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I was invited to visit Dana nature reserve insouth Jordan. The Barriya-Jordan, of theRoyal Association for the Protection ofNature, in collaboration with the JordanianAstronomy Society arranged an eveningwith Jupiter. For just a Euro, I took the bus to the townof Al-Tafilah. It is the same road that istaken by pilgrims to Mecca and bannersinform travellers that a sincere Hajj has itsreward in paradise". After two hours wearrived at Al-Tafilah, then travelled to thereserve of Dana, where we saw the tomb ofa companion of the Prophet, Al-Hareth BenUmair Al-Azdi, who was his messenger.After reading sourate Al-Fatiha wecontinued towards Arromanah camp-sitein the reserve of Dana.We arrived just before sunset and thevisitors took several photographs. Half anhour later, Venus appeared on the left ofthe sunset spot, then Mercury. We sawthem both with the naked eye but the viewthrough the telescope was better. Afterdinner at the campsite, we spent the nightscanning the sky to find Jupiter with itsfour satellites. We could also see stars ofthe constellation of the Large and SmallBear and the polar star indicating north,located to the right of the Large Bear. Onecould also observe the clouds indicatingthe Milky Way.We were given a detailed briefing by aqualified astronomer who, in reply to aquestion, informed us that we could see3,000 stars on the sky borders. We werespared the job of trying to count them andtiring our eyes.The following day, after breakfast, wevisited the village of Dana through thegreen trees and cascades and returned toAmman inspired by our astronomicaladventure.

Islamic Tourism – Issue 19 – September-October / 2005 For more information, visit our website www.islamictourism.com

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Environmental Tourism

DanaDanaAstronomy night with Jupiter

Dana - Moataz Othman