Praise for the Starman of Mitzpe Ramon

…you were the highlight of our trip to the Negev. I was worried that a two hour plus astronomy talk would be a step too far....but it was truly fantastic and loved by us all. Was sorry when it ended. It is a must for all - you are a STAR man on many fronts.

C.K., April 2017

Fabulous program. Thank you so much!

H.B., April 2017

Starry starry night

Having Ira as our guide for the stars was a privilege. He turned our night tour into an unforgettable experience where we could witness falling stars, constellations and planets. He is fun, patience, smart, kind and very kind. We learned a whole lot about the sky, the stars, and about ourselves. It was a fantastic -and musical- experience!

Aryeh, Tel Aviv, August 6, 2017

New Children's Book on Rosh Chodesh Featuring The Starman of Mitzpe Ramon

Somehow I let it slip by that there is a new book just out written by well known Israeli children's author Allison Ofananasky about the new moon and Rosh Chodesh. The story is set in the desert around Mitzpe Ramon and features The Starman of Mitzpe Ramon as the childrens' guide to the New Moon and the new month. Teach your children why the moon has phases and how they determine when Rosh Chodesh occurs. Photographs by Eliyahu Alpern.

"New Month, New Moon" - A new book by Allison Ofananasky explaining the moon's phases and their connection to Rosh Chodesh. Featuring The Starman of Mitzpe Ramon, Ira Machefsky.

You can buy it here from Amazon.com.

What is a Star Tour?

Everyone wants to know - what are these star tours that the Starman of Mitzpe Ramon is famous for?

Well, this blog is full of information about what we do on our star tours, but in brief:

WHAT WE DO

 Thanks for your interest in my star tours. My tours last about two hours, usually starting at 9:30pm or sometimes 6:00pm/6:30pm in the winter. The first half we do naked eye observing of the sky, identifying constellations, learning star lore, understanding how the sky works; the second half we go to the telescopes to view the best sights of the night. I set up my "portable observatory" in the desert behind Mitzpe Ramon, meet people at their hotels and guide them up to my observing location. We provide chairs and blankets for everyone, and No, no walking is required. The planets and stars are too far away! We let our eyes do the walking. I can usually take people in my own car up to my observing location. But if my car is full I may ask you to follow me in yours the short distance to my observing location (about 3 kilometers) behind town. No four-wheel drive required.

WHEN DO WE DO IT?

We go out every clear night, except Shabbat (Friday night) and Jewish holidays.

WHEN IS THE BEST TIME FOR A STAR TOUR?

Mitzpe Ramon has some of the darkest, most easily accessible skies in Israel. There is some light pollution here, but on a dark night the Milky Way is bright and easily visible, and the sky is star studded. The best nights to come if you want to see the sky that way is when there is no moon in the sky. See the Moon Phase Calendar on this site for dates of the dark of the moon. Of course, if your schedule does not allow this, we still go out every clear, non-holiday night and have a star adventure non pareil.

COST

The cost is 150nis/adult, 75nis/child 6-12, no cost for children under 6yo, max charge of 750nis/nuclear family. Please pay in shekels or Israeli checks, but if you have Greenbacks, Euros, or Pounds, I can take those in a pinch. Ask about special prices for larger groups.

WEATHER

It is cold in the desert at night, even in the summer, so I recommend people dress warmly year round, very warmly in winter. I also bring blankets for people. My star tours are group activities.

SIZE OF THE GROUP

I do not do exclusive tours. Size of the group is highly variable. Could be only you; could be as many as 20 people. Holidays are usually the busiest time of year. Whatever the size, the sky is large so everyone gets a front row seat. 

EXPERIMENTS

I sometimes experiment using different equipment and different modes of observation. When something works, it becomes a permanent part of the tour. For large groups I sometimes use my astrovideo camera which displays what the telescope is viewing on a TV monitor.

    Contact us at: machefsky@gmail.com
                           1-972-(0)52-544-9789
                            ira.machefsky (Skype)

To make a reservation call or email with the following information --

Name:
Size of group with ages of children:
Date(s) of desired star tour:
Your email address:
Hotel where you will be staying:
Mobile number where you can be reached in Israel:
Will you have your own transportation:

Looking forward to seeing you under the starry skies of Mitzpe Ramon!

Ira "The Starman of Mitzpe Ramon" Machefsky

We make the mysteries of the Cosmos easier to understand than this!

