Hello AIG members & others

You will be happy to know that the members of the Astronomical Society of Southern Africa (ASSA) Midlands Centre in Pietermaritzburg officially opened their brand new and very colourful observatory last night.

The celebration was attended by about 200 people, including some well-known South African amateur astronomers such as Davie Overbeek and Andrew Grey.

The observatory is a rectangular building with a sliding roof, presently housing a 5 and a 12-inch telescope. It is beautifully decorated on the inside with oil paintings of celestial phenomena, and on the outside with tile mosaics of the southern constellations (see Scorpius and Leo in the attached image).

The site is wonderfully situated right at the top of World's View, and is surrounded by large trees which successfully block out the city lights. The sky was absolutely glorious for last night's occasion.

More images can be seen on the website: www.botany.unp.ac.za/nmc/NMC.htm 

This is the 50th amateur observatory visited by Danie Overbeek in his lifetime, and he encouraged the Midlands Centre to now channel their efforts towards recruiting new members.

We wish them all of the best!

Regards

Mario Di Maggio

PS - don't forget this month's viewing outing being held tomorrow evening at Marist Brothers at 6:30PM. Bring some chairs and refreshments and come and enjoy the skies with us. Have you noticed Scorpius has just swallowed Mars?