Astronomical Showing
Joburg's night sky up closeSituated on Joburg's highest point and well hidden by suburban development, sits a little known gem of Johannesburg history.
Witha suburb named after it, you'd expect the Johannesburg Observatorytojump out at you, but instead it nestles hidden from most of the city's other viewpoints. On top of the hillside and once inside, it'seasy tolose your sense of direction in the cavernous brick cylinder that
houses the telescope rig. As you enter, the walls wrap around you with
only a white door giving away where you started. A wooden platform
moves up and down and side to side rotating around the building walls.
With just a narrow piece of black sky to guide your wits, it feels
somewhat like a theme-park ride.
Once
in motion the platform moves slowly and steadily - avoiding any
beverage spillages - while the giant telescope housing 2 large lenses
rotates on a central plinth and gets manipulated into position with a
bit of heaving from the platform.
With 3 enthusiasts along for
the ride there was an abundance of astronomy information to lap up. We
made four major stops on our tour across the skies taking in Saturn,
Alpha Centauri (a triple star), The Jewel Box (probably the most
pleasing to see) and finally Jupiter and some of her moons.
I
had half hoped to see colourful planets jump out at me through the
telescope but most of the visuals looked like small lights against a
black background with occasional shades of brightness. It was
nevertheless inspiring to be gazing such distances at such celestial
objects and to almost begin to grasp the vastness of it. The
Playstation generation may find it a tad under-stimulating but a
worthwhile visit for anyone interested in our solar neighbours.
For more information about the observatory and the stars check out
http://www.saasta.ac.za/scienceawareness/observatory.shtml
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