An Unexpected Adventure in Technical Know-How and Problem-Solving Skills.

Last summer, my spouse, Claia, and I went to Egypt on our own little scientific expedition: to determine the cause of the Black Drop Effect during a Transit of Venus.  Since she is the astronomer in the family and I am the technical wizard, her role was to obtain the equipment and run the telescope.  I hooked-up the electrical power, ran the computer, aligned the camera, and all the grunt work.

Our first week of the trip was spent in Spain for unrelated purposes.  We brought our telescope, tripod, mounting/tracking equipment,  solar filter, high-speed digital video camera, eye-pieces, solar panels, and battery-backup to Spain with us.  Once the solar filter arrived, we wasted no time setting up the equipment for a trial run.  That's when we discovered the high-speed camera did not work, and could not connect to our computer.  Without the camera, our expedition would have been a total waste of time and effort.

I suggested that I could run to a store and find a high-resolution digital camera with a fast apeture speed.  I soon found an electronics store, and looked through the cameras for one with all the features we needed.  Some had the high resolution and were fast enough, but could not be mounted to the telescope's eyepiece.  Only one person there spoke English, and he said he would need to see the eyepiece before he could say if any the cameras could connect to it.  I ran back to the hotel, explained the problem to Claia, grabbed the piece, and then we both whent back to the store.  None of the cameras fit.  Undeterred, Claia and I decided that we would manually hold a camera to the telescope.  Not the ideal way to mount a camera, but our best option in that situation.  We soon settled on a rather expensive camera, and listened patiently while the store clerk explained to us how to use it.

Unfortunately, by the time we were done in the store, the sun had set and there were no opportunities to do a trial run with this camera.  The camera's user guide was in Spanish - no surprise there - and that further complicated our efforts because we had to reprogram the camera's settings to work with the telescope.  Since we would leave Spain the next day, our next opportunity would be once we settled into a new place in Egypt two days later.  I spent much of my free time on airplanes translating technical terms from Spanish to English so I could learn how to reprogram the camera.

We stayed in Hurghada, Egypt along the Red Sea coast.  After arriving, we inquired about getting a ride into the mountains so we could see the Venus Transit more clearly.  The resort manager informed us about excursions to a Bedouin camp 75 km away at the foot of the mountain range.  The excursions to this camp left once per day and came back the same evening.  We asked if we could stay overnight at the Bedouin camp so we could see the start of the Venus Transit early the next morning.  He said he would ask, and we found out the next day that we could stay overnight - but for a fee.  (People in Egypt charge tourists fees for everything.)

Once we unpacked, Claia and I setup the telescope again, but this time we used the new camera.  I adjusted the settings, but the first few photos did not come out correctly.  While I was methodically resetting the camera and learning Spanish one word at a time, Claia was working on the telescope tracking mechanism so it would align with the Sun.  This took most of our one free day before we had to leave Hurghada for the mountains.  By the end of the day, I could get some pictures of the sun through the telescope.  They weren't perfect, but were much improved over the first attempts.  My mission of reprogramming the camera was perhaps doable, but would require many experiments and a big learning curve in mastering the technical aspects of the camera.  Doing it in Spanish compounded the problem.  The camera had be ready within 2 days, and I would not know until much later if I was succesful.

Claia's early attempts to align the scope revealed that a mounting screw jammed inside the tripod, and would prevent the scope from moving correctly.  We feared it would not maintain alignment all night.  Claia's experience and knowledge proved useful as she worked around the problem.  The telescope remained mounted all night with the tracking mechanism aligned to the sun.  (It was odd to watch the telescope point itself downwards at night.  I am much more used to them pointing upwards.)  We checked the telescope the next morning and saw it was still aligned to the sun.  Excellent.  After a few more practice shots, we  took down the telescope, packed our equipment onto a land-rover, and headed towards the mountains.

The coastal mountains in Egypt look like the mountains of Mordor from the Lord of the Rings movies.  From a distance, they look dark, jagged, and desolate.  Up close,  they are a labyrinth of razor sharp rocks surrounded by vast flat plains of grey dust.  All that was needed to complete the experience was to watch two ragtag hobbits and a company of orcs march by.

