Document 6422512

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w w w. b i n t e l . c o m . a u
December 2013
NO, IT’S NOT.
YES, IT IS!
*
Volume 342
COMET IS DEAD
Comet ISON dies in Sun’s fiery embrace.
The comet raises hopes, dashes them, raises them again and then wafts off into history as a “coulda been”.
Proving once again- if such proof is needed- that comets are
the contrariest of creatures, Comet ISON made its dash into
the glare of the Sun- seemed to hesitate long enough for us to
assume that it had been destroyed- and then reappeared. The
joy of seeing what might have been a magnificent sight for
Northern Hemisphere observers soon turned to disappointment as its short-lived brightness evaporated in a few hours.
The remnants of the comet, mostly dust and small rubble, will
now drift slowly off into history, while astronomers and comet junkies scan the skies for the next Greatest Comet Known
To Mankind. We live in hope.
ISON (C/2012 S1) was, naturally enough, expected to be
brightest around the time it was closest to the Sun; but since
it was less than 1° from the Sun it couldn’t be seen, except by
the satellites that were watching the Sun. They provided dramatic images of the passage of the comet, its disappearance,
re-emergence and then dissipation.
Although we have not had mass suicides as a result of the
comet’s appearance and early demise, we have still had the
crazies out there. Grabbing the comet and shaking it like a
rag doll for all they can get out of it, they still try to explain it
away as a sign of the Coming, or the Harbinger of Whatever.
Thus, the gibberish from one silly website:
For thousands of years, civilizations have believed that
Comets were signs that strange changes were inbound. For
the last 30 years or so, Astronomers have tried to ‘debunk’
that idea. Well, it’s 2013. You’ve got America, the bastion of
Freedom getting involved in another civil war in the middle
East, Central banks controlling the Economy, Oil companies
satisfied the best energy of the day is still from 1880, Banks
have been declared too big to prosecute, Honey Boo Boo and
Kim Kardashian fill the American Boob Tube mind as Reality Television assimilates everything, Volcanoes popping off
like prom dresses after the dance, strange Solar activity in
the double peaked minimal Solar maximum, Lazarus comets
returning to life from the grave yard, Sink holes galore, Gold
Iphones, Skynet growing larger, Drone armies expanding by
the hour, animal deaths in mass quantities, bizarre weather,
over all anger and confusion amongst the masses......,”
Above: SOHO’s images of the comet at the end of November. After swinging too
close to the Sun ISON sped away, flinging debris widely and brightening before dissapating into hsitory. Fustibus stellae mortuus est. Icarus knew a thing or two.
Below: the comet in October on its way to its eventual fate near the Sun.
* * *
With the school holidays upon
us shortly it should be a good
idea to take the kids along to
the local Observatory for an
evening. All major cities have
at least one- and many astronomical societies arrange ‘open
nights’ occasionally.
* * *
Some frankly amazing images
are filtering out from amateur
astronomers using the latest
imaging devices mounted on
remotely-controlled automated telescopes. Astro-imaging
should best be described as a
multi-disciplinary challenge.
There are increasing numbers
of people up to the challenge. It
gets better all the time.
* * *
Who is the first amateur astronomer to be immortalised as the
subject of a question in Professor Shatterini’s famous quiz?
* * *
Some people need to change their medication. It was just a
lump of ice and rubble. There’ll be another one coming along
soon...... and maybe it will be the Comet of the Century.
CHINA SENDS THE JADE RABBIT TO THE MOON.
Rabbits .................................1
Mel gets arty .........................2
December night sky ..............3
Mick ‘n Don ...........................4
Well, that was something of a
disappointment, wasn’t it? After all the hype, all the expectations and all the crossed fingers the comet fell to pieces just
when things were beginning to
look good. Ah well, there’ll be
another ‘world’s greatest ever
comet’ coming along sooner or
later.
China has launched a lunar probe, the Chang’e-3, carrying their first Moon
rover which is named after the mythical rabbit that lives there.
