An astronomical observing report from under Tunisian skies

I thought it might be worthwhile to share my (relatively few) astronomical observations from that part of the world (between Sept 1st and 14th).

The flight to Tunisia (Monastir) from Dublin is almost 3.5 hours. I would have thought that with such a short plane distance that the southern skies would not have appeared too different from ours here, but enough to perhaps give me my best view of, say, Saggitarius, in a long time. The nights in Mahdia where we stayed can be quite hazy. Being on the coast, with a constant sea breeze, I would have thought it might have been clearer, thinking back to the images I have seen from Keith Geary at his Wateford costal retreat. Not the case.

Almost every day was cloud free, as was the following night. Evening twilight happens quite fast, maybe 2 hours from sunset to almost complete darkness. All the familiar constellations were to be seen: Ursa Major, Cassiopeia, Perseus, Bootes, and more. The funny thing was that I expected Ursa Minor, and thus Polaris, to be lower down in the sky. It didn't appear to change that much at all actually. The Plough asterism was a little further lower, but not by far. Maybe a 3.5 hour plane journey is not that far away after all. I refrained from bringing my Canon 350D for fear of it getting damaged (it was a brand new wedding present). Now I wish I did bring it, for the little compact camera I brought did not measure up to the manual exposures capable with the Canon.

One thing that got me each night was the relative lack of satellites passing overhead. Even on the clearer nights, 2 of which were in the desert at Douz. Transparency could not be faulted, and the Crescent Moon was high in the early hours near to Mars (6th and 7th). Orion was in full view too, with Canis Major clipping his heels. In fact, Orion was 'leaning' more on his side, reminding me that our south-of-the-equator counterparts see him 'upside down' to us up here. By sunrise, Venus was the beacon preceeding the Sun. Made for some nice shots against the sea back in Mahdia.

One thing I was surprised was to see the aforementioned Saggitarius 'high' in the sky. At an elevation of about 40 degrees from the horizon, it is the highest, and clearest I have ever seen it. Pity I was on the bus at the time, in the desert, with no stops, to be able to appreciate it more...

I suppose the highlight, astronomically, was being able to spot 2 meteors on the night of the 11th (while on the beach at 11pm! ) by both Dee and I. Both appeared to come from Pegasus, heading for Perseus. Limiting magnitude was only to about +3, the summer haze was that bad, so my guestimate is the first was about Mag +1 and the second not much brighter, about 0. Each was seperated by maybe 8 minutes. The following night was the only night (a Wednesday) I spotted a satellite pass in the sky.

Whilst the areas I was in did not make for a great astronomical trip (except at the Sahara at Douz), I would nevertheless recommend Tunisia and all it has to offer to the traveller to sample a completely different world.

Seanie
(not on behalf of the Tunisian Tourist Board!)