Published monthly since 1985 by The Binocular and Telescope Shop 84 Wentworth Park Road, Glebe NSW 2037 and 519 Burke Road, Camberwell Vic 3124 available at the shop and at all good Astronomy clubs, centres and free by email or by post for $20 per year. 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. subscribe to NIGHT SKY Receive your copy every month free by email. ASK [email protected] for your copy every month! OR send $20 for a year’s subscription and have it posted to you. 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 IN STOCK NOW ! 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 ! $25 post 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 ! Jupiter 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 [email protected] 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 ☎ [email protected] Central West Astronomical Society, NSW John Sarkissian: [email protected]. 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 [email protected] 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 The Binocular and Telescope Shop Pty Ltd 84 Wentworth Park Rd, Glebe 2037 Tel: (02) 9518 7255 Fax: (02) 9518 5711 Any mistakes or typos are caused by late nights or lack of coffee in the brain cells. Printed in a small back lane at Artarmon by Master Printing. This newsletter is available at The Binocular and Telescope Shop and at many astronomical society meetings and astronomy centres around Australia. Night Sky is available free by email or in print by sending $20 to Bintel. Ask [email protected] to be on the mailing list for the NIGHT SKY.