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Satellite view of the HESS II installation.
Namibia is in the news for the 2nd day in a row, at least on the Graham Hancock website. Yesterday there were rumors of a vast underground reservoir of water. All it takes is one look at the place to know that would be wonderful if it pans out. I don't think I've ever seen any place quite so desolate looking, except places known to be deserts, like the Sahara or the American Southwest. Not too long ago there was a story about "fairy circles" in Namibia, which are probably due to a fungus of some sort. Today's news is about HESS II, another crazy astronomy project, similar to the one in the Chilean desert in South America in that they both chose a location because of it's high elevation and low moisture content. Crazy, man.
HESS is being used to detect high energy particles, i.e. cosmic rays. It does this indirectly by detecting the blue light (Cherenkov light) generated when a cosmic ray impacts a molecule high up in the atmosphere. The HESS website has a better explanation.
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