Dark deeds

"Wow!" "Amazing" "Wonderful!" "Unbelievable!"
Many were the superlatives that were uttered during the first night under a clear and incredibly dark Namibian sky. For me, it was a happy reunion. For my group of friends, an astonishing new experience.

The flight from Frankfurt left the European continent. Soon we were over Africa. A continent sparsely populated. An night image shows large pathes of mostly dark areas. Just spotted with a few smaller and larger cities here and there. I had been there many times. And the past two years, I had come here to not just look at the dark skies, but to exploit them. Taking photos of objects that are either too low or even under the horizon from my usual spots in Norway.
I never sleep much on any means of transportation. And this was no exception. I tried to close my eyes and let my body take me into dreamland. But it just wouldn't do it. So I just lay, or more precisely, sat there with my eyes closed.
A few hours into the flight, somewhere over Cameroon, I notices a large flash outside the windows. My initial thought was that the flash was just the lights on the wing flashing into moisture. But I soon realised that it didn't come from the airplane. It was from the ground underneath us. I tried to locate the source, and after about 10 minutes, squeezing my face onto the window pane, I could see that we were approaching a thunderstorm. The lightning was ripping the clouds and illuminating large areas. I pulled out my camera, and tried to film the beautiful event. I love thunderstorms, and the fireworks display west of our flightpath was amazing. I was smiling. My tiredness was gone. A welcomed treat.
We arrived one hour early. It was cold. Only 3 degrees C. I had opted for shorts, and had regretted that during the flight, and now even more. I was eager to get into the terminal building for passport control. I and my friends were among the middle of the people coming off the plane, but due to some poor choices in the passport queues, I ended up being third last to pass passport control. The ordeal took more than one hour. But finally I got my stamps and was admitted into Namibia. My backpack was waiting for me on the conveyor belt. I picked it up and walked through customs to meet my friends on the other side.
Our transport hadn't appeared yet, so we spent the time changing some money for a short trip into Windhoek and buy snacks and the life elixir of the amateur astronomers at Harestua Solar Observatory : Chocolate...
The landlady at Hakos Guestfarm showed up and we packed the car with bags, suitcases and backpacks. Ready for the long drive to Hakos. But first we went into Windhoek were Waltraud drove us around on a short sightseeing tour of the city before stopping at a gas station for gas and snacking (we realized that it was Sunday, and this was Africa. No Sunday open shops...).
The trip to Hakos went as always, rumbling on gravel roads. Sleeping after the long sleepless flight, and the occationaly baboon or ostritch sitting by the road.

After arriving, settling into our rooms and eating breakfast, the first order of the day was to inspect the gear we had rented. It was all laid out on a terrasse below the main house. We had rented three telescopes together for visual observing, and two of us had rented tracking platforms to put out astrphotogear on. For deep sky photos.
As for most of the winter in Namibia, the skies were clear, and all of us was preparing for a night under the skies.

My photogear installed and ready for the night

 An area where astronomers meet to observe the night skies, is often referred to  as "red light distrct". This is due to the fact that only red lights are accepted. Our eyes are not very sensitive to red light, so in order to preserve our night vision, we only use red light. On this trip, we also decided to buy som red glasses to cover our eyes in case we needed to go to places where there wasn't red light. Below is a photograph taken through my glasses to show how we want our eyes to adapt.

And here is me sporting my astrogoggles. They actually worked remarkably well as sunglasses. They covered my prescription glasses perfectly, so I used them for most of the day.

All of our gear inspected and ready for the night.

Nightfall, with swallows flying through the air to their nests underneath
the roof of the main building. We would occationally har them during
the night.

After a few nights under the skies, four of us decided to take a walk to something called "Walter's point", about 45 minutes walk from the main house. The name stems from Walter Straube who started the guestfarm back in the days. He died two years ago and is buried on the farm. His daughter is now running the place.

