Million star hotel

The reason for travelling to Namibia isn't just the landscape. Althought I think it is beautiful. With beautiful landscape, red sand and a wonderful coast. But I am there primarily for the night sky. Not just the beautiful objects of the night sky there, but the fact that it has a dark sky. No light pollution. When the sun has set, they turn off all the lights, and the area becomes a more decent version of "red light district". Red light doesn't affect your night vision in the same way as white light. So all over the area, red light is the name of the game. Dim red light. White light is banned.
When night falls, and the skies are lit up by millions of stars, it is among the most beautiful sights in the world. I wanted to show people just how beautiful it is, so I put up a camera that took a picture every 15 seconds the whole night. And turned it into a timelapse.

In the video, the telesope closest to the camera is mine. Tracking beautiful objects in the night sky for hours on end. There are some stunning objects in the night sky over Namibia. And I never get tired of them. In all colors of the rainbow.
I have yet to finish processing them. Wanting to get the best out of them, I have not wished to publish them until I am satisfied with the result. These objects deserve the best treatment and processing. But then they are finished, they will be published in my astroblog Heaven's Glory. So check in there from time to time to see the progress. I have already processed som shorter exposures of some of the objects. They are found at this location. Enjoy!
The trip to Namibia has been another success. Lots of images on my harddrive. I have seen lots of animals. Eaten lots of great food. Seen the rains in Africa...

The only thing left was to travel home. The drive back to the airport was eventless. Save for a group of Indian men we met along the way asking for the nearest hotel. "Errrr... About 7 hours drive or something away?". They looked surprised. This isn't a European country. This is Namibia. Mostly desert. Mostly nothing. Just sand and dust. And a million dollar hotel for anyone who wants to stay there...

Good bye Africa. Once again, you have delivered! Till next time, stay beautiful!

Ragnar
Out of Africa