Did you know that it's possible to see the bands of our galaxy, the Milky Way, from earth with the naked eye? The ideal conditions are a dark, moonless sky in a location completely devoid of artificial light - no city lights, street lights, or even headlights. Damon's photo above was taken in the desert in Namibia.
Typically when we go to the game reserves in South Africa we get an incredible view of the night sky because we're pretty far away from any city lights. Unfortunately the timing of our visit to Ukutula and Pilanesburg is near a full moon, and a bright, shining moon means our eyes won't adjust enough to the darkness to fully appreciate the stars beyond. Still, the night sky when you're out in the middle of nowhere is a thing of beauty and I look forward to sharing the experience with you. You may want to make a point of finding a dark night and reminding yourself of what the constellations look like before we go, because in the southern hemisphere the same constellations will appear upside-down to you! Plus, you will see constellations that aren't visible at all from the northern hemisphere.
If you find this topic interesting, my brother Patrick will no doubt be thrilled to have an excuse to pull out his telescope and point out some interesting heavenly bodies to us.
Image credit: Nomad Photography
From Gail: "tell Pat to get out the telescope!!!!"
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