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"The Orion System"
The constellation appears upside down in the Southern Hemisphere" 22nd December 2005
We had booked a tour called "Spirit of the Night Sky", we were to be picked up at 7.30pm so we waited at reception expecting to see a minibus or coach. However by 7.30pm nothing had arrived, so we wandered around the front of the Hotel, then suddenly a young woman appeared and said "Are you two guys booked on Spirit of the Night Sky?" we replied that we were and she explained that she worked for Laksar Burra and would be taking us to meet him at the venue. She had parked her car in the carpark of the Hotel so we piled in and were soon speeding out of town and 20 minutes later arrived at a gateway, where the car entered and we were driven up a gravel drive to a low Hacienda Spanish style building set in 2 - 3 acres of land.
Laksar Burra came out to greet us, a tall thin man with glasses, he told us that he was expecting a few more people in the next 30 minutes so meanwhile we entered the building and were shown into a large room adorned with photographs of stars and aboriginal
"The large Megellanic Cloud"
"The Aboriginis called this the old Mans camp fire" It is a galaxy of 10,000 Million stars that orbits our own Milky Way" paintings also of star systems. He explained that far from being a land based people the Aborigini people had great knowledge of the star systems and they hunted, and lived their lives according to the signs in the heavens just as had the Ancient Egyptians, Aztecs, Mayans and many other Ancient cultures. They also had many legends and stories connected with the stars and constellations for example the milky way was known as "The creators canoe" or the smokey way. The large and small Magellanic clouds which are actually the closest satellite galaxies to our own and contain 10,000 Million stars and 2,000 Million stars are called the camps of an "Old Man" and "Old Woman" by the Aborigini. Soon we were joined by a party of 5 Americans 3 guys and 2 girls. What is it about some American's? (I do not generalise about them all) after being greeted by Laksar, they completely snubbed us and sat in a small huddle at the other end of the room, very rude I thought and most curious. After some hot tea and cakes we were escorted out into the grounds and were directed to a small 1/2 circle of seats in
"The Milky Way"
"The Creators Canoe, or Smokey Way as the Aborigini's called it" the middle were set up 3 -4 really good telescopes.
After being seated I looked at the heavens and was astonished at how clear the sky was and as the evening wore on more and more stars were visible to the naked eye. It was like a jewelled mat, you could clearly see red, blue and white stars, the red were red giant stars at the end of their life, the blue ones were young stars and the white ones in their middle age like our sun. Laksar told us various Aborigini legends regarding the star systems, he was very poetic and extremely knowledgable about his subject. He had a laser light pointer and so could actually bring his stories to life by pointing at the various parts of the sky. The Orion system was pointed out particularly Orion's belt, he explained that in the Southern Hemisphere it appeared upside down. "That's what it was" I pondered, I know this system so well as it is a big feature of our winter skies in Britain but thought it had looked a bit strange out here. Laksar named the stars that made up the Orion system, the three stars of the belt, the red supergiant star Betelgeuse which formed the shoulder of Orion which was 300-400 times the size of our sun. Then Bellatrix the left shoulder, then Rigel and Saiph his left and right leg. Orion has two hunting dogs, Canis major and Canis Minor separate star systems in their own right. Canis Major has the brightest star in the night sky Sirius, which was known by the Ancient Egyptians and worshipped by them.
Laksar then let us look through the various telescopes that were set to various points in the heavens. I saw the "Rings of Saturn" (which was low on the horizon), Betelgeuse, the Magellanic clouds, Orion. The thing I noticed was that there were more stars visible than to the naked eye when you looked through the scopes, absolutely marvellous, amazing. It made me feel completely insignificant in the vastness of it all, yet excited that of the Billions of stars out there, surely some have planets like our own that can support life, it seems inconceivable that there are none at all. Laksar continued with how to find due South on the horizon and there are several methods as he explained.
The first method uses the Southern Cross known as Crux to Astronomers using the two pointer stars Alpha and Beta Centauri. There are five main stars on the Australian flag and a sixth which represents the federation of states. To find South an imaginary line is drawn between Gamma crux and Alpha crux and follow this line through the sky divide it in two then at right angles draw another imaginary line through the sky till it meets the line from the Southern cross, this is the South celestial pole. If a line is then drawn vertically from this point to the horizon you will be facing South.
The Second Method uses two stars Canopus the second brightest star in the sky and Achernar, if you draw an equilateral triangle between the stars and a third point above the horizon (the celestial pole) a line drawn straight down from this point to the horizon is due South.
The Third method uses the Magellanic Clouds (previously described) again draw an equilateral triangle with the celestial pole and draw a vertical line down to the horizon which is due South.
All too soon the evening was coming to a close, as we said our farewells Laksar decided he would drive us back. We bought a book written by him called the "Spirit of the Night Sky" which is certainly a good read. Then a short car journey back and were at our Hotel, tired but happy and as soon as my head touched the pillow I was in a dreamless sleep. Next day we fly back to Perth and the last stage of our wonderful holiday.
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