Gaze upon the city’s midnight sky

Durban’s observatory is open to the public once a month

GEOLOGICAL engineer Mike Hadlow spends his work days focussed on what’s underground. After hours, his focus does a complete turnaround and he looks upward to the stars.

Hadlow has been an astronomy enthusiast since his wife gave him a telescope for his birthday and has developed a passion for what’s up in the sky, leading to him listening to and delivering talks on various celestial topics at meetings of the Durban chapter of The Astronomical Society of Southern Africa (Assa).

In his professional day job he was involved in working on the foundations of a building at St Henry’s Marist College on one of the highest pieces of ground in Durban, and it was then just a short stroll to enjoy his pastime at Durban’s observatory which is situated on the corner of the school’s swimming pool grounds.

As the new chairman of the Durban branch, Hadlow plans to introduce talks next year that are related to whatever is visible in the sky at the time.

If it’s Orion, for example, the speaker will then discuss what people can see afterwards, introducing astronomy through what is in sight at the time, rather than random pre-determined topics.

At the end of this month, when the public will be allowed into the observatory to view the night sky through powerful telescopes, Scorpio will be up.

“It’s one of the constellations that looks like what it’s called,” said Hadlow.

The society offers the public a peep at the night sky on the Friday closest to New Moon every month.

Other constellations that represent signs of the Zodiac can be quite difficult to workout, Hadlow added.

“You can imagine a scorpion looking as it does in the constellation, with a sting in its tail.

“Gemini and Sagittarius need some imagination to work out what they are. These people who did the constellations had huge imaginations.”

He expects that on the night of September 30 – the next time the observatory will be open to the public – Mars, Saturn and Venus will be visible and possibly Mercury.

The Southern Cross is almost always visible, while Saturn, with its rings, is the most popular search, he added.

Viewing are weather dependent, so it’s best to visit www.facebook.com/dbnassa/ ahead of a New Moon viewing.

PICTURE: SUPPLIED GROWLERS: Don Stewart, left, with the Ngubentombi brothers, Siviwe, left, and Wanda, right, at their Growler Station in the Hillcrest Tops Spar. With them, on the far right is the shop’s owner Mike Egling.

PICTURE: DUNCAN GUY ROCK STAR: To introduce Durbanites to astronomy, geologist and astronomer Mike Hadlow will be introducing topics about whichever stars are in the sky on the date of the monthly talks.

TAKE-AWAY CONTAINER: Wanda Ngubentombi stands beside a growler, used to carry fresh beer, is apparently named after the noise its original version made when it released carbon dioxide.

LOOKING LIKE A SCORPION: The constellation of stars that makes up Scorpio looks like a scorpion, unlike others representing signs of the Zodiac that take some imagination to work out.