Jade Rabbit, has six wheels and will survey the Moon’s geological structure
in the northern hemisphere. The rover is the most advanced ever sent to
the Moon and is equipped with ground-penetrating radar When the probe
lands on the surface of the Moon’s northern hemisphere in mid-December
it will be the first ever Chinese spacecraft to soft land on an extraterrestrial
body, the first Moon lander launched this century and will be carrying the
first (remotely controlled) telescope to be sent to the moon.
This mission presages a new era in space exploration. China intends to have
astronauts land on the moon within ten years. China will launch its first
lander towards Mars within twelve months. In June this year it launched
the Shenzhou 10, its fifth manned spaceflight and successfully returned the
three astronauts to Earth two weeks later. They had practised docking with
the Tiangong unmanned space station. The slow and steady pace of their
space exploration is a noticable feature of Chinese astronautics.
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With the Chinese space administration fixing its eyes firmly on
the Moon, it won’t be too long
before the Americans ramp up
their efforts to get back there.
What’s the betting that there’ll
be a Maccas in the next crater
from the local Chinese restaurant within twenty or so years?
Nothing like a bit of competition to make people ramp up
the effort.
* * *
I’d like to offer Christmas
and New Year greetings to all
NIGHT SKY readers and customers of BINTEL. It’s been
a busy year for all of us. Let’s
hope that the sound of fire engines and the flashing lights of
police and ambulance vehicles
are missing over
this festive season.
Merry Christmas!
Mike
The Binocular and Telescope Shop, 84 Wentworth Park Road, Glebe NSW 2037. Tel: 02 9518 7255
The Binocular and Telescope Shop, 519 Burke Road, Camberwell Vic 3124. Tel: 03 9822 0033
WHAT’S YOUR REAL STAR-SIGN?
Your star sign is supposed to be obtained by finding when the Sun is in
your ‘house’. Problem is that the Sun, and everything in the galaxy is slowly
moving. The Sun and all the stars are slowly moving around our galaxy in
a stately merry-go-round. It takes two hundred and thirty million years for
this to happen. As a consequence everything changes, including the constellations. So, look up your birthday date below and find your new star sign!
Astrological Dates
Actual Dates
Aries
Taurus
Gemini
Cancer
Leo
Virgo
Libra
Scorpius
Ophiuchus
Sagittarius
Capricornus
Aquarius
Pisces
21 March till 19 April
20 April till 20 May
21 May till 22 June
22 June till 22 July
23 July till 22 Septeember
23 August till 22 September
23 September till 23 October
24 October till 21 November
what?
22 November till 21 December
22 December till 19 January
20 January till 18 February
19 February till 20 March
19 April till 13 May
14 May till 19 June
20 June till 20 July
21 July till 9th August
10 August till 15 September
16 September till 30 October
31 October till 22 November
23 November till 29 November
30 November till 17 December
18 December till 18 January
19 January till 15 February
16 February till 11 March
12 March till 18 April
COMET-EATING SUN GETS
BUSY WITH STRONG FLARES
The Sun poses many puzzles – some yield to a bit of sleuthing; others remain inscrutable. We recently saw a complex group that survived its transit
of the Sun’s ‘far side’ to become much more active during its second passage
across the visible disc (AR11890).
Now (November) we are seeing a group that has survived its far-side transit
to become an enormously large spot, but has been stripped of most of its
earlier complexity. This is AR11899 – once part of October’s large and active group, AR11875.
During this earlier disc crossing (as AR11875) it hosted two GOES
class-X flares (the strongest kind) and many lesser ones; a dramatic X2.3
flare with the group just behind the NW limb showed a range of amazing
H-alpha transients, discussed here earlier. Would it return we then asked?
Yes- it would!
AR11899. On Nov 12 (21:19 UT) a truly huge spot was logged at
the eastern limb - as a long thin ellipse due to our line of sight. The next day
allowed a more informative view (Fig, log 2).
“Helio” freeware sited the newcomer at +6,39 and gave it the huge
area (for a single spot) of 550units! What was the giant’s story?
