Under the southern skies: Two weeks on Reunion

From June 10 to June 23, 2012

Two weeks vacation on the French island Reunion, with club friends Christian and Manfred: Observing at 21 degrees South,
hiking in exotic landscape and bathing in the Indian Ocean. So we had a really relaxed time, neither exaggerating Deep-sky
nor hiking ;-). I also enjoyed the frequent 2x2 kilometer walks along the beach to a restaurant in a neighboring village, in the
beginning night always accompanied by Mercury, Sirius and Canopus, and I really missed the already familiar Centaurus-Crux
pattern for some weeks when back home.

Observing on the Maido (2205 m)

Three trips from our coastal site at l'Hermitage les Bains at the western coast, each time quite a long way up the hill.

On the ascent: A typical village ...

... Tamarind forest on the way to Maido

Up on Maido:

A reunion after 17 years ! I had already observed here with Friedhelm and his 13-inch in 1995: Back then nine fine nights, at least three among them
with superb conditions - since the populated coast was nearly always covered under thick passat clouds. Both Manfred and I already knew the
Southern Sky, while most of the southern highlights were new to Christian.

Above the fog

Gros Morne (3019 m) and Grand Benare (2898 m) above the Cirque de Mafate

Bizarre sunset

Sudden fog

Compared to the very intensive observing back in 1995: This time the sky at Maido (2205m) mountain site was noticeably more disturbed by
coastal light pollution, and we had far less clear skies and frequent fog. But in between conditions were still really good, verifiable when looking at
the familiar Cygnus cloud. We observed both with Manfred's 20x100 bino and Martin's lightweight 10"; the latter proved to be a good telescope, and
engineer Manfred devised a clever sandback construction to balance the heavy 13mm Ethos.

Nightfall


Rising of the central Milky Way region

Scorpius above the site

Centaurus-Crux-Carina, and a low LMC

Scorpius (Image: Christian Kummer)

Of all the objects you cannot see from southern Bavaria, we had observed the main evening and midnight highlights: The LMC was already
quite low, but Eta Carinae, Omega Centauri and many Milky Way showpieces showed really well, such as the rich open clusters NGC 2477,
NGC 3293, NGC 3532, NGC 3766, NGC 4755 and NGC 6067, or the loose globular NGC 6397. Or galaxies like Centarus A and NGC 4945.
But morning sky conditions hadn't been favorable on Maido, ...


Observing at the coast

... so we did an additional observation at the Western coast, especially for another look at some morning highlights such as the SMC, and the
two prominent globulars 47 Tuc and NGC 6752. By the way, Christian favored 47 Tuc to Omega Centauri - for me they rank equally, though
being quite different.

Morning sky at the Western coast: Scorpius plunges into the sea


Our beach: Carina is sinking ...

... Achernar and the SMC...

... the Summer Triangle upside down

At volcano Piton de la Fournaise (2632 m)

A 6-hours hike, thereby coming across some young lava fields (one and a half years old).

Marsian landscape in Plaine des Sables

Christian and Ben at the start

Piton de la Fournaise and little crater Formica Leo

At the bottom of the caldera

Manfred on fresh young lava

Ben near the mountain top caldera

Christian and Manfred

On the way back: Several calderas above the fog ocean

Tropical rain forests at the eastern side of Reunion

Wild mountain and jungle landscape, partly with a precipitation of 7000 mm per year. Quiet, without apes, bigger snakes or big cats -
the remote, only 3 million years old volcanic island was never reached by most of the African fauna.

Mountains in Takamaka region

Silk spider

Waterfall at Riviere des Roches

In the nearby jungle

Lake Grand Etang with ...

...tropical rains

Miscellaneous

Cirque de Cilaos: Scenery ...

... and hiking

Surge at Western coast

Manfred at the southern coast

Typical street in a south-eastern village

Fine beach at Etang-Sale les Bains

On the way ...

... to our beach


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