Paul Gardner-Stephen’s Blog

You know the world has become dependent on the internet when the lights go out, and the air-conditioning fails, but the internet connection keeps working. I am writing by the glow of my computer screen almost an hour after the power at work dropped out. ETSA are still trying to locate the fault that has four suburbs and half of Flinders University blacked out. It is nice to know, however, that our UPS and diesel generator are working fine.

Last night I finally saw comet McNaught, after monitoring its progress via www.spaceweather.com for a couple of months (have a look at their photo gallery), and a cloud foiled mission on Monday this week. It was slightly dimmer than Venus, and almost parallel with it above the horizon. I was quite impressed with how visible the tail was to the naked eye. Once I saw what appeared to be a brief, but relatively bright flash, next to the comet. Was it related? Was it my imagination? I’ll probably never know. But what I do know was that it was beautiful watching first the sunset, and then the comet with the sky painted pastel shades of orange, and just enough clouds to add contrast. While the clouds blocked Venus more than 50% of the time, they only glided in front of the comet a few brief times before the comet descended into the murky haze near the horizon. It was a wonderful time shared with my wife, Dione.

I don’t think there will be any comet viewing for a few days now, as a tropical rain depression is due to cause us a few days of cloud and rain. However, on the up side, the air should be much cleaner after a wash, and we desperately need the rain to fill our reservoirs in what is the worst drought in Australia during my life. The prolonged drought during the 1840s or 1850s that triggered the retreat of settlement in the far north of South Australia was no doubt worse. However, the acute lack of rain this time, combined with the consumption of a much larger population, is making it felt even in the city. Perhaps it will make us better stewards of our limited water resources in the future. So, paradoxically, we are preparing for a few days of potential flooding in the middle of a drought. But, if you have played the board game Squatter, that should be no surprise.

Well, the power has just come back on, so I should probably do some work…