Activity ‘nest’. In H-alpha there
were signs of complexity: a long filament (arf) stretched from the spot
northwards 5 degrees and faculae
covered much of the disc east of
the big spot. This showed that the
big spot was part of a large activity area, now mostly spotless - and a
GOES C3.1 flare erupted along the
filament at 23:08UT: clearly the site
was not dormant.
It was soon clear that the
newcomer was the return of the
large preceding (p) spot of AR11875
– and that all (or most) of the many
following (f) spots of that group
were now gone: yet the ‘old’ group
was still capable of flaring!
The Fig, log 1, shows the large (p)
spot of AR11875, 17 days earlier,
with the few remaining (f) spots
omitted for clarity: its area was then
420 units. When it passed the west
limb 3 days later the few (f) spots
were gone. Note that all the small
spots attending the big ‘smiley’ spot
were of violet polarity.
During its October transit of the disc the (p) spot of 11875
had very strong violet polarity, V26
(2600G). As it passed the west limb
there were some signs of new red
polarity near the big (p) spot and
a striking light-bridge had divided
its umbra (not shown). Then - it was
gone for two weeks.Return. During ‘far-side’ transit it seems the
group had changed and new flux
(spots) of opposite ‘sign’, i.e. ‘red’,
had emerged near the old (p) spot
(see log 2) on the eastern side, with
values R13 – 15 in a tiny cluster of
spots. And east of the main spot was
the large filament that hosted the C
class flare. The returnee was now
dubbed AR11899.
A stronger M1.0 flare erupted in
it on Nov 15 at 02:29UT but was
missed by the writer. By the 17th Mt
Wilson logged a very strong 2700G
(V27) field in the main spot: the
strongest umbral field for any spot
group in SC24 thus far.
Unseen events. Is this strong field
the start of a revival of sunspot
fields for SC24? I hope so – but
guess it is just a surprising ‘oneoff’. Still, somehow during its time
hidden from view, the big (p) spot
of AR11875 not only survived but
also grew larger and its field grew
stronger! This is not quite the norm
for relic (p) spots.
Also, recall that it had 6o of westward proper motion during that
time – more than is usual, suggesting other unseen events.
As I write the flaring in AR11899
seems to have waned – but I’ll be
keeping one eye on it when viewing in H-alpha, just in case! Note
how big and dark it is on the Sun’s
disc (WL filter users only). I suspect
more action is yet to come.
Clear skies! Harry
ASTRONOMY 2014
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This yearbook has been designed for anyone who
looks at the night sky whether they are using just their
eyes, a pair of binoculars or a telescope. The book has
something for everyone from the basic novice up to the
advanced amateur astronomer.
Precise information on the Sun, Moon, planets, comets, meteors, the constellations, bright stars and scads
of information on other fascinating astronomical subjects including:
astronomy clubs and groups, star parties, observatories
and other places of astronomical interest in Australia.
ORDER NOW !
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free
December 2013 * Volume 342 * Page 2
MEL GETS ALL ARTY AND
TRIES HER HAND AT SCULPTING
High in the southern December
sky is the constellation Sculptor,
which was created by the French astronomer Abbé Nicolas de Lacaille
in 1752. It was originally named
L’Atelier du Sculpteur – ‘the sculptor’s workshop’ and many Latin
variations of this name appear on
19th century star maps. Sculptor
contains the southern pole of the
Milky Way, which is 90° from the
plane of our Galaxy.This means that
when we look in the direction of
Sculptor we can see many faint galaxies, unobstructed by the stars, gas
and dust of the plane of the Milky
Way. Amongst these faint galaxies
is a member of our Local Group,
the Sculptor dwarf, but before you
go peering down your nearest large
aperture telescope, this galaxy can
only be seen in long exposure photographs on very large telescopes.
The stars that make up sculptor are
relatively faint, with Alpha Sculptor is shining at magnitude 4.3, but
there are a few worth a good look:
Eplison (ε) Sculptoris is a binary
system with the main star having a
magnitude of 5.3 and its companion
8.6, making it visible in small aperture telescopes. It is estimated that
the stars have an orbital period of
approximately 1,200 years and this
system lies 89 light years from us.
