Our first tour from San Pedro was a taste of the night sky. The arrid desert conditions coupled with the clear skys and high altitude make the perfect conditions to star gaze. So we set off into the desert in the crisp night air (thermal underwear well tucked in as it can reach a cool, -10 degrees) to learn all about the sky in the southern hemisphere from a crazy French man.
Alain was from Paris and spent his life studying the sky in the northern hemisphere and he now runs his observation centre in the Atacama desert with his wife. His witty chat enlightened us on the milky way, several other galaxies visible with the naked eye and the naming conventions of constelations. It was truely fasinating and only got better when we started to use his telescopes, of which he had seven, all of different strengths. The first star we saw through the telescope twinkled just like a diamond and we then went on to look dead stars, clusters of stars and finally galaxies, just over a 100 million light years away. He could have showed us more, but then they got a bit fuzzy. We left completley frozen, but in total awe. When we return, I think we will find it a bit frustrating looking up at the cloudy, British night sky. Oh hum.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
I have to say Sis that i also found the night sky in San Pedro to be absolutely awesome, although i wasn't lucky enough to be shown around by some crazy frenchman! I do remember hundreds of shooting stars every night because there was no electricity and no lights for miles around. Beautiful.
That was Dave by the way. Sorry
Post a Comment