Our guide spoke German, Arabic, and English, and was very much aware of Bedouin culture.  He explained that Bedouin set up boulders as road signs in the desert.  The boulders have flat edges which are aligned to the sun's locations at sunset and sunrise.  With one side of the boulder in shadow, and the other side brightly lit, the Bedouin could see the stark contrast from across the desert.  We saw one such boulder shaped like a 16 foot wide cube resting with one point in the sand.  (The cube was a modern artifact made from a larger boulder - possibly made at the Bedouin's request.)  We drove past it, and around a hill.  It was not so much a hill as a 200 foot high pile of boulders and rocks.

The Bedouin camp was small - less than 2 dozen semi-permanent residents, several camels, some goats, chickens, and messenger pigeons.  A single tree near the only well was the sole example of vegetation within sight.  The camp was hidden in a hollow between a "hill" and the very foot of the mountain range.  The next nearest human habitation was 75 km away.  Upon arriving at the camp, we got our gear out and setup the solar panels and battery pack.  Other visitors to the camp were perplexed to see anything as high-tech as solar panels in such a middle-of-nowhere place.


View of Bedouin village from nearby hill.


We spent much of the afternoon learning about Bedouin culture.  Bedouin provide hospitality to almost anyone - sometimes even risking their own safety.  They have lived in the Egyptian desert for centuries, living on very little water.  Many decades, perhaps centuries ago, there were more watering holes and green oases, but those are fewer now.  The Bedouin know the locations of these places even to this day - keeping alive the knowledge by oral history.  Over two hundred years ago, there were more ibexes in the desert, and arab traders and hunters asked the Bedouin to guide them to the ibexes.  After the ibexes nearly died out from overhunting, the Bedouin refused to guide anybody except their own kind on hunting expeditions.  The Bedouin constantly live with very little little water - one small well and no rain for 7 years.  (When it did rain, the water poured down for a week and washed new gullies into the hills.  After that, hardly a cloud in the sky every day for 7 years.)

After dinner that evening, our guide translated our requests to the chief of the village, Sheikh Marei.  We would need help hauling our equipment to the top of a nearby hill, permission to stay ovenight, food, and water.  The chief called over 2 young men and spoke with them.  Our guide informed us that these two men would assist us.  Our guide returned to Hurghada and left us in the camp.


Sheikh Marei - village chief


Once the young men brought our equipment up the hill for us, we started setting up the tripod, tracking equipment, battery-pack, and telescope.  The air was calm at first, so we quickly aligned the telescope to one star.  Once it was aligned to three stars, it could maintain its position all night.  The wind started and pounded us with dust and sand.  We struggled to align the telescope to another star, but failed, and then tried again, but failed again and then again.  Without alignment, the expedition would be a disaster.  We chose another star high in the sky, and got it aligned to that.  A couple more failures, and the finally we aligned it to a third star.  We both signed in relief!  A quick check of some planets and stars showed that the scope knew where it was on Earth and exactly how it was pointed to each star.  (A special GPS receiver could align the scope automatically in just a few seconds.  However, we did not get the GPS receiver in the mail before we left the United States.)  We learned that it is not easy to determine your exact location on Earth with nothing but a telescope, knowledge of the night sky, and some math skills.  We acquired renewed respect for navigators who did this feat every night during the age of sailing ships.

Our Bedouin returned up the hill to escort us safely back to camp in the dark.  We slept in the middle of the camp on benches with mats and pillows.  A very uncomfortable sleeping arrangement.  The wind persisted all night, and we dreaded that it would knock the telescope over.  Or that the battery pack would lose power.  When we woke early the next morning, we saw the scope still standing at the top of the hill.  A few quick checks showed that it was nearly aligned with the sun.  So far, our good luck was holding despite many obstacles.