Kappa1 (κ) Sculptoris is a close binary star of magnitudes 6.1 and 6.2.
These white/yellow stars lie about
224 light years away and a telescope with an aperture of 10cm or
greater is needed to clearly resolve
this pair.
R Sculptoris is a semi-regular variable star that ranges in magnitude
from 5.8 to 7.7 over a period of
about one year. It’s deep-red colour
makes this star quite distinctive and
it is within the reach of binoculars
and small aperture telescopes. It lies
about 1,500 light years away.
S Sculptoris is another variable star.
It is a red giant, Mira type variable
that ranges from magnitude 5.5 to
13.6 over a period of a year. At its
brightest it is well within the reach
of binoculars and small aperture
telescopes, however as it dims a
medium to large aperture telescope
would be required. It lies about
1,500 light years from us.
While Sculptor has some interesting
stars, it is best known for its galaxies, many of which make wonderful
telescope objects and respond well
to astrophotography from dark sites
with modern astro cameras.
NGC 253 is the jewel of Sculptor.
It is a magnitude 7, nearly edgeon spiral galaxy. It is nearly half
a degree long and while it can be
picked up in binocular, an aperture of at least 100mm is required
to just make out the smudge of
the spiral arms. A medium aperture telescope will start to resolve
detail in the spiral arms and the
dark dust lanes in the arms, especially on the western side of the
galaxy. There are 3 distinct stars
that surround the galaxy, which
is often referred to as the Silver
Coin galaxy. NGC 253 lies about
13 million light years away.
NGC 55 is a magnitude 8 spiral
galaxy. Like NGC 253 it is nearly
edge-on. One half of the galaxy
(western side) is brighter than
the other. Medium aperture telescopes show more detail in the
spiral arms and a brighter, elongated central region. An Oxygen
III (OIII) filter will reveal three
bright Hydrogen II (H II) regions,
just visible as hazy spots near the
centre of the galaxy. It lies about
6 million light years away.
NGC 288 is an unusual, irregular
group of stars, that is a globular
cluster, proving that appearances
can be deceiving. Most of the
globular clusters which orbit our
Milky Way have tightly packed
cores, however NGC 288 is in a
minority of low-concentration
globular clusters whose stars are
more lossely packed. A 10cm aperture telescope will reveal faint
stars amongst the haze of the
cluster. NGC 288 is about 30,000
light years away.
ESO 350-G40 is best known as
the Cartwheel Galaxy. It is a small
ring galaxy, with faint spokelike features that radiate from
a bight nucleus. The Cartwheel
has 2 companion galaxies, one of
which is the cause of the amazing
appearance of this galaxy. This
object is very faint even through a
30cm aperture telescope and the
companion galaxies are barely
visible on a good night. An aperture of 40cm reveals a hint of the
outer ring with a small nucleus.
Now that the warm weather is
here, spend a few nights hunting
down a few marvelous faint fuzzies this summer. Oh and don’t
forget to look out for that yearly,
one-night-in-December phenomenon - Santa and his reindeer of
course! Seasons Greetings to all!
Mel Hulbert
The Binocular and Telescope Shop, 84 Wentworth Park Road, Glebe NSW 2037. Tel: 02 9518 7255
The Binocular and Telescope Shop, 519 Burke Road, Camberwell Vic 3124. Tel: 03 9822 0033
December 2013 * Volume 342 * Page 3
You can shop on-line at www.bintel.com.au for your astronomical needs.
Facebook !
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Like us on
Venus
Evening sky December 2013
The Apollo 12 mission objective
was to perform detailed scientific
lunar exploration in November
1969. Under the command of Pete
Conrad, Jr a precision landing was
made using an automatic guidance
system. Touchdown occured 183
metres from the target which was
the unmanned Surveyor III spacecraft that had landed in April 1967.
Astronauts souvenired several
pieces of the Surveyor just like any
tourist would, to bring home.
3rd
New Moon
4th
Moon at Perigee
10th
First Quarter
17th
Full Moon
20th
Moon at Apogee
25th
Last Quarter
Mercury: between the
Earth and Sun at first
then moves into the
eastern morning sky. It’s
almost impossible to see as it skulks
just above the horizon.
