2006 August to October
It was late July when I returned for my third trip to the desert for another three whole months. Again I was 'guest astronomer' and it was good to see the familiar smiles and faces of the many friends I had made on my previous two trips. Not much had changed - not much does change in the arid spaces of the Namib Desert. Or, at least not on our timescale. The same mountains were peacefully and silently slumbering; the same animals roamed the landscape, following their well-worn tracks and trails across the parched pans in search of water and food. The same trees stood rooted in their spots, their wind-blown branches still flattened into the very same shapes they've been for decades. The space around you absorbs you, and you become a part of a very different world. Yet you will never know it completely, even as you are endlessly drawn into it.
This time I took a digital SLR camera with me, (my Nikon D70 - one of the early DSLR cameras), in the hope that I would be able to capture something of the wondrous night sky and desert. Astronomically it was an exciting visit, as there was a lot happening in the sky! We had a partial lunar eclipse on September 7th, as well as a partial solar eclipse on the 22nd. Pluto had been demoted to the rank of 'dwarf planet'. 'Smart 1', the lunar observation satellite, ended its days by being deliberately crashed into the Moon's surface on September 3rd. And on September 9th, myself and several members of staff at the lodge watched Space Shuttle Atlantis launch live on 'NASA TV' on my laptop in the rangers' room!
All photos copyright Caroline Beevis unless otherwise stated.
Namibia 2006
August 6th 2006. Upon arrival, I was greeted with this moonlit view of the lodge (my first time in August - Winter in Namibia, the dry season with beautiful clear blue sky days of 25 degrees and freezing cold nights, but incredible night skies). Here are four photos of the lodge under moonlight. Note the red lighting around lodge to preserve night sky visibility. The Namib Naukluft Park was the second dark sky location on the planet to be designated a 'night sky reserve'. No light pollution allowed!
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The Meade LX200 Goto Telescope
The telescope out on its platform.
... and part-time astronomer.
My 'office'
With my new Nikon D70 SLR (considered obsolete now) I strapped the camera to the telescope tube and experimented with the long exposure setting, (max. 15 mins with 1600 ISO limit), I managed to capture the central region of the Milky Way with a reasonable amount of tracking using the telescope as the guide. Without an equatorial wedge I could only track with partial accuracy. Nonetheless, I was thrilled at what presented itself to me upon checking the initial image!
Omega Centauri using my Nikon D70 with T-adaptor using the telescope as my lens (through the eyepiece). Around 17 000 light years away, it is a very ancient globular cluster of old stars in the constellation of Centaurus. Many of these globular clusters orbit around the central region of the Milky Way.
47 Tucanae (NGC 104) is an ancient globular cluster; a dense swarm of up to a million stars which measures about 120 light-years across. Located in the southern constellation Tucana, the cluster is about 16,700 light-years away.
Saturn at various angles over a period of years.
NGC 253 (The Sculptor Galaxy). Not exactly a Hubble image! However shaky my image appears to be, (with D70 / T-adaptor into eyepiece), I was still amazed when this image appeared on my camera screen of this 13-million light years distant galaxy!
German guests experimenting with long exposure (camera strapped to telescope tube)
ATV
Astronomer on ATV
Me on ATV
Maretha, Ronnie and Prunella
Desert birdy
M57 with Nikon D70 at prime focus in Meade LX (a bit wobbly but it was exciting to capture!)
An unexpected guest! Upon opening up the observatory one night, I found this bat (fast asleep - though not for long). Often in the evenings I would hear the sound of a bat or two flying around (and squeaking in-flight). Obviously this one got locked in (sorry ...). He/she soon awoke, and flew out into the early evening dusk
She opens her wings ...
... and flies out into the night.
Ranger Nestor at Owl's Pan
- Some plantlife images
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Rooms 7-10
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Ranger Nestor preparing sundowners
Out on a morning walk alone, with some Springbok in the distance
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One of the many mysterious 'fairy circles', unexplained at the time by several professional scientists. In other words ... a mystery!
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Reading in the morning sun
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A view from the Petrified Dunes, around 20 million years of age, these dunes were once beneath the ocean before drying out and 'petrifying' under immense geological pressures
A small tornado whilst I was up in the nearby dunes.
Amazingly, there was an oryx atop this mountain for several days before disappearing! How it got up there, no one knows. Where it went, no one knew that either. (I climbed the mountain shortly afterward, and there was no sign of the oryx - either alive or not).
You can just see the oryx!
Party night at the staff village, which included very loud music, me ruining my sandals in the scrubby desert, and eating a freshly cooked (& slaughtered that afternoon) goat.
More partying ...
... and some dodgy dancing ... (cont)...
... and on ...
... and on ...
Vitalis borrowed my camera for a few days, and took some lovely images.
Victory's feet.
Vitalis pretending to play guitar, with a very appreciative Ronnie listening.
Playing from the heart ...
A lone male Oryx doing his thing trying to attract a mate by standing next to a solitary tree.
After a day's ranging.
Mr Chingo looking handsome in his shades. (Speaking of which, there was no shade that day. It was January, the middle of the afternoon, and two guests wanted to go quadbiking!)
Mr Chingo and me
Ruthie
... and her son Victory.
Two rather tall German guests who I did some stargazing with one early morning, and then we went for coffee. I had to jump in order to reach the sunlight!
Dinner
August. Cold mornings (yes, really!). I lent Nestor my woolly hat.
Smile ...
No smile ...
Jafet, Shikongo, Belinda, Breshnev.
Birthday
Brothers Abisai and Jafet
Breakfast with Annell
Belinda
Belinda
The first baby giraffe to be born in the area, after two females and a male had been reintroduced to the area as a conservation effort. Vitalis and I were the first to find the little one, only a few days after its birth. It was a real privilege and so exciting!
The parents remained far, in order to protect their youngster.
Wildwatch was a series of books cataloguing wildlife and events as observed by rangers, staff, guests, and astronomers! Some of my images were included in the 2008 edition (of which I have a copy).
A celebration drink afterwards!
This was one of them ...
... and this ... (The Jewel Box Cluster)
... and this ... one of the 52 great dunes at Sossusvlei.
600-year-old (or more) dead trees at Dead Vlei.
Swimming ... with Breshnev, Victory and Salome.
A rainbow spoiling a lovely image of Ronnie, (or is it the other way round?).
A little dune beetle.
Sunset ...