View back towards the farm

Beautiful views

Rest in peace

The walk was also a reminder of two facts : Even in the desert, there is a place for life and beauty. And the desert is not to be taken lightly. We found this flower in the middle of the trail. Like a defiant reminder that it will not be downtrodden and forgotten. But will still lift towards the light and spread its beauty.

But if you do not take the desert seriously, it will punish you dearly, as these two animals found at such a high cost.

Most of this Kudu antelope had decayed, leaving only literally the skin and bones

Beautiful light in the afternoon.

One of the days, we got a guided tour of the farm and its many observatories. All of them with a lot of gear that can make even the most calm and composed amateur drool. But the following was by far the biggest display of "astro-porn" on the site. A 20 inch telescope on top of a world class precision mount far above my normal price range. I think I started drooling at one point.

But of course, our main focus for being here, was the night sky. Superlatives have been many and not far between. The beauty of the night skies are simply stunning. With star clusters, galaxies far far away (...) and nebulas in all the colours of the rainbow. All scattered across a sky so dark it makes your heart bleed when thinking of the light polluted skies back home. Where you can barely see the stars some places.
And it makes me wonder at times : What have we lost by lighting up the night? It may make us feel safe, althought in many cases it doesn't actually make us safe. But we have lost the night. We have lost the awesome and humbling view of the billions of stars encompassing our existence. And that might have caused us to ignore the obvious fact of our insignificance in it all. Maybe we all need to turn off the lights once in a while, and on a clear night, lay down on the ground and let the view humble us into getting off our self-inflating thrones of significance. And just realize who we are in it all.

Ragnar,
Amateur astronomer with the permanent travel bug syndrome

Seoul-searching, Gangnam style!

When taking the Seoul-train to Seoul station, one might be tempted to believe our destination was Motown. But this was an oriental town, not occidental. Although with its modern looks and design, it is no doubt this South Korean capital has opened it doors to the world's influence.

Almost every year, a friend of mine and I go for a short oval weekend trip somewhere in the world. And this time, Seoul was the target. It was a long flight from Europe, with too little sleep. When flying east, the day (and night) is way too short. We had originally planned to go to Seoul a few years back, but those plans failed. But finally, we were able to visit the southern part of the Korean peninsula, 6 years after I visited the north.

I have Won!

Going to Seoul station!

We took the train from the airport to Seoul station (...) and after some wandering about in the heat, we decided to just grab a cab to the hotel and drop off our bags before doing anything else. It was also getting late. We were a bit surprised by how little crowdy Seoul was, until we learned that we had arrived on the South-Korean equivalent of thanksgiving. So almost everyone had left to visit their parents and/or the rest of their family.
Our taxi-driver spoke English and told us about the corruption and how he didn't like the government. Just like everywhere else, I guess. Except a few hundre kilometer north, where it would have meant "reeducation" if you even considered talking like that. And in those sentences, the main difference between the two brother nations became all too obvious.

Our hotel had a name that was all too fitting :

And we got a room with a view.

After dropping off our bags and changing into something more apporpritate and less sweaty, we headed out. The city felt dead. My friend had found a place he wanted to visit, so we took the subway there and found excactly nothing. That is, we found the place, but there was nothing there. We walked thought the front door, and just a big empty space greeted us. And a guard. He pointed towards an escalator, and we rode it DOWN into the ground. Suddenly, we were in a shopping mall and cineplex underneath the ground. Complete with the Hulk and Ironman fighting it out...

...and an indoor slide...

...and green-tea-flavored ice-cream! Yummy!

If I could speak Korean, this movie would probably have been my choice.

But we were too tired to watch any movie. Unless the co-audience would like some life-like snoring sound-effect to their movie. We opted for returning to the hotel for some sleep...