Venus: Brightest thing
in the western evening
sky. Moves slowly lower
towards the horizon, heading towards
conjunction in early January.
Mars
In the eastern sky in the
mornings. Moves slowly
into Virgo and keeps its hands to
itself.
Jupiter is now appearing
in the North-East just
before midnight. It’s
between the Heavenly Twins, Castor
and Pollux.
Saturn appears in the
morning sky in in Libra.
Difficult to see, though its rings are
easily seen in darker conditions.
Uranus: is up high in
the western sky early
in the evening. Fishing
around in Pisces. Hard to see, as it’s
small and soft-focus.
Neptune: is in Aquarius
in the western evening
sky. sets around midnight. Although
it looks tiny it has seventeen times
the mass of the Earth but just slightly
more gravity.
Pluto: was given a noncore promise of permanent
status which was promptly withdrawn
after the election. He’s looking for
somewhere to stay until Snowden
finds him a nice hidey-hole.
ISON was not a core promise, so we
can delete it and move onwards. It is
officially gonski. Next please!
Comet Lovejoy is next in line, making its dash around the Sun just
before Christmas. It isn’t going as
close as ISON and will therefore
probably survive its trial by fire.
However, its path outward from
the Sun will take it away from us
Southern Hemisphere observers,
so we probably won’t get much of
a view.
Next please...........
A -V- shaped group of stars in Taurus that represents the face of the
bull. Aldebaran is a reddish star
that makes it easy to spot to the left
of Orion and to the right of the Pliades star cluster. There are about two
hundred stars here in an irregular
cluster about 150 light years away.
Well worth examining with binoculars or a low powered telescope and
easily seen in the North-East..
The Binocular and Telescope Shop, 84 Wentworth Park Road, Glebe NSW 2037. Tel: 02 9518 7255
The Binocular and Telescope Shop, 519 Burke Road, Camberwell Vic 3124. Tel: 03 9822 0033
December 2013 * Volume 342 * Page 4
FIRST LIGHT WITH NEW QSI CAMERA AT NARRABRI
Hey Don,
that comet
was a dead
loss for
the popular
press.
December
Christoph Brem at Narrabri took the first images with his new QSI 683 camera recently. He described
it as “a simple 5x600s Halpha image of the Rosette Nebula, calibrated with 30x600s master dark and
a 100 exposures master bias but no flats, and very little processing. “......... which to many of us means
that he produced an excellent image first time out with a new camera on the back of his TeleVue
NP101is telescope. Some of us would describe the image as ‘excellent’!
The Rosette Nebula is a large region located near one end of a giant molecular cloud in the Monoceros
region of the Milky Way Galaxy. The open cluster NGC 2244 is closely associated with the nebulosity, the young stars of the cluster having been formed from the nebula’s matter.
The cluster and nebula lie at a distance of some 5,200 light-years from Earth. The radiation from the
young stars excite the atoms in the nebula, causing them to emit radiation themselves producing the
emission nebula we are able to see.
BENDIGO MOON
COMMUNITY SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT.
What is happening: Sidewalk Astronomy.
When: Friday, December 13th, 8 pm - 9.30 pm.
Where: Discovery Science & Technology Centre.
7 Railway Place, Bendigo.
(next to Bendigo Marketplace).
Cost: Gold coin donation.
Contact: Brien Blackshaw, 5447 7690.
Sidewalk Astronomy - Bendigo District Astronomical Society.
Come and see the Moon close up through the
BDAS telescopes. Great scar lines and valleys,
mountain ranges, craters of all sizes and more,
all in wonderful detail!
Venus may also be visible shining low in the
western sky. Astronomy for the whole family!
SUMMER SOLSTICE
22nd December
3am Eastern Time
Merry Christmas
to all our readers and
customers from
Mike, Lily, Don,
Michael, Mick, David,
Anthony , James, Adrian and
Gavin.
