppie object.

Saturn is moving to morning visibility but the bright Jupiter is still close to the handle of the teapot in Sagittarius; at magnitude -2.5 it is still brighter than any star.

Full Moon is on the 15th and New Moon is on the 29th September after it moved to the end of the month with the two New Moons in August.

News from beyond Earth:
After having detected ice water, an analyzer aboard NASA’s Phoenix Mars lander has detected perchlorate in the soil of the red planet’s northern latitudes. Perchlorate is chlorine with four oxygen atoms and is found on Earth in the Atacama Desert in Chile.

Space shuttle Atlantis will be sent up to catch the Hubble Space Telescope in early October to service and upgrade the observatory.

The European spacecraft Venus Express is placed in a lower orbit around Venus for more detailed investigation of our neighbouring planet’s atmosphere.

The International Space Station can regularly be observed over Prince Albert, to find out when, visit: www.heavens-above.com

Keep the stars (and spacecrafts) in your eyes!

Starry Splendour over Prince Albert

- Hans Daehne -

In the ice-cold grip of winter the stars shine at their brightest, because we look in the direction of the centre of our Milky Way Galaxy where the celestial objects are densely packed and thus obscure the centre itself, which as in any galaxy is a big Black Hole.

The area around the easy to find Scorpius and the complicated Sagittarius is full of celestial surprises as viewed through a pair of binoculars and through a telescope, like open and globular clusters, nebulae and double stars.

All the stars that we see are in our own galaxy and any galaxy that we see is far beyond our own galaxy. This gives you a little more perspective of the huge size of our galaxy.

After the Winter Solstice on the 21 June, the Earth will only be at its furthest distance from the Sun (aphelion) on the 4th of July namely at 152 million km; but at the speed that we are travelling along our orbit (107,000 km/h ), there’s hope that the winter will be over soon.

From 7 July, the days will grow longer by one minute in the morning and one minute in the evening – Summer is on its way!

New Moon is on 3 July, with the Moon at its closest to Earth (perigee ) on 1 July , a combination that favours rain in the north. Full Moon will be on the 18th, while on the 6th the Moon will form a lovely group with Saturn, Mars and Regulus.

A very bright Venus will become the evening star again in July just after sunset and on the 6th form a line with Mars, Saturn and Regulus.

As happened two years ago, Mars is again in Leo because it takes two years for our outer neighbour to orbit the Sun and he will speed past Saturn in the middle of the month indicating the line of the ecliptic in the process.

Jupiter is still in retrograde movement in the Archer moving westwards towards the Scorpion and will do so until September after which he will move in normal direction again towards Capricorn. Jupiter will be at opposition with the Sun on the 9th i.e. at “Full Jupiter” position and at his brightest for the whole month. Ideal to observe since he will be the brightest object in the night sky!

Saturn in Leo will be visible in the evening sky until Leo disappears from the night scene which will be at the end of August.

July is a good month to observe some meteor showers especially on the 13th (23h00 +), the 28th (21h00 +), 29th (22h00+) and the 30th from 20h00 onwards.

Keep the (shooting) stars in your eyes!

Starry Splendour over Prince Albert

- Hans Daehne -

With the Autumn Equinox now well behind us, the nights are rapidly becoming longer than the days until June when we will reach Winter Solstice with the longest night on the 21st; then days will become longer again.

In May after the departure of the Summer Constellations we will be able to truly enjoy the Autumn Constellations overhead. They are Leo, the Lion, Boötes, the herdsman, Corvus, the crow and Virgo, the virgin.

Four planets will also be visible in the nights of May:

Mercury will be an evening object from the end of April until the middle of May but to catch a glimpse of the hasty planet one has to climb up Gordon’s Koppie just at sunset, and observe in that direction because Mercury follows the sun closely. Best days to observe it will be between the 6th and the 9th.

Mars will leave Gemini, the twins on the 5th and move into Cancer where it will pass the open cluster M44, Praesepe during the last third of May, something that can be observed with a pair of binoculars.

Saturn is the bright "star" that moved closer and closer to Regulus, the bright alpha star of Leo where it will become stationary on the 3rd and then move away again towards Virgo.

Jupiter appears around midnight in May and will be the brightest object in the night-sky – except the moon of course.

New Moon is on the 5th and Full Moon on the 20th but on the 12th of May the Moon will be close to Regulus and Saturn.

