Ill Met by Moonlight

The unaided star gazing planned for tonight was seriously compromised by the ultra-bright moon, but the telescopic star-gazing was spectacular: red dwarves, double stars, multi-star systems, the horsehead nebula, globular cluster 47 Tucana (the most spectacular of all of them), to name just a few. It's already been well worth the drive to Sutherland; the guesthouse is unexpectedly great, and I'm going back to the observatory tomorrow morning for a daytime tour of the serious telescopes, while they are not being used.

As is the nature of Dark Sky Reserves, this one is in the middle of nowhere. On the last 110km leg of the drive I saw 6 cars, a snake, 2 baboons (50kms apart, one sitting on top of a telephone pole), and a dead blue crane, along with hundreds of beautiful live birds.

On the first leg of the drive I saw a healthy troupe (troop? I never know) of baboons (40 or more) crossing the main road...just after the sign that said 'hijacking blackspot'. Coincidence?

The photo is not as sharp as I wanted. Some autofocus setting somewhere.