BIG DOB TROLLEY WISHES TO MEET STELLAR
SEAT FOR COMFORTABLE VIEW OF UNIVERSE
Skywatcher Dob Trolley is designed
to make moving your 14” or 16”
Dobsonian very easy and
convenient.
$599
the pair
$449
I dunno about that
Mick.
Height adjustable
Stella Seat saves cricked
necks and bent backs!
What d’you
mean?
It fizzled big
time.
The newspapers
and the TV got
plenty of mileage
out of it.
The
crazies
are
happy.
They can
now claim
a CIA
cover-up.
$179
Quite a bandwagon on the
back-end of that comet.
No
wonder
the tail
fell off.
His Eminence Professor Dr Nervo
Shatterini, Director of the Amici
Prism Dancing Studio and Laser
Pointer Foxtrot Guide asks that
you take off dem dancin’ shoes, put
away your white tie and tails, stop
dancing in the rain.... and answer
the following questions thought up
by His Arcane Immensity.
(1) How many mirrors are there in a
Herschellian telescope?
(2) From what point in time do Julian dates commence?
(3) How many constellations may
the Moon pass through?
(4) Crux is brightest, which is the
faintest constellation?
(5) Cancer is supposed to stretch
from 22 June till 22 July but where
is the Sun during this time?
(6) When was the Late Heavy Bombardment period?
(7) On what is the powerful radio
source Virgo A centred?
(8) Which star, visible to the human
eye, appears to be green?
(9) What is the length of the precessional cycle?
(10) Which constellation is sometimes called the Ice Cream Cone?
(11) How far off target did Apollo
14 land on the Moon?
(12) Phaeton is a minor planet but
also the parent of which meteor
shower?
(13) Which is the most common
type of star in our galaxy?
(14) Why did Gemini V land 130
kilometres off target in the Atlantic
in 1965
(15) Who first saw the stars in the
Beehive cluster.
(16) Who named the Saturn Nebula?
(17) Whose nebula was lost after
1868?
(18)
What was Danny “Fats”
Gooden’s greatest hit in 1963?
(19) Where is the Flaming Star
Nebula?
(20)
What is the Equation of
Time?
(1) One.
(2) January 1, 4713BC
(3) Eighteen.
(4) Sextans
(5) In Gemini most of the time.
(6) 3.8 to 4 billion years ago.
(7) M87 a giant eliptical galaxy
(8) β Libra
(9) About 25,800 years.
(10) Haagen Daaz.. no, it’s Bootes.
(11) Fifty metres.
(12) The Geminid meteors.
(13) Red dwarf stars.
(14) Because a computer programmer entered wrong data.
(15) Galileo
(16) Lord Rosse in the 1840’s.
(17) Otto Struve.
(18) “I got them Ole Red Rattler
Blues Again”
(19) In Auriga.
(20) The apparent solar time minus the mean solar time.
Macarthur Astronomical Society Inc: NSW
☎ 0427 634 004 Chris Malikoff www.macastro.org.au
Sutherland Astronomical Society Inc: NSW
☎ (02)9832 4082 Brett McMillan.www.sasi.net.au
Northern Sydney Astronomical Society Inc:
☎ Bob Fuller 0423 971374 www.nsas.org.au
Sydney City Skywatchers (BAA) (NSW)
☎ 9398 9705 www.sydneycityskywatchers.asn.au
The Astronomical Society of NSW.
☎ 0428 965 249 John O’Brien www.asnsw.com
The Western Sydney Amateur Astro Group Inc
☎ Gerry Aarts 0416 292 020 www.wsaag.org
Sydney Northwest Astronomical Society
☎ (02) 9634 1736 Ken Petersen
The Wollongong Astronomy Club. NSW
☎ (02) 4261 9369 Paul Brown
The Illawarra Astronomical Society: NSW
☎ (02) 4276 3199 Peter McKinnon
www.illawarraastronomicalsociety.hostoi.com
Shoalhaven Astronomers: South Coast NSW
☎ (02) 4423 2255 Jack Apfelbaum
www.shoalhavenastronomers.asn.au
The Astronomical Society of the Hunter: NSW
(02) 4937 4664 Col Maybury colmay@kooee.com.au
Newcastle Astronomical Society: NSW
☎ (02) 4950 0725 Allan Meehan www.nas.org.au
Coffs Harbour Astronomical Society: NSW
☎ (02) 6653 2742 Win Howard
Coonabarabran Astronomical Society, NSW
☎ secretary@coona-astro.org.au
Central West Astronomical Society, NSW
John Sarkissian: john.sarkissian@csiro.au.