Ongoing celestial discoveries are continuously contributing to our understanding of the universe. Of special interest in this regard is that some of the 228 known extra solar planets have turned out to be close to earth-like and that the chances have improved to discover an earth-like planet in the vicinity of Alpha Centauri B, one of the closest stars to our solar system.

Starry Splendour over Prince Albert

- Hans Daehne -


The rainy summer weather is limiting the visibility of the bright summer constellations but the stars will be there forever while the rain is very necessary right now for the Karoo and all its inhabitants.

In March the Autumn constellations will become more prominent, especially the Lion in its supine position harbouring the beautiful Saturn "above" its belly. Then it will be the turn of Corvus, the Crow, Virgo and Libra.

While the Red Giants of Summer Betelgeuse and Aldebaran move towards the West they will be replaced by the red Arcturus that is just as striking in the north.

You can still try to find the equilateral triangle of red objects made up of Mars, Aldebaran and Betelgeuse at the beginning of the month, as well as the summer triangle of Betelgeuse, Sirius and Procyon i.e. the hunter and his two dogs but now all in the West.

Venus and Jupiter were very close together as brilliant early morning objects at the beginning of February which I hope you did not miss. Venus is now on its way towards the Sun from the West which means it will rise later and later, cross the Sun and become the evening star on the eastern side of the Sun in August, when it will set after the Sun and be visible from Gordon’s koppie.

Mars will remain an evening planet, dimming as it moves towards Gemini.

Jupiter rises after midnight and will remain close to the Teapot in Sagittarius for the rest of the year.

Saturn moves closer to Regulus in Leo and should really be observed through a telescope because at the moment it is seen with its rings edge-on which happens very seldom.

The Moon is new on the 8th and full on the 22nd.

On the 20th of March it is already Autumn Equinox again which means that the Sun will cross the equator into the northern hemisphere and our nights will become longer than our days, but the star-gazing time will also become longer!

Looking East and South will become a real pleasure again because the crosses and the Centaur will be higher above the Swartberg and display all their gems found in the Jewel Box, Omega Centauri, Alpha Centauri and around Eta Carina.

Keep the stars in your eyes!

Starry Splendour over Prince Albert

- Hans Daehne -

In December star-gazing can reign supreme again with warm nights and holidays in abundance and with our favourite and well-known constellations in their full glory overhead.

The most eye-catching open cluster, the Pleiades(M 45) or "Seven Sisters", is best seen through a pair of binoculars where 13 to 20 "sisters" can be counted, while with a telescope only four of the seven can be picked out.

M 45 serves as a test for the acuity of your vision: if you can only see fewer than six stars you should have your eyes tested.

At an age of about 60 million years this cluster of stars in Taurus is an example of a star kindergarten with bright, bluish stars in contrast to the red, old Aldebaran close by.

Binocular viewing, by the way, is so ideal for astronomy that the world`s largest binocular telescope (LBT) has just been commissioned on 3,270m high Mount Graham in Arizona. Each of its two primary mirrors is 8.4 m across and as a system will produce images with a clarity of 10 times that of the Hubble Space Telescope.

A binocular view of the Orion Nebula (M42), the bright, fuzzy patch above the three belt stars is also very rewarding, but seen in the eyepiece of a telescope this maternity ward of star formation is awe-inspiring.

The Moon will be new on the 9th of December and full on the 24th. It is at perigee on the 22nd which is also the date of our Summer Solstice.

Venus is the very bright Morning Star.

Mars becomes bright enough to be observed all night between Taurus and Gemini. It is 88 million km away from Earth on the 19th of December and moves close to the horn of Taurus (Al Nath) in January.

Jupiter will only be visible from Gordon`s Koppie in the early evening for the first half of the month.

The yearly Geminids meteor shower is at its maximum in the night of the 14th December and observing should be favourable from midnight onwards.

To the south the two hazy patches high above the Swartberg are the Magellanic Clouds that the seafarer Magellan used to determine south when he could also not see the Southern Cross.

The False Cross rises over the Swartberg first. Look a little above it for a beautiful cluster (binoculars). We will have to wait until January again to see our favourite little Southern Cross, the smallest but brightest of the 88 constellations.

For any queries or observation sessions we are available on a daily basis during the festive season from the middle of December to the middle of January.

Keep the stars in your eyes !

