2 APRIL 2009 NEXT MEETING 7.30pm SATURDAY NIGHT 18th April *Tom Magness ~ Telescopes* PIMPAMA STATE SCHOOL - HOTHAM CREEK ROAD - TAKE EXIT 49 ON THE M1 - SCHOOL IS ON THE WESTERN SIDE OF THE HIGHWAY PRESIDENT - NOELEEN LOWNDES Ph 5530 8094 MEMBERSHIP OFFICER - KEVIN DIXON Ph 5537 3852 Visit the society web page at www.sas.org.au for heaps of society info, pics, observing news & lots more! Society postal address ~ Southern Astronomical Society Inc, PO BOX 867 Beenleigh Qld 4207 SMALL PRINT - Event Horizon is sent by blind carbon copy email so others cannot see your email address - if you do not want Event Horizon emailed please inform the sender. The society webpage & Event Horizon may contain images of or may identify members/friends attending society & non society events (Meetings, Astroquizz, Combined Societies Meeting, Field Nights - Leyburn Astrocamps, Astrofest etc) if you would prefer this not to happen please advise the society in writing. If members require a copy of the societies constitution please contact the membership officer by mail or at a future meeting. Images presented in Event Horizon & on the SAS website are presented in good faith as original work of the person submitting them. The SAS & its members accept no responsibility or liability whatsoever if the person submitting them has used another persons property without their permission or consent. THE SAS WOULD LIKE TO EXTEND A VERY WARM WELCOME TO OUR NEW MEMBERS FAIR DINKUM REQUEST has been made for more info about what other local societies are up to. Here are the sites for each of the other societies in Brisbane BAShttp://www.bas.asn.au/ AAQ http://www.aaq.org.au/cms/ SEQAS http://www.seqas.org/ REDLANDS http://www.ras.org.au/ CONGRATULATIONS to Renato Langersek for sending in his response to last months quizz very quickly. That puts Renato on equal points with Andrew Durick, with Steve Craft close by, followed by Colin, Steve & Duncan. So here are the answers to last months quizz. “I originated in the 1970s but still am a big seller to amateur astronomers even today. Surprisingly I have been adapted by stage lighting technicians in theatres to enable them to point spotlights in the theatre. My inventor Steve Kufeld passed away in 1999 aged 57. I was based on a WW2 device called the “Norden bombsight”. I can easily be adpated for most telescopes but am often found on Dobsonian Telescopes. Adverts for me started appearing in Asro magazines in 1983 & most amateur astronomers may have used me at some stage. I am a Telrad.” GLEN GREENWOOD had us all worried recently as he had a bit of a cancer scare. Well the really good news is after 2 weeks in hospital Glen is now pretty certain things are looking very good indeed & he is very keen to meet up with us all again back at Leyburn hopefully in May. THE 2009 QUEENSLAND ASTROFEST to be held the week of 14-23rd August is approaching very quickly & registrations are now open - http://www.qldastrofest.org.au/ EVENT HORIZON after being the editor for nearly 5 years I have decided to pass the baton on from next month. We have presented many wonderful images & I have just added up that comes to over 200 images taken by you in the last 5 years, so thank you indeed. The next editor will no doubt keep up the fine tradition of presenting your images for all of us to see, but they will need your assistance in sending them in the first place. Please don’t be an image miser - you spent a lot of time & money obtaining them, now please share them. FELLOW SUPERNOVA HUNTER & discoverer of 2 Supernova, TG Tan from Perth, will have an article about his search programme in the July edition of US Sky & Tel. Being an Australian story I do hope that Oz Sky & Telescope also cover the story. APR 2009 MAY 2009 SATURDAY 18 