Israel Light Pollution Map

There actually is no Hebrew word for "light pollution". Perhaps that's why there is so much of it in Israel. Below is a light pollution map of the country which shows how saturated it is in light. The only place almost free of this modern blight is the central Negev, home to Mitzpe Ramon. To be sure we have our own share of light pollution from town and no less from the IDF's B"D Echad, the IDF's officer tarining school where a small athletic feld is lit like Yankee Stadium, even when no one uses it. Then there is the encroachment of light from the IDF's new facilities south of Beer Sheva. But the area around Mitzpeh Ramon is still some of the darkest in Israel and easy to get to once you are here. I drive just 7-10 minutes from the hotels around town to get to dark skies. So, this is why your next star tour should be in Mitzpeh Ramon - the darkest and clearest skies in Israel!

Israel and the Middle East, as seen from space. Mitzpe Ramon, in the geographic center of the Negev, excels in easy to reach dark skies. Come here for your next star gazing adventure!

How Dark are the Skies in Mitzpe Ramon?

Mitzpe Ramon proper has quite bright lighting, unfortunately, but just a few kilometers out of the city and you are back in the desert where the sky is quite dark. How dark? John Bortle developed a standardized scale for evaluating sky darkness which has become widely adopted. It has been used in the World Atlas of Artificial Night Sky Brightness to color code a world map to show light pollution.

Mitzpe Ramon on a Bortle Scale map of Israel. Black-gray-blue-green-yellow indicate increasing light pollution. White is the most light polluted.

Bortle dark sky classes

Mitzpe Ramon is located at the border of a Bortle Scale gray/blue (Class 2/3) zone which is described as "typical truly dark site/rural site". Only Class 1, black, "excellent dark sky site" has darker skies. As you can see, much of tiny Israel suffers from light pollution, with only a small area of the central Negev classified as "truly dark". This is where Mitzpe Ramon lies (see map).

But the Negev's dark skies are under constant attack. Mitzpe Ramon itself, a town of about 5,000, does not do enough to mitigate light pollution. A new training facility for IDF officers just outside Mitzpe Ramon throws bright light unnecessarily across the desert. Gas stations along Route 40 are lit like sports stadiums. Tourist lodgings like Hawarim Farm have spot lights that light up the surrounding desert like a prison, and then there is Nafha/Ramon Prison which is lit like a prison because, well, it is one. Unless care is taken the little dark sky that remains in Israel will soon be swallowed by lights that are completely unnecessary.

Institutions like the International Dark-Sky Association (IDA) are designating places official "dark sky" locations in recognition of their efforts to control light pollution and encourage astronomy tourism. The Channel Island of Sark, in the English Channel, is the first destination to be so named. Wouldn't it be great if Israel could work towards protecting and extending the dark skies of the Negev to become the first area in the Middle East to be named a "dark sky" destination!

Related articles

• Welcome to the Dark Side: British Isle Named Skywatching Paradise (space.com)
• Sark is world's first 'dark sky island' (guardian.co.uk)
• The Bortle Dark Sky Scale (Sky and Telescope)

Our Winter Clouds

Fair weather winter clouds in the Negev are almost always thin cirrus. These thin clouds are white to light grey ice crystal clouds that cross but do not cover the sky. These clouds form when there is moisture at high levels and the temperature there is colder than freezing.

Thin cirrus over Mitzpe Ramon

In the evening these clouds, however thin, can always be noted by the circular rainbow they create around the moon, the result of the ice crystals refracting the moon's light. These clouds can also be quite deceptive, since they leave large portions of the sky uncovered and when very thin are invisible at night except for the dimming of the stars they cause. But once you get into a dark zone, you can immediately see they are trouble. A number of times I have gone out to my dark sky location, only to notice high, thin cirrus after arriving. But it's a small price to pay for the mostly clear, clean skies we have here in general.

Thin cirrus over the Club Ramon Hotel

Wishing you clear skies and fair viewing.

Desert Skies and Parhelic Phenomena

The desert sky was particularly favorable to forming ice crystals today. I could tell this in Be'er-Sheva where the con trails of the F16s flying training missions were more prominent than I've seen before.

F16 con trails above Be'er-Sheva (Click for full size images.)

On the way home later, toward sunset, cirrus ice clouds had formed high in the sky, and as the sun sank into the desert hills sun dogs sprang up on either side. These ice clouds may have even been formed from the con trails I saw earlier in the day, as prevailing winds pushed them southwest.

Sun dogs form on either side of the sun. There are many interesting parhelic (next to the sun) phenomena that ice crystals can cause. Read more about them here.

As sunset progressed a magnificent sun pillar was added to the sun dogs, completing the sunset scene with the most parhelic phenomena I have seen in a single sunset.

A sun pillar, complete with sun dogs, pierces the Negev sky like an ingot of molten steel.

Panoramic view of sunset with sun pillar and sun dogs.

As the sun continued setting the parhelic phenomena dissolved into a sunset of liquid gold, like a Hawaiian volcano had been loosed in the desert.

The sun sets behind the radar domes of the Israeli Air Force near Mitzpe Ramon.

Panorama