From tomorrow they go to the regular price 25euro (under 16s still 20euro

Hello planetarium, professional and amateur astronomy community

Below is a call for more professional/amateur astronomers to attend an all-expenses paid (ie. apart from the air-fare) working holiday to a luxury safari lodge in Namibia. This is for a six-week to three-month period, where all you will be expected to do is show guests the glorious southern sky through a telescope for approx. an hour each night.

You will note from the advert below that Steve Owens from Glasgow Science Centre was the very first to be selected for this privilege, working at

We have just received the interesting job vacancy below. Remember, today (July 31) is the last day to book your Star-B-Q tickets at the reduced rate (20euro). though). Call (01) 847 0777 up to 6pm or see http://www.astronomy.ie/sbq.html and the booking form at http://www.astronomy.ie/SBQFORM22Aug.rtf ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mario Di Maggio" <mario.dimaggio@gsc.org.uk> To: "Planetarium" <Planetarium@gsc.org.uk> Sent: Thursday, July 31, 2003 12:57 PM Subject: More astronomers required in Namibia the

lodge between April and June this year.

Best of luck!

Regards

Mario Di Maggio Staff Scientist: Planetarium Glasgow Science Centre 50 Pacific Quay Glasgow G51 1EA 0141-420 5010 x310 mario.dimaggio@gsc.org.uk

Provide ships or sails adapted to the heavenly breezes, and there will be some who will not fear even that void - Johannes Kepler (1571-1630)

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Date: Wed, 30 Jul 2003 19:19:20 +0200 From: Claire Flanagan <flanaganc@planet.wits.ac.za> Subject: Anyone want to do some astronomy in Namibia?

I just got this e-mail from Antony Tooley, who is again looking for astronomers to show their guests around the skies at their lodge in Namibia.

If anyone's interested in this, please contact Antony directly.

Claire Flanagan Johannesburg Planetarium South Africa

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Sossusvlei Mountain Lodge Maltehohe Namibia

As you will recall we entered into a search for volunteer astronomers earlier this year. We are now into the second two/three month term and have had a hugely positive response from our guests to the opportunity of watching the skies with qualified people. That is an astronomer who is fully conversant with a computerised "goto" telescope, ideally has had experience with a Meade LX 200 series, has huge enthusiasm for astronomy and proven presentation skills.

The first astronomer was Steve Owens from Glasgow Science Centre (steveowens23@hotmail.com) and the current is Professor George Tucker from New York State (tuckerg@sage.edu), who will be with us until the third week of August. At that stage Danny Rosen from Western Sky Planetarium in Colorado arrives and will be with us until November.

We are now looking for further volunteers from November through to June 2004. While the ideal tenure would be three months we now realise that this is very difficult for most people and we are therefore prepared to shorten this to around six weeks.

Sossusvlei Mountain Lodge lies approximately 320kms South East of Windhoek and 340kms South West of Walvis Bay. These are also the nearest medical facilities so it is important that you are relatively fit. We do however have a contracted medical air evacuation programme in the case of an emergency.

We will provide return transport from Johannesburg to the Lodge and free board and lodging for the duration of the stay here. The position is entirely voluntary with no remuneration.

The accommodation, which is fully furnished, consists of a large bedroom en suite (private bathroom with shower) and a sitting/dining room with a kitchenette. A veranda/porch, which overlooks the desert, dunes and mountains in front of the sitting room, will occasionally be shared with one or two visiting rangers who have separate rooms in the same building.

All meals are available in the Guest dining room and both Steve and George have often joined guests for dinner, which we encourage. The accommodation is about 100 m from the lodge and observatory, which houses a 12 inch Meade LX 200 telescope.

Guests have been going up to the observatory both before and after dinner for about 45 minute sessions. The keener amateurs have taken up a lot more time.

While we have accommodation for a total of 20 guests we try to limit the numbers at the observatory to ten. As most guests spend two to three nights with us we are able to schedule their visits to the observatory.

The clear skies, with less than 85mm rain per year and no industrial activity for hundreds of kms makes for ideal viewing conditions.

The visiting astronomer also has the opportunity to join in on the various activities offered by the lodge, which include scenic drives, all terrain vehicle excursions into the dunes, drives down to Sossusvlei and wonderful walks and hikes for anything from an hour to a full day. Summer starts here during November and it will remain warm to hot through to April/May when winter starts.

If you do wish to pursue this opportunity please reply to me at this address. Occasionally you may have some difficulty due to the server, in which case please use the phone or fax. I will be only too willing to answer any other questions which you may have.

Looking forward to hearing from you

Regards

Antony Tooley General Manager Sossusvlei Mountain Lodge Conservation Corporation Africa Tel: +264 63 693 307 Fax:+264 63 693 239 Email: tooley@africaonline.com.na