[AZ-Observing] A note from Tom Polakis

I received the following brief note from Tom Polakis, who is currently 
serving as an astroguide at an eco-tourist lodge in the Namib Desert in 
southern Africa...
Among the hundreds of lessons I have learned during my trip to Namibia, 
an obvious one is that you can't see a meteor shower when the radiant is 
below the horizon. Smart guy that I am, I have been telling everybody 
who visits the lodge's observatory to watch for the Perseids. So I 
watched and watched on the 10th, 11th, and 12th. On extremely rare 
occasions, a Perseid entered the sky from the north when the Earth was 
not in the way of it showing up from 25 degrees south of the equator.

I am on the 10th night of my six-week stay here in the eco-tourism lodge 
in Namibia. All ten have been clear from dusk to dawn, and I just can't 
see any sign of it changing. The rangers say that the plain that this 
place overlooks is very "green" because of a freak rain as recently as 
June. Before that it rained in Februrary. It makes me want to move from 
Arizona to a real desert.

In addition to entertaining guests from all over, I have been looking at 
the Milky Way as it passes overhead. The area "below and to the left" of 
the Teapot continues to amaze me, as I swear I can see the bulge of the 
Milky Way extending nearly to the bright star Peacock in Pavo. The Small 
Magellanic Cloud is currently (11 p.m. local) high enough to show itself 
and coincidentally nearby 47 Tucanae well, and the LMC makes itself 
apparent by 1 p.m. or so.

One of the previous guest astronomers at this lodge was kind enough to 
leave an astronomy textbook at the observatory, which I have been using 
to brush up on my many deficiencies in astronomy knowledge. Tonight I 
had some new material regarding stellar evolution that seemed to work on 
the guests. When they promise to come back tomorrow, I keep thinking of 
using American comedian lines that would mean nothing to them: "You guys 
have been great, I'm here all week, be sure to tip your waitress."

Tom



--
See message header for info on list archives or unsubscribing, and please 
send personal replies to the author, not the list.

Other related posts: