Astronomy in the War

by Ra’ad Ali Abdul Azziz

Astronomers are always and every where searching for dark places, usually away from the cities and the light pollution, for their observations. In my case, dark places were coming to my house and this is my story.

I am an amateur astronomer from Iraq, living in Baghdad City. I learned the sky in late 1970’s when I was 7 years old. Baghdad is a very big city and it was full of lights and fun at that time. In the other hand, I couldn’t see the constellations and fine stars from my house in this city. At that time I collected several maps and charts for the sky, but I couldn’t use them in a good way.

In September 1980, Iraq-Iran war had started. That was the worst time for all Iraqi people, but for me, it was the time to learn the sky and the constellations. During the first two years, 1980-1982, the Iraqi government turned off streets light and any source of light. That was to avoid the attacks of Iranian aircraft. Because of this procedure, the roof of my house was turned to be astronomical observatory. My brother brought me a small binocular with 3.5X magnification power and after that a friend gave me 70mm reflector telescope as a gift. I couldn’t observe the sky during the first four months because there were very bloody attacks on Baghdad City, but after that the Iranian attacks were reduced extensively.

The sky was too dark in a way that I could see the Milky Way and several nebulas clearly. I learned all constellations, many important stars and most Messier’s objects. I think that my knowledge about the sky and astronomy is due to these two years. Approximately every night, I was taking my maps and charts, binocular, torch, table and char to my houses roof and I spent 3 to 5 hours observing the sky. I chose the roof rather than the garden because the tree branches cover the sky, while the roof was free from these things and I could see the sky clearly. I made a plan to learn and observe the sky. Every night, I planed to learn or observe one constellation. When the moon was in the sky, I made observations for its surface using small charts. The observations were too comfortable because I was in my house’s roof. When I felt tired, I just entered the house. But in the other hand, it was not too mach safe because several time Iranian aircrafts attacked Baghdad and I was in the roof.

I remember clearly when I started to observe Sagittarius and its nebulas. That was in June 1981. I was very happy when I saw M8 and M20 for the first time. I was very proud and I went to my father and mother and I informed them about my “New Discovery!” and they encouraged me too much. My knowledge and my interest in astronomy were increased too much at these years. I started to buy several books about astronomy and astrophysics.

These years of observations from my house roof was ended in 1983 when Iraqi government turned on streetlights. That was due to successful Iraqi defense to prevent Iranian aircrafts to reach Baghdad. During 1983 to 1991, I used my house roof for observations but I couldn’t enjoy with that because of the light pollution.

When Saddam’s troops invaded Kuwait in August 1990, I was in the final stage in the college of engineering, Baghdad University. The social, economical and political situations in Iraq were critical. Every one in Iraq knew that the war would destroy everything, but in the same time nobody could change any thing. I realized that I could not prevent the war or leave Kuwait. Nobody could do anything for that disaster. Therefore, I decided to use the maximum benefits of the war, the darkness Baghdad sky. The best way to run away from those terrible moments was by looking towards the heavens.

When the war started in January 16-17 1991, the bombard of Baghdad was so intensive. Approximately, there were bombing every 15 to 20 minuets. The sky at those moments became like daylight. The ground was shaking due to the explosions. Most habitants of Baghdad had left the city to safer sites. In my street, there were 24 families, 3 of them stayed in this street and my family was one of them.

What could I do at that time?!!! The only thing is to enjoy the war and the darkness of the city. I made a plan to observe the sky during the war. The electricity in Baghdad was shut down in the third day of the war and Baghdad’s sky was completely dark when it was calm. I could see the Milky Way clearly and also several nebulas. But when the attacks started, the sky would be like fireworks. I prepared the charts from “Astronomy” Magazine of the constellations that I could see in that time of the year and I made a useful technique for observation. My house’s roof is the only place that I could observe the sky but in the same time that was not safe. The fragments of the bombs and the falling bullets can kill anyone. The observation technique that I used was very simple and very active, it was “observe and run away”! The main idea in that technique was minimizes the time of telescope installation and simplifies the replacement. I used small telescope (reflector with 80mm) and lightweight mount. The procedure was too simple. When the situation was calm and quiet, I took the telescope with the mount and placed the telescope in the roof. The observation could take place for several minutes. When the bombing started again, I took the telescope and the lightweight mount inside the house where I was safe. It was something like cat and mouse game. I enjoyed with Orion constellation and its nebula M42. I couldn’t see more difficult objects at that time because there was no time to do that. Unfortunately, I couldn’t observe the heavens more than 5 nights. Al-Daura oil refinery in Baghdad was attacked and the fire in the oil tanks and other parts of the refinery glow Baghdad sky till the end of the war. Moreover, thick smoke covered Baghdad for several weeks. Baghdad did not get electricity until mid March but I couldn’t observe the sky due to the above reasons.

After 12 years from those observations, the dark sites reached my house again, but now I have more experience and more knowledge in astronomy and observation. Again, nobody could change the policy of Iraqi government and we had nothing to do. The only thing that I could do was to enjoy observing my old friends, the stars and nebulas. When the war was started in March 20 2003, my family went to Bakuba, east of Baghdad City, and I remained in my house in Baghdad. Therefore, I was sure that my wife and my son in a safe place. All Iraqi people were waiting for a great event, but nobody guessed what would be the results. Among them, I decided to use the same old idea, observing the heavens. I was waiting for the moment to observe the sky from my house again. Baghdad City was supplied by electricity for the first weeks of the war until April 3 evening. At that evening, I hear artillery noises and great explosions southern Baghdad. At 7:30 to 8:00pm, the electricity was shut down for all Baghdad. The darkness covered Baghdad completely. I hear from BBC that the US troops entered Saddam airport (later Baghdad airport). I was surprised for that news, but the most important thing was the electricity. That was the right moment to make my house great observatory. I used the same old technique, small telescope, lightweight mount, charts from Astronomy Magazine and camera. The sky was so clear. That night was somehow calm, which was very strange. I hear some separate explosions and clashes during the night. That night was the greatest observing event of my life. I never observed the sky in such clear condition. The Milky Way was so clear; I enjoyed observing it through the telescope. Jupiter, at that night, was very close to M44 in Cancer and I spent about one hour observing that. I used the camera to take some astronomical photos. I used 50mm lens and 100 ASA color film for that purpose. Unfortunately, I could not contact the camera with the telescope because I did not have the adopter for that. Instead, I fixed the camera in the mount and a made longer exposure (30min and 45min) for the northern part of the sky. During that night, several attacks were happened. I rapidly entered the house and I used that to study the astronomical charts from Astronomy magazine to prepare the next observation. I observed the sky until the morning. That night was the best among other nights in the war because it was so clear and the moon was out of the sky. Moreover, the electricity was shut down completely for all Baghdad.

Now, when I remember this observation, I wander “why I did that in this way?” Why I did not afraid from the bombing and the clashes? Why? These are questions that I want to answer them? Really, I don’t know why I forgot the wars and the battles and I just thought about astronomy and the observations. The only thing that I am sure about is that I love watching the heavens, these glorious objects staid above us for centuries. These objects deserve that.

I promise you that I will keep on watching the heavens.