Mills Observatory and the RRS Discovery

On Saturday, 9 February Dominik and I headed off to Dundee, the sister city of Würzburg, which lies just 13 miles north of St. Andrews. We wanted to check out the Mills Observatory in order to see if it was a worthwhile field trip for the youth at the Dolphin Centre in Tayport. Turns out its a perfect evening/nighttime trip to view the constellations and stars. They also boost a 20 foot "human" sundial, whereby the human body stands in for the sundial and its shadow casts the time.


Here's my shadow indicating 2pm, which was right on the dot. They also have an educational "Planet Trail," which represents the relative distance of each planet in our solar system on the trail. The tour guide was even kind enough to pencil in our group of teens for an evening viewing on 31 March with their high-powered telescope. Unfortunately, I discovered the youth (to include Euan and myself) have two weeks of Easter holiday starting on 30 March. Nja. I guess I've got myself a headstart for next winter's field trip.

After the Mills Observatory, Dominik and I drove down to the harbour to take a tour of the famous RRS Discovery. In the late 19th Century Dundee was a major whaling centre with a reputation for building ships to withstand the icy Artic conditions. At that time still much of Antartica was uncharted. With winds over 90mph and temperatures plummeting to -50°C, Captain Scott and his intrepid crew of 40 ventured in search of scientific knowledge aboard the first vessel specifically designed for scientific exploration in Antartica, the RSS Discovery. Despite the adversities of gales and blizzards, the team of scientists made some interesting findings, from magnetic surveys to collecting the first specimens of Emperor Penguin eggs.

Here's Dom at the helm . . . being the fearless leader of today's research!

And fake sheep. This struck me as funny somehow. With so many real sheep around in the British Isles, someone actually found a market producing imitation ones.