African journey gives new place to look at space

Part-time astronomy instructor Pat Hanrahan spent three months in Nambia.

Leaving your job for almost three months and paying your way to take an unpaid position on another continent takes a commitment and love of what you to do.
Planetarium director and astronomy instructor Pat Hanrahan spent the majority of fall term away from school.
“I was in Africa from about August 25 to November 4… or on my way to or from. It takes a day and a half to get there. It’s a lot of airplane,” he said.
The position came about through Jack Semura, a coworker and friend of Hanrahan’s at Portland State University (PSU). According to Hanrahan, Semura had received an invitation to show stars to guests at a lodge in Namibia, Africa, as a way to expand what they offer.
Hanrahan took up the opportunity even though the trip counted as unpaid leave instead of a sabbatical. “Why? Because I wanted to have the opportunity to have a telescope at my side for two and half months. And to see Africa,” said Hanrahan.
Hanrahan was able to experience stars that are hidden from view in the Northwest, although it wasn’t his first time seeing southern stars live.
“Half the stars you see there are stars you can’t see from here. They’re simply below the horizon, things like the Southern Cross. That never rises above the horizon here. Alpha Centauri, the closest star, you hear about it in school all the time, that never rises above the horizon here,” he said.
Hanrahan’s first experience with the southern sky was in Australia “years and years ago” when he took a scuba diving trip.
“I wanted to see the stars too, but even though I was in a town that wasn’t all that big, I could never get away from city lights. It makes such a difference if you can get away from city lights and see things without light pollution,” he said. “It’s hard to find a place where you can be out in the middle of nowhere. And this (Namibia) is one of the darkest places on earth.”
At the lodge where Hanrahan was giving his shows to guests, he described the layout as “a patio with a telescope in the middle of it.” He was equipped with a green laser as well.
“You can light up a path through the sky at night and you can point out different stars. With a green laser, they have to be used responsibly, but it’s something that just amazes the guests when you show it to them,” he said.

The shows were never scripted, he said. Hanrahan’s set-up was to let the guests see what they wanted to see and ask questions as needed.
“One of the most disappointing things I found was ‘What are stars?’ A lot of people were thinking it was some kind of dust up there or something that was reflecting our suns light,” he said about the guests’ questions.
One night the regional manager of the lodges had come for a show along with his 4-year-old daughter.
“I found out the way to get the regional manager to like you is to do your best to impress his 4-year-old daughter, and she was really interested in stars. I had a show where I let her ask any question she had. I let her use the laser pointer and I let her ask the name of any star. That was fun,” said Hanrahan.
Hanrahan’s own family didn’t make it out on the trip.
“I tried to get my wife to go and she wouldn’t go. She was welcome to come with me but she wouldn’t come,” he said.
Hanrahan’s daughter didn’t come on the trip because she had to go to school, said Hanrahan.
He e-mailed family members everyday and would send pictures back home.
“I had internet connection for about an hour each day. It’s something [about] the lodges over there. Internet and telephone service is something they really downplay. They want you to really experience Africa. They don’t want you to spend all your time with your electronics,” said Hanrahan.
There were plenty of opportunities for Hanrahan to experience Africa when he wasn’t showing people the stars.
He flew to Swakopmund on the coast of Namibia, took a cruise off the coast of Africa where a seal hopped onboard the boat, spent time in Windhoek and camped for several days at Etosha National park.
“You can see elephants, rhinoceroses, giraffes, lions, you name it,” he said about the wildlife in the park.
During a safari bus trip around Etosha National Park, his bus was charged by an elephant. “He played chicken at the last minute and went away from us. But I have a series of pictures I took and you can see him getting closer and closer and closer,” he said.
Hanrahan was surprised that the area where he was staying was all grassland, as he came expecting a dry rock and sand landscape. He attributed the grassland to heavy rains that Namibia received last March.
His leisure time was spent hiking around the area along zebra trails and trails he made himself. His hikes typically started around 10 a.m. when it was already beginning to get hot, he said.
Wildlife was a concern on the hikes. Leopards were in the area but Hanrahan’s biggest concern was snakes. Namibia is home to cobras and puff adders. He traveled with a walking stick to rustle the ground ahead of him to make sure there were no snakes.
One trip was made up a hill and climbing down over a rock. “I didn’t pay attention to what was on the other side of the rock and as soon as I stepped on the other side of the rock, there was something that ambushed out of there and made one heck of a sound and went running. It jumped and I jumped. It was a bunny rabbit. Of all the times I was hiking, that was the one event that scared me more than anything else,” he said.
Hanrahan is back on campus teaching and directing planetarium shows. He is planning to host a planetarium show titled “The Southern Sky from Namibia” on May 7. Admission to all shows is $2 general admission and free for MHCC students with I.D.
For more information on any upcoming planetarium shows, contact Hanrahan at [email protected].

Advocate Staff