The stars, planets and the night skies have fascinated  and inspired the South African artist Marcus Neustetter over the past few years.   He has collaborated with Bronwen Findlay on an arts initiative which explores the relationship between the local community who live in Sutherland in the Northern Cape and the community associated with the world-famous [...]

For the next two weeks Mercury can be easily seen in our skies. Very early this evening, there’ll be a line up in the west of the 3 bright stars: Canopus (on the left), Sirius and Procyon; then the new crescent moon and to the right of that Mercury – very easy to see!  Over [...]

Had a wonderful dinner with friends last night outside on their terrace overloooking Saxonwold and Killarney with Rosebank on the opposite hill top where all the cranes attest to the major building activity around the new Standard Bank satellite campus. Was one of those glorious balmy Highveld summer nights under a cloudless clear starry night sky.  So what’s happening [...]

The Parktown Westcliff Heritage Trust runs tours to interesting places which are very varied on their offerings.  Many of these tours provide access to places that one cannot always get to independently.  Sadly however,  the guiding  style and information provided can be a little superficial and descriptive, with in-depth information often tantalizingly lacking. But enjoy the outings.  [...]

Watch Mercury overtaking Venus early evenings this week  As it starts to get dark, look over to the west for the very bright “evening star” – Venus.  Venus is so bright it can be seen in twilight. As the earth turns you will see:
 * Mercury appearing as a relatively bright ’star’ below left of Venus* [...]

Remember there’s a total lunar eclipse on Wednesday 15th June. It starts at 8:22pm, is total from 9:21 pm to 11:02pm, and ends at 00:02am. It will be visible from all of Africa, although north-west Africa misses the start. You don’t need any special equipment to watch this. The next total lunar eclipse will be [...]