[AZ-Observing] A note from Tom Polakis
- From: Peter Argenziano <pargenz@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: AZ-Observing <az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, EVAC listserver <evac@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 14 Aug 2004 15:26:37 -0700
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
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