Starry Splendour over Prince Albert

- Hans Daehne -

In October of this year like in every year it will be the ideal time to admire our Spring Constellation, the huge Pegasus, the flying horse of Greek mythology that gave poets the possibility for their flight of thoughts.

The Square of Pegasus, also known as the Spring Rectangle analogue to the Summer Triangle and Winter Triangle, can hardly be missed as it culminates over our Meridian. That means you have to look in a northerly direction parallel with Church Street and like the constellations of Orion or Scorpius Pegasus can be recognized right away because it is in an upright position for us in the southern hemisphere.

At the lower right corner of the square of Pegasus there is a string of four stars, the hind legs of Pegasus so to speak, but they belong to Andromeda already and it is under the middle of this line that you will find the Andromeda Nebula with the naked eye but a pair of binoculars will help. Also known as M31 this is the closest spiral galaxy to our Milky Way galaxy in other words our neighbour galaxy at a distance of two and a half million light years and its size is one and a half times that of our home galaxy. It is the furthest celestial object that can be seen with the unaided eye but there is good news for the short-sighted because it coming closer to us at a tremendous speed to reach us in three billion years when the two galaxies will merge.

The Moon will be new on the 11th of October and full on the 26th when it will be at perigee, the right combination for a higher possibility of rain in the Western Cape. This favourable requirement for rain in the Cape will occur every month until December – let’s hold thumbs!

Mercury is an evening object for the first half of the month and thereafter the speedy planet will show itself in the morning again. To observe the tiny planet a trip up Gordon’s koppie will be necessary.

Venus is very bright early in the morning also for the first half of the month.

Mars although already visible in the evening will only become a bright object in December around Christmas.

Jupiter at a magnitude of -2.0 (brighter than any star) will be visible during the first half of the night untill the end of the month.

It was with great relief that we learned of the safe return of space shuttle Endeavour which had delivered a new set of solar panels to the International Space Station.

With them installed the ISS has grown to a huge dimension and should become quite a sight when next seen as a satellite in the early evening.

To obtain information when a visible pass of the ISS will occur at a favourable time over Prince Albert visit the web site www.heavens-above.com, feed in Prince Albert as your observation site and it will supply the time and direction of visible passes for ten days in advance.

Building on the ISS must be completed by 2010 (in time for the Soccer World Cup in South Africa) when the space shuttles will be scrapped to make way for more advanced space vehicles.

All very exciting matter and the best of it all is that the space shuttle will capture the Hubble Space Telescope, fit it with a new set of optics and other equipment and set it free again, all in 2008.

Keep the stars, ISS and HST in your eyes!

Starry Splendour Over Prince Albert

- Hans Daehne -

In August the days will already become noticeably longer since they started to lengthen by one minute in the morning and one minute in the evening from the 7th of July.

This is the time for the rich winter constellation Sagittarius in the dense part of the Milky Way above our heads at night; but the Archer is difficult to recognize as a man’s trunk with bow and arrow and a lower body of a horse.

It is much easier to look for a teapot with lid, handle and spout under the Scorpion where the Milky Way seems to split. This is the direction of the centre of our Milky Way galaxy and in this area of the sky we can find at least 20 Messier objects i.e. open clusters, globular clusters, double stars and nebulae that are awesome through binoculars and telescope.

Near Sagittarius is a clear little arch of star, like a crown, hence its name: Corona Australis, the Southern Crown.

For naked eye observations just after sunset the grouping of bright Venus, Saturn and Regulus in Leo make a beautiful attraction during the first third of the month.

Venus will be at inferior conjunction with the Sun on the 18th of August that means she will be closest to Earth (43mil. km = 0,29 AU) but not visible to us. At the end of the month Venus will reappear as the striking Morning Star.

New Moon is on the 13th with Full Moon since the" Blue Moon" in June at the end of the month.

The Full Moon will also be at its closest approach to Earth (perigee) which is usually a more favourable configuration for rain in the Western Cape.

Jupiter in the east is opposite Venus and being very bright just after sunset helps to indicate the Ecliptic, the plane that the planets and the Moon describe around the Sun.

Saturn can only be observed for a short while after sunset at the beginning of August thereafter it will get too close to the Sun on its way to its conjunction with the Sun on the 21st of August.

Looking north a configuration like a large cross can be seen. This is Cygnus, the swan, thus also called the Northern Cross.

The Sun is our most observed star with six unmanned solar telescopes spread over the Earth, studying the Sun continuously. One of these automatic telescopes is at Sutherland where it tracks the Sun automatically and measures the oscillation of the Sun caused by the gravitational pull of the passing planets. There are also eight dedicated satellites keeping the sun if their focus to measure solar flares, sun spots and the ejection of solar energetic particles that cause beautiful Auroras in the polar regions but that are dangerous to Earthlings and especially astronauts. Never look at the Sun with unprotected eyes or through unsuitable equipment!

The beloved Southern Cross is now positioned on its side with the pointers above it, all of them on their way to disappear behind the Swartberg mountain soon until January but the outstanding Magellan Clouds high in the sky will make up for this.

Keep the stars in your eyes!

Starry Splendour over Prince Albert

-Hans Daehne-

During the recent, very successful and most enjoyable Prince Albert Town and Olive Festival we tasted a sample of the approaching winter and the night sky already displays the well-known winter constellations of Libra, Scorpius and Sagittarius.

The day after the rain we enjoyed together with some visitors to Prince Albert the splendours of Prince Albert`s night sky which has become so familiar to us.

June is a very special month this year not only because it harbours the Winter Solstice on the 21st but because it is a" Blue Moon" month which means it contains two full moons which happens very seldom, hence the expression "once in a blue moon". The second Full Moon on the 30th of June is called the blue moon although it is not blue in colour.

From the 16th of June the sun will set later but the sunrise will also be later until on the 7th of July the earth reaches its furthest distance from the sun, after that day sunset will become later and sunrise earlier each by one minute per day.

New Moon ( only one) will be on the 15th.

Mercury will be in the evening sky again until the 11th of June but so close to the sun that to observe it one has to go up Gordon`s koppie.

Venus is still bright in the evening twilight for the entire month but also only from a high observation spot.

On the night of the 5th of June Jupiter will be at opposition (that means in its best observation position), visible for the whole night, at the smallest distance from Earth namely 644 mil. km (=4.3 AU), at maximal brightness (-2.6) and largest apparent diameter.

Jupiter is the very bright object close to the constellation of the Scorpion which is easy to find because it looks like the real thing. Not far from Jupiter is the huge red giant Antares with a diameter of more than 300x that of our sun.

The term "red giant" refers to the developmental stage of a star rather than the colour of it which is usually more orange or yellow than red. A red giant is an old star and our sun will reach its red giant stage in about five billion years when it will expand to the size of the orbit of Mars.

Saturn moves in an easterly direction towards Regulus the brightest star in Leo whhich can be identified by its inverted question mark also called "the sickle".

The three crosses in the south are beautifully displayed over the Swartberg and harbour among them many fascinating objects in binoculars and telescopes such as open clusters like the Jewel Box, globular clusters like Omega Centauri, nebulae like the Eta Carina nebula and double stars like Alpha Centauri, the brighter one of the pointers.

Keep the stars in your eyes !

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 !

Starry Splendour over Prince Albert

-Hans Daehne-

At the beginning of the New Year the whole celestial scene is repeating itself again with the beautiful summer constellations at their peak now in the zenith. With the warm evenings it is an ideal opportunity to welcome old friends like the "Seven Sisters" (Pleiades), the distinctive Belt of Orion, Sirius, the brightest star of all and reappearing from behind the Swartberg, the Southern Cross, the astronomical trade mark of the Southern Hemisphere.

Point your pair of binoculars at the fuzzy spot above the Three Kings or Belt of Orion ( in fact look at that spot, hold your head very still and place your pair of binoculars in front of your eyes, that way you will find any object spot-on) to admire the stuff that the universe is made of. Here in M42, the Orion Nebula, the building material of stars (Hydrogen gas and dust) is so dense that one can actually see it due to the illumination of the young, hot stars that were born out of it.
The year 2007 promises some excitement in the sky, with the highlight the total lunar eclipse in the night from the 3rd to the 4th of March.

Mercury will be in the evening sky at the end of January, beginning of February, low in the west after sun-set.

Venus will be the evening star from the beginning of the year to middle of August and brightest on the 12th of July.

Around Christmas 2007 Mars will be at its brightest when it will be only 88 mil. km away from us.

Jupiter starts the year in the morning sky and will become a splendid sight again in the middle of winter.

Saturn is moving into a more edge-on presentation towards us and will be beautiful to observe from February until August.

Keep the stars in your eyes!

072-641-9657