SALT, dark skies and a solar eclipse

On new year's eve, Venus sat, spetacularly bright, just to the left of a crescent moon softened with a halo. The view was much better for those at the Star party, held at the SALT (Southern Africa Large Telescope) telescope in Sutherland. As Sutherland, in the semi-desert Karoo, is one of the coldest places in South Africa, I have never had any particular urge to go there. But news of the telescope, along with the fact that there is very little light pollution there (South Africans there are champions of the International Dark Skies Awareness Project, which aims to make people aware of the adverse impact excess artificial lighting can have on local environments), have made me curious. 2009 is the International Year of Astronomy, so that may be the time to make the trip there. And while we are on the topic of astronomy, we will be able to a partial solar eclipse here in South Africa on 26 January. The eclipse will be able to be seen throughout South Africa. Click here to see the various places from which one will be able to view the eclipse.

Labels: dark skies, SALT, solar eclipse, Sutherland

  ¶ [url for this post] [0 Comments] [Links to this post]