Another jaunt into the country

This week it was off into the country for an informal gathering of stargazers and other assorted astronomers! Our usual venue for the Southern Star Party was unavailable and so a more relaxed schedule (no schedule) meant that hardened scientific fact gatherers did not attend, but the sociability was as stimulating as ever. Bonnievale is famous for being either blazing hot or cold and windy with a chance of rain. This week brought both. Capetonians have become weather-watchers of note and fiercely defend their choice of weather 'channel'. I favour those Norwegians, as do many others, but each is convinced their forecaster is correct. I scanned the forecast every few hours as departure day neared, sometimes pushing it backwards or bringing it back to Thursday and eventually I was lucky enough to make the right decision and arrive after the rain, book into a caravan rather than my trusty tent, and wait for the clouds to blow away.
What a shock on arrival to see that the beautiful dam, such a feature of the Night Sky caravan farm, was but a puddle in a muddy basin. It is sobering to realise how much we rely on water for Life - obviously totally and completely - but in the sense of how vast expanses of water enhance our enjoyment and appreciation of nature. All the dams are empty and the farm is currently irrigated via Brandvlei.

 The whole area is covered in vineyards and orchards, so farming is intense and looking prosperous. Hopefully winter rain and snow will bring the Breede River back to healthy levels this year.

I was soon settled in and chatting to familiar faces, seen only every six months but the conversations just carry on! In no time I had the finder scope and secondary mirror adjusted and lined up on the 8-inch Orion dobby which I haven't been able to use for about 3 years - a bunch of amateur astronomers just can't resist showing their skills and of course, they are just the nicest people, all with their little quirks from spending hours alone under a dark sky looking for an elusive galaxy.

True to form, Bonnievale was very windy, overcast and chilly in the day, but every night at about 9 the wind dropped, the clouds magically disappeared, and the Milky Way stretched from horizon to horizon in a blazing arc of billions of stars. No lights are allowed, nor are they needed. Starlight is brighter than you think, and once your eyes are dark-adapted, it is easy to navigate across a field of telescopes. It also makes for plenty of witty conversation.

Sunset brought the birdlife down to the puddle, and the variety was interesting for an amateur birder like me - a hamerkop (haven't seen one since I was about 4), water thick-knees, 3-banded plovers, hoopoe, yellow-billed duck, egrets, spoonbills, blacksmith plovers, Namaqua doves, wagtails, robins, fiscal flycatcher, weavers, sparrows - but unfortunately not the pair of fish eagles that fed there before. There are still fish in the puddle, but their lifespan looks to be fairly short now.

I would say that the seeing was possibly the best of any Star Party I have been to, and it was well worth the hours of staring upwards, neck at an uncomfortable angle, wondering why nobody had brought a flask of hot chocolate, to see two moons, Ganymede and Io, transit their planet, Jupiter. Truly a sight to behold!