Goodbye from Goldilocks

As of the morrow I cease to be in Namibia as a seconded scientist to the H.E.S.S. project and instead begin the business of closing up for Christmas sight-seeing! Part of me will dearly miss the nightly routine that goes something like: wake up at some ungodly hour; battle with the cameras until they’re persuaded to work; open the roofs of the camera huts (with brute force and a pole in the case of CT2!); find the way back through the gloom to the Control Room; park out the telescopes; cross fingers for a smooth shift! The part of me that rather enjoys sleeping at night-time couldn’t be happier. I’ll be honest. The image of myself – the shifter – trekking from telescope to telescope of a night with nothing but my headlamp and the vaguest sense of where I’m going; animal cries and the hum of insects in my ears, would not look out of place in a horror film. With this in mind, I think I’ve rallied pretty well all told!

~~~~~~~~~~~   A Sciencey Interlude  ~~~~~~~~~~~

The question of how the H.E.S.S. telescopes actually detect those precious gamma-rays has been put to me a few times since I came out here, so I thought I’d spend a few words in addressing it. Feel free to skip this section if you’re not in the mood for an Astrophysics lesson. Feel free to hum the Monty Python Intermission theme whilst you read.

As you’re probably aware, the Earth’s atmosphere shields us from cosmic gamma radiation (which is just as well!) but incident very-high-energy photons do generate a signature electromagnetic cascade of electrons, positrons and secondary photons, when they interact at high altitude. The particles in this shower are super-relativistic, and as such emit Cherenkov radiation. These nanoseconds-long flashes of blue-green light can be detected – in stereo – using the four H.E.S.S. telescopes, provided both the sun and moon are below the horizon and assuming the light pool favourably covers CT1 through 4. The images recorded by each camera allow the position on the sky of the parent γ ray to be reconstructed, and the image intensity gives us its energy! Magic, no? (Not to be confused with MAGIC – a Cherenkov telescope on the Canary Island of La Palma)

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So today I take my leave of Ferdi, Jade, Jenny and Clia (the actual names of the cameras, you understand, and nothing to do with my fancy). I have braved the cobweb-ridden huts for the last time and can marvel at the construction of CT5 (alternately nicknamed The Monster and Daddy Bear depending on my mood) no longer. In the last month I’ve been involved in real SCIENCE, but I’ve also hiked out to look at cave paintings, visited a German bakery in the desert, and read three classics (like a good girl) on mum’s Kindle. (These were Wives and Daughters, Pride and Prejudice and David Copperfield – you can check out my Goodreads page to see what I thought of them!) It has been a full and fulfilling experience, but I think I’m quite ready for a change of scene – and indeed, a change of genre. So next on the reading list is the real “There and Back Again”, and the PDF version of Machine of Death stored on my laptop, and then – after a fortnight or so – I can be reunited with paper-and-ink books, of which I miss the look and feel and smell! The “m” word is such a can of worms these days…

I miss my morning cup of Earl Grey with milk and half a sugar. I miss counting the rabbits outside Syston Train Station on the way to work. I miss swinging my brolly round my wrist when it’s not-raining-but-might-yet-rain. I miss standing my origami T-rex and Parasaurolophus back up when they are knocked down. I miss quoting A Christmas Carol/Will Hay/The Ghost & Mrs. Muir with mum at every opportunity. I miss driving to Loughborough with my latest playlist on shuffle. I miss fish and chips and mushy peas from Birstall Fisheries. I miss waiting outside the pub for Loo and Sarah; wondering how many songs it will take them to arrive. I miss Baileys and milk. I miss Orion being the right-way-up.

Daddy Bear, Mummy Bear and Baby Bear (CT5, 1 and 3)

Animal encounters since my last post: a jackal, donkeys, camels, squirrels, rabbits, canis lupus familiaris (specifically some very friendly terriers!) and more oryxes, springbok, ostriches and wild horses. And birds. So many birds. I’ve seen more birds than people this month.

So it's goodbye from me, H.E.S.S. 

 Namárië