FRIDAY 24-26 SATURDAY 9 FRIDAY 22-24 7.30PM SAS GENERAL MEETING ~ Tom Magness ~ Collecting older telescopes LEYBURN DARK SKY SITE ~ a privately owned non SAS organised event 5.30pm COMMITTEE MEETING ~ 7.30PM SAS GENERAL MEETING ~ TBA LEYBURN DARK SKY SITE ~ a privately owned non SAS organised event JUNE 2009 SATURDAY 6 FRIDAY 19-21 5.30pm COMMITTEE MEETING ~ 7.30PM SAS GENERAL MEETING ~ TBA LEYBURN DARK SKY SITE ~ a privately owned non SAS organised event LEYBURN - DARK SKY SITE Postcard from Leyburn Privately owned property - hosts Debbie & Mark Bolton By entering the site you agree you do so at your own risk $5 contribution per adult per night Noeleen & Graham’s Observatory “SOGGY BOTTOM” LEYBURN WEBCAM http://leyburn.podzone.net/ LATEST SATELLITE - INFRARED, VISIBLE & WATER VAPOUR http://www.weatherzone.com.au/satellite.jsp?lt=wzstate&lc=qld&img=s at_bw&ane=1&anf=1&and=1&ana=3&anb=333&anc=3&lyd=1 2009 DATES APR 24-26 ~ MAY 22-24 LEYBURN 2.5 hrs drive inland from Brisbane & Gold Coast ACCOMMODATION BYO tent or “first in first serve” a caravan bed (1 of 4 beds available) BYO bedding, sleeping bag, pillow, etc OR CABINS available in town cost $85 per room - book on 07 46950155 WEATHER very extreme to Brissy, VERY hot/cold - come prepared KITCHEN VAN onsite with cooking gas, pots, pans, plates, utensils POWER BYO Batteries GENERATOR onsite to run laptops & GoTo DRINKING WATER BYO LOO YES flushing onsite - with loo paper SHOP 5km away - well stocked general store has hot showers ($2) with great burgers, ice etc & local historic hotel with great value meals MOBILE PHONE NEXT G works well (& internet) others barely DAY & NIGHT ARRIVAL LOCK ALL GATES / dip lights at the gate to main observing field - you will be greeted & guided to a park CAUTIONS heat / cold, flies / mozzies & the occasional snake. LEYBURN GOINGS ON ~ MARCH 2009 Seems like a very good turn out but the weather was all over the place. Ray & Mark spent time tidying up the toilet & fixing a new toilet seat. A number of new slabs from Steve, Chris & Noeleen were poured & soon Leyburn will have more observatories than Siding Spring! There is no doubt that Leyburn is now one of Australia’s premiere observing / imaging sites. There have been & will continue to be visitors from all over the world, all spending money in these tight economic times at the great historic pub, the well stocked local general store etc. There are plans to offer astronomical viewing nights & support at the local school - something we did about 6 years ago & look forward to starting again. I must remind you that if you do go there, it is a privately owned site that is the property of our hosts Mark & Debbie Bolton. Everything is done on a voluntary basis & help with mowing, keeping things clean & tidy (i.e. toilet) & hands on assistance, taking rubbish to the tip etc is not only appreciated it is expected as part of having this wonderful place made available to us. 2009 - A CHALLENGING YEAR Leaderboard ~ Langersek 8 Durick 8 Craft 6 Drescher 4 Crane 2 Gillespie 2 My design appeared in a BAA journal in 1971, then Model Engineering Magazine & Sky & Tel in 1972. Incredible but true, my inventor …. “….”…. decided not to patent me, he donated my design to the amateur astronomical community. In my truest form, I rely on friction & ball bearings to make me work, unlike predecessors that had “teeth”. My original is on display at .………………….. In 1979 Pink Floyd had an double album … …. with my inventors surname in the two word title. I am a........ ……. IMAGE GALLERY the aim of the gallery is to present the fine efforts of some of our imagers, experienced or just starting. Efforts that may have otherwise gone unapplauded. As space is limited the images are small, they may have been cropped & be considerably less detailed than the originals - you may want to visit the imager’s personal website or see more at http://www.sas.org.au/index.html all images are copyright Steve Craft M83, Meade 80mm refractor on HEQ5 pro mount & Canon 400D. 5 x 10min images stacked Greg Bock M42, taken at Leyburn 8x5 min Canon 350D iso 1600 Rob Kelms His first Moon image - using an Aldi 7 meg camera mounted onto a 8inch Dob with a home made adaptor Greg Bock Omega Centauri (NGC5139) 14 x 5 min Canon 3590D iso1600 Windaroo South Brisbane Gary Gawronski Comet Lulin, from Redcliffe, prime focus at f6.3, C8. Hand guided, 3min iso 1600 PETE’S FINAL PIC - WEB SITES WORTH CHECKING OUT & BOOKMARKING Stacks of Astronomy programmes, many for free http://www.pierpaoloricci.it/download/downloadsoftware_eng.htm Great Aussie buy & sell site for 2nd hand equipment http://www.astrobuysell.com/au/ SASTROGADGETMAN - WHAT’S NEAT, WHAT’S NEW, WHAT’S ON SPECIAL & SHADY DEALINGS (FOR SALE) SIRIUS OPTICS ph 3423 2355 www.sirius-optics.com.au New Sky Watcher Dobs with Alt/Az GOTO (see ad on website). The 10” will be available from the end of this month, the 8” late May/early June. Call Sirius Optics to secure your order. STAR OPTICS ph 5572 3000 www.staroptics.com.au WATCH THE SKIES - APRIL HIGHLIGHTS 17 LAST QUARTER 25 NEW MOON JUPITER high in predawn sky SATURN visible most of the night NEWS NOTES - POSTED ON ASTROMART www.astromart.com NASA's Kepler Telescope Jettisons Dust Cover, Sees First Light “Engineers have successfully ejected the dust cover from NASA's Kepler telescope. With the cover off, starlight is entering the photometer & being imaged onto its focal plane. Kepler is specifically designed to search for Earth-size & smaller planets in the habitable zone of solar-like stars out to distances of about three thousand light years. Kepler will continuously monitor over 100,000 stars similar to our Sun for brightness changes produced by planetary transits. At the beginning of the mission, planets of all sizes orbiting very close to their stars will be found. After three years, we will be able to discover planets with orbits of one year, that is those in the habitable zone of stars like the Sun. If Earth size planets in the habitable zone are common, then life may be ubiquitous in our galaxy. On the other hand, if no terrestrial planets are found, then “Earths” may be rare.” These are exciting times indeed. WHAT’S UP DOWN UNDER ~ Andrew Durick “The Deep Sky Guy” What’s worth hunting down in the SAS 8 inch members hire telescopes (only $10 per month) OBJECT: IC 2948, Running Chicken Nebula, Hartung 486 (2nd Edition) Image at right courtesy of The Digitised Sky Survey (DSS) Just down the road from last month’s object is a large emission nebula IC 2948. This faint nebula extends south east of Lamda Centaurus. While faint, the nebula can be glimpsed in the society’s 8” hire scopes. Through an OIII filter many of the nebula’s intricate details come alive. Within the nebula extents is a sparse elongated cluster Cr 249 which powers the glowing dust. This nebula is also the site of Bok globules known as Thackeray’s Globules. Not for the visual guys & girls, but the many photographers amongst us should be able to capture these inky blobs against the nebula. I am yet to fully understand the running chicken moniker - I just haven’t seen it the many times I have looked at this object … maybe it will dawn on me next time I point the scope in its direction. GET A LOAD OF THIS! CANON 500D 15.1 megapixel camera http://www.canon.com.au/eos/range/eos500d/featuresummary.aspx will be able to do HD movies & this may be very, very interesting for planetary imagers. Also available as a modified camera for astro imaging by HUTECH http://www.sciencecenter.net/hutech/canon.htm