We looked down from the hill to see 3 camels racing across the desert.  They had no riders nor saddles, but did have guide ropes attached to their harnesses.  They ran quickly and fiercely for some miles.  Later, 2 Bedouins followed after them on foot - pulling along more camels.  The Bedouins were looking for another well for the camp.  They denied the camels any water for 3 weeks.  The camels get angry and mad, but can't leave their pens.  Upon being let loose, they race across the desert trying to smell water - even when the water is many feet underground.  When they do smell it, they stomp and paw the ground.  (Water is odorless, I have no idea how camels "smell" it - especially if the water is several dozen feet down.  But, the Bedouins say the camels can do it, and since they've been finding water in the desert for several centuries, I'll admit they know more about camels and water than I do.)   The Bedouins follow them, give them water, and then mark the spot where the camels dug into the ground with their hooves.  That's the location of the next well.


Claia and Melissa using public transportation at the Bedouin camp.


We returned to camp to be greeted by Bedouins with offers of food and water.  The food was a flat bread about 2 feet wide and 1/4 inch thick.  Their homemade goat cheese was very soft and white. (Or maybe it was sheep cheese.)  But it had the strongest taste and smell of any cheese I ever ate.  Gorgonzola is easier to eat. I thanked them in Arabic for the food, and ate quickly.

After breakfast, and a trip to the only outhouse around, we returned up the hill.  Claia looked through the scope and saw that the Transit of Venus was just starting.  The ingress phase was already in progress, and that was the most crucial time!  Quick!  No time to prepare.  I quickly started the camera, switched the settings to a file I saved earlier, and put the camera up to the scope.  The wind was still strong and buffeted us with sand and dust.  I asked Claia to shield me from the wind while I aligned the camera and took photos.  Our first shots came out okay.  All my preparations, experiments, and translating from Spanish had paid off!  I showed the pictures to Claia.  We took several more that morning.

Once done with those photos, we had nothing to do but wait several hours until Venus was just about to exit the Sun's position.  So we returned to camp, walked around the animal pens, and talked to the Bedouin in broken Arabic.  The chief came to visit us.  He offered us lunch - falafel sandwiches, water, and more cheese.  Those were the best falafels I had, and only ate a little more cheese.  By midday, the temperature rose to over 95F, and we stayed in the shadier parts of the camp as often as we could.


We allowed several Bedouins to look at the venus transit through the telescope.


Several German tourists arrived shortly after lunch.  They were travelling across the desert on 4-wheel bikes.  They rested at the camp during midday for lunch.  We offered to take them up the hill to show them the telescope and transit of Venus, but climbing up a rugged steep hill was too much and they declined.  Several Bedouins were curious about our telescope, and we did show them the transit.  The Germans and we watched some Arab girls practicing karate moves in the camp.  How often do you see German tourists and American scientists watching Arab girls practice Japanese martial arts in a tiny out-of-the-way Bedouin camp in Egypt?

At 2 PM, we returned up the hill to take the final set of photos.  The egress phase went smoothly.  Still a lot of wind, but I had mastered the camera's settings enough that I was comfortable experimenting with other configurations.  Once egress was over, we were glad the photos came out okay, and were relieved the ordeal was done.  We dismounted all the equipment and packed it into the boxes.


That's me with a Bedouin porter just after we packed up the equipment.


Our ride would not arrive for a couple more hours.  We spent that time talking with the village chief in broken English (his), broken Arabic (ours), and hand signs about US presidential politics.  He was also interested in our solar panels, so we told him how he could get some for the village.  He also told us about an old Roman ore mine hidden in the mountains, an upwelling of water so fast that the oasis floods into the desert, and his plans to build a Mosque in that camp.

When the daily excursion vehicle returned, a different guide returned this time.  He translated our thanks for us.  We paid the young men who helped us, paid the chief, and asked the guide if we could return to Hurghada earlier.  He said he could for $20.  We handed over the cash, loaded our equipment onto the land-rover, and left across the desert.

Once back at the resort, I downloaded the photos to the laptop.  The results were good.  We later published an astronomy poster paper at the AAS meeting about our findings from the expedition.