After a couple of hours sleep, we were ready to take on the world again. At least a new day. And this day, we had planned to go to the Namsam Seoul tower. A towering (...) construction on a mountain overlooking the city. We took the subway to the nearest station, and walked the rest to the cable-car that would take us to the foot of the tower. Even though most people had left the city, the line for the cable-car was, like, forever. But we finally got ur tickets to ride. My friend learned that many couples would bring padlocks and lock them on the fences by the tower. So he bought a padlock with a heart on it, dedicated to him and his wife. He photographed it and sent the picture to his wife. She loved it.

Fences packed with padlocks from couples.

An elevator inside the tower lifted us up to a viewing platform 140 meters above the ground. Luckily, I do not have a fear of heights...

Not for the shy or men with fear of heights. But then again, the latter would never
see this bathroom...

After coming down from the mountain, we walked around the city, taking photos and enjoying the street life and buildings, old and new.

Part of the old city wall. This was one of the entrances.

Lots of visitors to the old city. Many with natiional costumes.

Cool design on the buildings.

In more detail

Even the river was "designed"

Is this a way to make sure office rats get out more?

Ok. If you need an iPad that bad, maybe you should see a shrink

Hmmm. Not sure if I want to trust an ATM from this bank... I need
no more woories...

We walked into a narrow street and found this restaurant....

...serving typical Korean cousine. I had tried this in North Korea. Delicious!

After the delicious meal at the side street restaurant, we walked back to our hotel. Shooting some more pictures on our way. We decided to walk a side street again instead of the main roads. And that was a good call. We suddenly found where all the people were hanging out...

Hanging roof...

Rose petal ice-cream! The guy scooped flat scoops of ice and
formed this rose. Cannot remember the flavor, but it was delish!

So this is were all the people were hiding!

Bustling street!

Next morning. We had booked a VIP bus for the airport. Originally we planned to take the train again, but when the receptionists offered VIP bus, how could we resist?
The breakfast wasn't fast at all. Enjoying the view from our table, we sat talking and enjoying the last meal before heading home.

Fat and juicy breakfast

The VIP bus was truly VIP. With ginormous seats of leather we sat like kings and enjoyed the ride to the airport.

At the airport, these guys provided a photo-op for us before we boarded
 the plane

The trip was short, but full. We got to see a lot, taste delish cousine and enjoy a weekend away from home. Far away from home...

Dry spell in Namibia

"Eeeeemmm. I think you'd better hurry!" I said to Claus taking my photo in the hot desert on the way to Swakopmund. I was looking at an approaching group of cars. Leaving a big cloud of dust behind them. Not wanting to literally being left in the dust, Claus took a couple more snaps before we both jumped into the car and managed to leave the other cars in the dust.

This was my second trip to this astronomical paradise in southern Africa. Namibia. A place where clouds are more the exception than the rule from May through September. I had met Claus the year before and this year, we decided to rent a 4X4 together to be more mobile, and giving us the chance to see more of the area, and Namibia in general.
My focus was still the starry skies and the beautiful objects thereof, but I also decided to "sacrifice" one of the nights to go down to the coast, visiting Swakopmund. And old colonial town from the German era.
Last year, I booked rather late, so a campsite was the only option. This time, I had booked far in advance, so they had a comfy room. And in addition, I opted out of the trip via Johannseburg. This time, I took the direct flight from Frankfurt to Windhoek. Much faster, and lest stressing.
I arrived in the morning to find the mount I had rented, already mounted and polar aligned. Ready for my gear. Then a shock as I unpack my gear to set it up for the night. I had sent my telescope off to be checked and tuned and it arrived just days before I left. And when I sent it off, I removed the socalled mounting rings. These are rings that clamp around the telescope and makes it possible to fasten it to a tracking platform. I took out my telescope and put it down on the bed. Something was odd about it. I am normally a calm guy, but when the truth hit me, I almost literally screamed "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!". I had forgotten to add the rings on the scope. And now they were 10000 km away. I paced around the room grunting and pulling the little hair I have left. How STUPID is it possible to get? My heart raced, my brain worked in overdrive. I first thought of a stupid idea of TAPING the telescope to the mount. But soon realized that was even more stupid. I had brought a small mounting platform to be used for a camera, and I tried fixing the telescope to this with plastic strips. But that was a stable as a 5-year old on a sugar high at a birthday party. I asked around, and to my great relief, we managed to find a couple of rings belonging to another telescope. They fit so-so, but just enough for me to manage to get long exposures. I sighed of relief. My heart rate was back in the double digits and the blood pressure below lethal. I was ready for the first night.
At dinner, we had a few laughs about my near-death experience.