Port Macquarie Astronomical Association NSW
☎ 0403 683 394 Rodney Neasbey www.pmobs.org.au
Grafton Astronomical Society, NSW
☎ (02) 6646 2195 Mick Austin, President Pro tem.
Bombala Astronomy Group, NSW
UNE & Northern Tablelands Astronomical Society
☎ 0438 518 483 Michael Williams
Clarence Valley Astronomical Society
☎ (02) 6643 3288 Steve Fletcher
Ballaarat Astronomical Society: Vic
☎ (03) 5332 7526 observatory.ballarat.net
http://observatory.ballarat.net
Bendigo District Astronomical Society
PO Box 164 Bendigo Vic 3552 . Kate McMillan
Astronomical Society of Victoria Inc
☎ (03) 9888 7130. Linda Mockridge www.asv.org.au
Latrobe Valley Astronomical Society Vic
☎ (03) 5122 3014 home.vicnet.net.au/~lvas
Astronomical Society of Geelong, Vic
☎ 0407 345 070 Frank Baker for details.
http://vicnet.net.au~asog
Mornington Peninsula Astronomical Society,
☎ 0419 253 252 Peter Skilton for details.
http://www.mpas.asn.au
Astronomy Benalla 03 5762 1523 Rupe Cheetham
www.astronomybenalla.org.au
Astronomical Society of Albury-Wodonga
☎Petra De Ruyter 0431 535 417 www.asaw.org.au
Mount Burnett Observatory. mtburnettobservatory.org
☎ 0419 516 560 Ray Schmidt.
Snake Valley Astronomical Association (Vic)
☎ 0418 425 207 Me Ken James.
Canberra Astronomical Society: ACT
☎ (02)6248 0552 J. Howard
www.mso.anu.edu.au/cas
Brisbane Astronomical Society: Qld
☎ 0419 861 689 Chris Landman
www.bas.asn.au
Southern Astronomical Society:Qld
☎ 0421 866 376 Joe Zerafa. www.sas.org.au
Astronomical Association of Queensland, Qld
☎ Peter Hall (07) 3378 1173 www.aaq.org.au
South East Queensland Astronomical Society,
☎ (07) 3239 0032. www.seqas.org
Ingham Amateur Astronomers Club
☎ (07) 4776 5773 Tracey Castles.
Bundaberg Astronomical Soc. Qld
☎ (0468857309) Lonnie Smilas
www.alloway-observatory-bundaberg.webs.com/
Redlands Astronomical Society Qld
☎ (07) 3207 2818 Chris Tacke www.ras.org.au
Astronomical Society of South Australia, SA
☎ (08) 8338 1231 Tony Beresford. www.assa.org.au
Astronomical Society of Tasmania, Tas
☎ 0419 305 722 Bob Coghlan. www.ast.n3.net
Astronomical Society of Alice Springs N.T.
☎ (08) 8953 1903 Richard Williamson
richard@comspec.com.au
Darwin Astronomy Group NT
☎ (0420 238 663 Matt Barton
www.darwinastronomy.com
Gove Amateur Astronomers, NT
☎ 0417 601 490 Ian Maclean for information.
Astronomical Society of Western Australia, WA
http://www.aswa.info
☎ (08) 9364 9603
Astronomical Society of The South-West, W.A.
☎ (08) 9721 1586 Phil Smith.
Astronomical Group of West Australia,
☎ (08) 9249 6825 Keith Williams BTOW.
Stargazers Club of WA
☎ 0427 554 035 Carol www.stargazersclubwa.com.au
Night Sky is published monthly by
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Any mistakes or typos are caused by late nights or
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