Feedback: Star Party at Rights Farm October 2011

Off the N14, a much used road with many ugly potholes lead eleven members in seven vehicles toward Rights farm, nestled peacefully in the heart of the Free State Farmlands, away from the rat race, noise and pollution. We were joined by many family visitors, wives and children too.

Three grizzling hot days when neither beast nor man had the energy to stir, but, when dusk fell, friendship and laughter filled the air between mother earth and wondrous bejewelled heavens while we tucked into our braais around the camp fire.

Each and every night we spent time in patches of silence and awe. Star gazing does that to one. The night skies have a tendency to make one feel humble in the face of creation. Time passes and all pain and frustration melts away. Who would think our heavens, a complex network of gas clouds, star clusters and nebulae could have that effect on one.

We saw the naked eye planet, Jupiter with it’s spot, mag.-2.9 and it’s moon Io. In the early evening before the sun had fully set we were able to see Venus as our evening star, before she sank for the night.

Stars, constellations and the Magellanic Clouds, large and small, were studied through binoculars, not to mention the telescopes that were set up, ranging from the trusted eight inch Dobby to much larger telescopes. Johan had his brand new Meade ten inch out too.

Nothing replaces the excitement of seeing the beauties of space in photograph. Our Photograph Fundis were hard at work taking every opportunity, delighting in the clarity of the night sky and sharing much valuable information on “how to do it”. The Horsehead, the Milky way, the Flame Nebula, the triffids and many more were photographed.

Come Sunday, when every tent had packed and gone, the only reminder left, sadly, was an oil trail down the road from a rock-pierced oil sump.

Rights Farm owners were wonderful and our grateful thanks go out to them for their generosity and kindness.

Attachments:

File	Description	File size
JohanBrinkFreeStateroute.jpg	General area of Rights Farm, Free State	177 Kb

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Since the dawn of time man has looked up at the sky in amazement and wondered what was out there. We now know much more than our ancestors, but the beauty of the heavens still mesmerise us today.

In keeping with this age old tradition we have established an Astronomy club ( WRAC) for enthusiasts and interested people alike to come and spend some time and indulge in this interest. Those who know teach and those who want to know learn and those that just want to gaze up feel free to do so.

The club does not charge for membership, nor do we make meetings mandatory however we do expect members to at least register on the web site and login from time to time so we can keep our database up to date with active members. We try and have a star party once a month to have some hands on exposure to the universe.

The WRAC (West Rand Astronomy Club) participates in community upliftment and public events to spread the beauty of the skies to those that are interested and do not have access to a telescope, thus encouraging people from all walks of life to look up and appreciate what we are privileged to see - the wonders of the universe.

So come one come all and feel welcome in the presence of likeminded individuals exploring the universe.