Astro Tour

This unique activity is very popular with our guests and should not be missed!
Do note that our Planetary Hiking Trail, offered free of charge, is a perfect introduction for novices to raw astronomy and thus an ideal prelim to an astro-tour in the evening. Star-gazing and astro-tours are weather dependent – the moon phase (also the time of moonrise) has to be considered date-by-date.

Rooisand Milky Way

After having enjoyed dinner at the lapa restaurant, guests travel in open viewing vehicles to Rooisand’s very own observatory, situated way up on a hill approximately 2.5 km away. The short drive is an experience in itself: due to the almost optimal observation conditions (little light pollution and very low humidity) guests are offered a fabulous naked-eye view of the breathtakingly clear southern sky.

After a brief theoretical introduction to astronomy, everyone should have a good idea of the definitions and differences between suns, stars, planets and moons and will know some basic facts about our solar system and galaxy – even if the distances, the age of the stars and their sizes are rather difficult to relate to.

Subsequent to the theory session, guests are led into the observatory and invited to observe objects such as open star clusters, visible planets, nebulae, globular clusters, binary star systems and even other galaxies – all through one of Namibia’s largest and state-of-the-art telescopes available for public viewing.

This is accompanied by many interesting facts about all the observed objects.

Observatorium
Trifid Nebula
Omega Centauri
Alpha Centauri
Jupiter with moon
Moon
Milkyway
Saturn
Jewelbox
Observatorium Trifid Nebula Omega Centauri Alpha Centauri Jupiter with moon Moon Milkyway Saturn Jewelbox