My sorta-working mounting rings. With some duct tape added for looks...

When the dark falls on this place, it gets dark. So dark that the Milkyway itself casts a shadow. The zebras still lurk around in the dark, seeking the water-tub placed a bit below the farm. For the horses, but zebras, I guess, are a kind of horse. So it seems right. I hear their hooves clack on the rocks. It is serenety on a different level. The darkness, the million stars above me and the silence. Only the slight breeze rustling the leaves slightly around me. Hearing the camera clicking once in a while. With no distractions, the brain works differently. At home, there are million distractions. Here, none.

BTW : All images in this blog are as usual possible to click on to zoom in.

Out and about

I and Claus went on a few trips in the area during daytime. Once to the H.E.S.S. observatory and once to a pictoresque place just south of Hakos where we were staying. Some images from the trips :

Some antilope that ran when we came driving. Just managed to shoot it
(with my camera)

Endless gravel roads

Well worth drive.Beautiful view!

The shade was occupied...

The southernmost point above which the Sun "turns" northward again on
December 21st

H.E.S.S. without hiss

The H.E.S.S. observatory is looking for high energy bursts from the cosmos, and is the largest of its kind in the world. It has built by the Max Planck Institut in Germany. And it lies only a few km from the astrofarm, so we decided to take a trip there. Not only to see the observatory, but also to place a few cameras around to take time-lapses during the night.
The people working there was very accomodating, and let us walk around and take photos. They showed us the results they had on their screens and explained how their equipment worked. Placing our cameras around was fine with them.
I and Claus placed a few cameras in strategic places and left them there for the night. The day after I found that my camera had died (flat battery) after just a few hours. It was supposed to have battery power for the whole night, but obviously not...

Wefie of me and Claus in the big scope

This telescope is humongous

A sense of scale (note the guy in front of the instrument housing)

The timelapse of the array of telescopes during the hours my camera operated. I had hoped for the full night, but I am glad i was able to capture at least this much.

Swakopmund

I, Claus and two other guys decided to head down to the coast for one night in Swakopmund. An old colonial era town down by the coast. The ride down on the gravel roads would take a few hours, but it was definitely worth it. The town was nice, and situated down by the sea. And the trip gave me a chance to get away from the "chores" of astrophoto. Although I love it, it takes it's toll on the body to get only a few hours of sleep every night. So a full night and some R&R by the sea would prove to do wonders.

Rooisand - red sand 

I am glad Claus had a course in driving on gravel road. An "interesting"
experience to say the least. With the car sometimes behaving like a wet
piece of soap on the bathroom floor.

Endless gravel roads towards the coast. Nearly there...

After checking in to a nice pension in the city, we went down to the shore and had lunch at a restaurant literally riding the waves. The whole restaurant shook when waves hit the poles it was standing on. I was calmed by the story that this restaurant crashed into the waves a few years back when the foundation collapsed... But we survived. This time around. The food, service and company was excellent. And we had a nice stroll on the pier afterwards, Watching, and feeling, the waves crash against it. And watching people enjoying the view and the breeze.

After lunch, we had a stroll around town. And took some pictures and looked at places here and there before ending up in another restaurant to have dinner.
During the stroll, we found this ice-cream parlour. The icecream sure was "lekker". We hade a cone with some scoops of different flavors.

Old colonial style church.

The next morning Claus and I decided to take a stroll on the beach before breakfast. I love the sea. The smell of the ocean. The waves splashing. The gentle breeze. Feels like...home...

