Gauteng • HEMELLIGGAAM

STERKFONTEIN CAVES #2, JOHANNESBURG, GAUTENG_2843-01_2.jpg

STERKFONTEIN CAVES #2, (FROM SWART STER OOR DIE KAROO, JAN RABIE, 1957) JOHANNESBURG, GAUTENG

NEIL VILJOEN, TELESCOPE SHOP, BRAKPAN, GAUTENG

I photographed this from my backyard here in Brakpan - in the middle of the city. I use multiple different filters like hydrogen alpha, sulphur two and oxygen three. Those filters only allow a narrow spectrum of light through of 6 nanometers. That basically blocks out all the light pollution that one gets in the city, so you can get high-quality pictures from town.’

STERKFONTEIN CAVES #2, JOHANNESBURG, GAUTENG_2843-01.jpg

STERKFONTEIN CAVES, (FROM SWART STER OOR DIE KAROO, JAN RABIE, 1957) JOHANNESBURG, GAUTENG

‘The time: Just before the end of the 20th century, just after the first human feet touched the moon and Mars.
The place: Somewhere in the Southwest Karoo on the highest level of the big empty table land where the world's largest observatory has been standing since the first human generation… This whole complex of highly specialized activities is known as Saakni, the South —African Cosmic Research Institute, a secret, forbidden world, set apart by a twenty-kilometer-wide buffer strip, guards and laser beams.’

Photograph inspired by ‘Swart ster oor die Karoo’ (Black star over the Karoo) by Jan Rabie, 1957. the Saankni institute is underground, and becomes a safe haven for humans after the Earth stops turning and the surface becoms unbearably cold.

THE OLD MINE #6, GOLD REEF CITY, JOHANNESBURG, GAUTENG

In 2011 the deepest land living creature was discovered inside a South African gold mine. A new species of nematode worm Halicephalobus mephisto was found 3.5km below the surface. They thrive in conditions thought to be too harsh for any creature - where previously it was thought that only single-celled bacteria survive.

The discovery has also encouraged the search for life on other planets with the possibility of more creatures surviving underground.

NEIL VILJOEN, TELESCOPE SHOP, BRAKPAN, GAUTENG

‘I photographed this from my backyard here in Brakpan - in the middle of the city. I use multiple different filters like hydrogen alpha, sulphur two and oxygen three. Those filters only allow a narrow spectrum of light through of 6 nanometers. That basically blocks out all the light pollution that one gets in the city, so you can get high-quality pictures from town.’

TSWAING CRATER #4, SOSHANGUVE, PRETORIA

STERKFONTEIN CAVES MUSEUM #2, JOHANNESBURG, GAUTENG

TSWAING CRATER #2, SOSHANGUVE, PRETORIA

TSWAING CRATER #3, SOSHANGUVE, PRETORIA

TOM LEARMONT #3, SCI-FI WRITER, GHOST WRITER, ILLOVO, JOHANNESBURG, GAUTENG

TOM LEARMONT #1, SCI-FI WRITER, GHOST WRITER, ILLOVO, JOHANNESBURG, GAUTENG

AUSTRALOPITHECUS AFRICANUS, STERKFONTEIN CAVES, THE CRADLE OF HUMANKIND, GAUTENG

Deep in the Sterkfontein caves some of the remains of our early ancestors have been kept safe from the elements on the surface.

JESS VAN ELFEREN, SHOPKEEPER, TELESCOPESHOP, BRAKPAN, GAUTENG

’And then we have Betelgeuse, that's a very important star. It's in the Orion constellation and some scientists to say it's already gone supernova. Some say it still has to. As astronomy is a science, it's still being looked at and studied, so we always say nothing is fact until it is proven. Why? Because man hasn't been in space - we cannot get there. We cannot really study the stars. We don't know anything until we actually have the facts - we do by mathematics and other subjects study space and the universe, but all of it is theoretical until we can prove it's fact.’

SCALE MODEL, TSWAING CRATER, SOSHANGUVE, PRETORIA

The meteorite was probably about the size of a an average house and it would have taken no more than 10 seconds to slam into the ground after entering the Earth's atmosphere, releasing the energy of about 100 Hiroshima atom bombs. Life within a 35 kilometre radius would have been wiped out.

TSWAING CRATER, SOSHANGUVE, PRETORIA

‘Well there is a big mark in time, Soutpan, Tswaing. I don’t know how many million people would die if it would happen today but it was 200 000 years ago. I forget the size of the meteorite - a few thousand tons, and it threw up this central point and a ring of hills. There are legends - nobody will go there at night. It’s called the hills of the spirits.’

Tom Learmont, Sci-fi Writer, Johannesburg

WRECKAGE MUSEUM, TSWAING CRATER, SOSHANGUVE, PRETORIA

The name Tswaing means "place of salt" in Tswana and the crater was also formerly known in English as Pretoria Saltpan crater and in Afrikaans as Soutpankrater.

THE OLD MINE #3, GOLD REEF CITY, JOHANNESBURG, GAUTENG

In 2011 the deepest land living creature was discovered inside a South African gold mine. A new species of nematode worm Halicephalobus mephisto was found 3.5km below the surface. They thrive in conditions thought to be too harsh for any creature - where previously it was thought that only single-celled bacteria survive.

The discovery has also encouraged the search for life on other planets with the possibility of more creatures surviving underground.

THE OLD MINE #2, GOLD REEF CITY, JOHANNESBURG, GAUTENG

In 2011 the deepest land living creature was discovered inside a South African gold mine. A new species of nematode worm Halicephalobus mephisto was found 3.5km below the surface. They thrive in conditions thought to be too harsh for any creature - where previously it was thought that only single-celled bacteria survive.

The discovery has also encouraged the search for life on other planets with the possibility of more creatures surviving underground.

THE OLD MINE #4, GOLD REEF CITY, JOHANNESBURG, GAUTENG

In 2011 the deepest land living creature was discovered inside a South African gold mine. A new species of nematode worm Halicephalobus mephisto was found 3.5km below the surface. They thrive in conditions thought to be too harsh for any creature - where previously it was thought that only single-celled bacteria survive.

The discovery has also encouraged the search for life on other planets with the possibility of more creatures surviving underground.

THE OLD MINE #5, GOLD REEF CITY, JOHANNESBURG, GAUTENG

In 2011 the deepest land living creature was discovered inside a South African gold mine. A new species of nematode worm Halicephalobus mephisto was found 3.5km below the surface. They thrive in conditions thought to be too harsh for any creature - where previously it was thought that only single-celled bacteria survive.

The discovery has also encouraged the search for life on other planets with the possibility of more creatures surviving underground.

THE OLD MINE #1, GOLD REEF CITY, JOHANNESBURG, GAUTENG

In 2011 the deepest land living creature was discovered inside a South African gold mine. A new species of nematode worm Halicephalobus mephisto was found 3.5km below the surface. They thrive in conditions thought to be too harsh for any creature - where previously it was thought that only single-celled bacteria survive.

The discovery has also encouraged the search for life on other planets with the possibility of more creatures surviving underground.

TELESCOPES, TELESCOPE SHOP, BRAKPAN, GAUTENG

‘When I was a young girl, we didn’t have telescopes. We had small binoculars mostly because it was after the world war. Today there are so many telescopes - and they are amazing. From this little size from where you could see the moon and the Planets to that big one over there where you can see literally everything.’ - Jess van Elferen, Shopkeeper, Telescope Shop, Brakpan, Gauteng.

TOM LEARMONT #2, SCI-FI WRITER, GHOST WRITER, ILLOVO, JOHANNESBURG, GAUTENG