Illegal to brag about your catch...

The fisherman and the sea. And in the background, the restaurant we ate in
the day before.

Beautiful color patterns in the sand created by the water

Even more

Flamingo taking off. The colors on their body is caused by the food they eat.

Up Up Up and away!

Crazy dog that loved lapping up sea water... And playing with his ball

Local chicken wandering about in the streets...

Beautiful plant outside our pension

After breakfast, we packed our bags, checked out of the hotel and drove down the coast. We wanted to shoot some more flamingos, so we went down to a salt factory a bit south of Swakopmund. The flamingos love the area, rich in nutrients and food. A bit smelly, but most of the time, it was bearable. But at one place, the smell was just beyond expression. As soon as I stepped out of the car and sucked the first breath of air, I almost threw up. But I managed to hold my breakfast down and get some nice snaps of flamingos trying to get up into the air. See below.

Left-right-left-right-leeeft!

Flamingo Air flight FL108 ready for takeoff

Aaaaaand....

Nah... Maybe next time.

Yeeeha! Almost there!

 Driving through the Namib desert was wonderful. I don't know why, but I just love the desert. Dry, desolate and dead. Hmmm. Maybe I need professional help. Anyways. Some images might help describe my fascination.

Not exactly rush-hour

Desert church

Shacks hanging on the edge of the desert.

We stopped to pick up a woman hitchhiker. She proved to be hammered and
lugging around a bottle of moonshine or something similar. She only wanted
to go a few hundred meters before she had reached her destination.

The desert isn't to be travelled lightly. Seems like someone did a while ago.

Ostrich! I said to Claus and we tried to get as close as possible. But without
a proper zoom and us scaring it into running away, meant this was my best
 shot

An oasis in the middle of the desert. Maybe this
is why I love the desert. Life hanging on even here

Even the slightest dew makes the desert go green.

Kudu antelope running down the side of the road as we passed

Beautiful sundown over the mountains

Sunset from Hakos

And after the sun went down, astronomy was the name of the game. I had a telescope that I used for shooting beautiful objects in the skies, It sat there happily staring at a small patch in the sky for hours on end while I was either sleeping og stealing some glimpses through the 24" telescope that a couple of Norwegians and a German guy had rented. I also made some timelapses of both my telescope running, and us observing through telescopes on the lawn in front of the main building.

My telescope (and me checking and resetting it) over the course of 6 and a half hours (I went to bed while it was shooting)

Observing with telescopes on the lawn. This is six hours starting just after sunset. The shadows are caused by the glow of the Moon setting in the North-West.

There are of course stuff to see around the astrofarm too, during the daylight hours. And one can walk around on the extensive farm. Which I often did. Sitting in my room or in the main house all day processing images became boring after a while, so I spent some time walking the trails around the famr. Taking some pictures here and there.

The nest of some bird.

When I walked around, the farm's dogs came and kept me company. The old one had recently been bitten by a baboon when she was chasing it. So she walked a bit slow and constrained. But the younger one (the light-furren one), was jumping around like dogs normally do...

Come and smell this, human! This is the most interesting smell around here!

We could hear the zebra's around the farm at night. They normally eluded us during the day. But on one of the walks, I came across this one. It had obviously been eaten. Either by insects after simply dying, or being killed by a predator. Either way, only part of the skin and the bones where left.

Parts of its striped skin

One of the hoofs. Like a giant nail having been left there.

There is a bug in the system! A BIG bug! This giant thingy was sitting on a
plant outside my room one morning, 2-3 inches long. Nice!

All in all, this was a great trip. I got to see a lot more than the previous year when I more or less only stayed at the farm the whole time. I wasn't used to clear skies every night, so I didn't want to miss any. This time around, I kinda expected every night to be clear, so there wasn't the rush of the first year.
And in May 2017 will be my third time in this astronomers paradise. And I am bringing friends this time. Looking forward to that!