Alice springs astronomers?

[robinkayezero]

Hello all,

I'm from Brissie/sunny coast, but in Alice for another 3 weeks for uni stuff. I'm very keen to get out and see some sky, but am having trouble finding the local astronomers. Google gave me one phone number which went straight to a shop answering machine!

Just wondering if anyone has any contacts in Alice?

Cheers

Robin

[Blue Skies]

I wouldn't hold your breath on this one, or expect any results. They've been a reclusive bunch for at least ten years. I doubt there is any organisation out there at the moment. But it would nice to be proven wrong!

[leon]

There is not ,any in the NT that I'm aware of, :shrug:it is just not the climate for Astro stuff, especially imaging, one would never get the sensor below 30 degrees. :sadeyes: :sadeyes:

Leon :thumbsup:

[BlackWidow]

Thats a supprise to me leon. I had a shop in Alice before I got into astronomy. Very very cold night many with frost and nice clear skies. Hot in the day, but it cools very fast at night. Much colder than here in Adelaide. Thet must have a no Nurd policy up thier LOL

[Mliss]

... they're all at the space base ;) :lol:

[leon]

Matrian, Your are right of coarse, Alice can be very cold at night, I was just being a bit stupid, maybe it is this build up around here.
Our air con has been running for 3 months non stop, haven't seen a temp below 20 any night.

Leon

[rmcconachy]

In 2001 a friend and I drove from Melbourne to Alice Springs to meet up with the local astro group and observe the Leonids. The meteor storm was incredible and the local astro group were very nice folks. Many of them seemed to work at Pine Gap which I guess makes sense.

[Blue Skies]

I thought there was a group in Darwin - can't think what they're called though... And Ian (gaaian) has a small group out at Gove in Arnhemland, but I know from talking to him they're really only active during the dry.

[Blue Skies]

Yeah, but how did you get in touch with them or even find them?

[Groboz]

We are DAGs (Darwin Astronomy Group) :P

[ballaratdragons]

Andrew Crouch (AndrewC (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/member.php?u=3764)) is a member in here and he lives at Alice Springs :thumbsup:

A very nice chap :)
PM him to find out more.

[niko]

there is also a caravan park south of town - not far after you go through the gap which runs regular astro nights and has a permanent pier set up.

I think the park was this one

www.heritagecaravanpark.com.au/index.html (http://www.heritagecaravanpark.com.au/index.html)

niko

[Davros]

Just got back from Alice, i think the one visit will do me. I think you would get very good sky views a little bit out of town with the range between the light pollution and your position. The caravan park just through the gap (on the left as you head south) has astronomy nights and one of the tourist traps has an 'astro' talk which they will relieve you of $100 to attend. You would be better off on your own with a scope out towards the airport. Its a bit gusty out there at the moment so the dust is blowing around a bit. Reasonable temperatures at night but definately not freezing.
Now i can say 'been the and done that' and have no intention of doing it again. :P Spent way too much time living in a similar town and i am definately not a hot weather person.

[FJA]

I know it's a long time ago now but when I visited Australia back in 1997, I contacted a local astronomy group in Alice Springs and, while they weren't interested in meeting up (Blue Skies - I think they've been reclusive for more than ten years! ;) ), they did put me in touch with a local guy, called Andrew (I have forgotten his surname), who ran a touristy 'taste of the outback' type thing a few km outside town. This included observing with an 11 inch Celestron SCT.

[rmcconachy]

A month or so before I left Melbourne, I typed "alice springs astronomy (society OR club)" into Google and then phoned or emailed all of the potential contact details I could find. I cannot guarantee this will work for you but I'd start chasing up all the contacts given in these URLs (note, the Earth Hour one is perhaps the most recent, you could ask the local Earth Hour organizers who their contact at the astro club was and for their phone number or email address):

<http://www.alicesprings.nt.gov.au/index/eventdetail/id/677/date/2011-03-26>
<http://web.archive.org/web/20050306164427/http://members.ozemail.com.au/~asasinc/contacts.htm (http://web.archive.org/web/20050306164427/http://members.ozemail.com.au/%7Easasinc/contacts.htm)>
<http://www.bintel.com.au/Link.aspx#ASAS>
<http://www.mpas.asn.au/Links.htm> (scroll down to Alice Springs)
<http://www.alicesprings.nt.gov.au/directory/display/id/121>

My friend and I observed with the Alice Springs Astro Club for two consecutive nights (the night before and the night of the 2001 Leonids storm). The site was a little north of the town (Bond Springs?) and not far from an airstrip (where, unknown to me, several other ASV members had gathered). David Levy and a bus full of North American astro tourists stopped by the night before the storm but they headed off elsewhere the following night. Jane Houston Jones had a bunch of people doing meteor counts from the same site we observed from on the night of the storm.

[Blue Skies]

Well, its not me that's chasing them but over the years I keep hearing about people who can never find them (one was a close friend of mine), or never got answered when a query was sent. Most of the time there is a wall of silence out there. So I was just wondering what you did different that actually got a reply!

[Andrew C]

Contrary to popular belief, and as Ken has noted, we do exist. I just received a PM from Robin and have left a phone message.

The Alice club has not really been operating on a regular basis lately, in part because our secretary has been distracted from astronomy by embarking on building (from scratch) and fitting out an enormous aluminium hulled cabin cruiser for the past 2 or 3 years. He is planning to launch off the SA coast this Christmas.

However, we run public viewing nights out at the Desert Park a couple of times a year usually attended by one or two hundred people, and most years a sidewalk astronomy night in town. The rest of the time we largely do our own thing.

Three of our members also hosted and transported and supported the international Pluto / Hydra occultation astronomers earlier this year. From all accounts thay had a great time (viewing was at 3 locations in the vicinity of Barrow Creek), although the program was not successful in recording an occultation of Hydra itself anywhere in the world from what I have been told.

As others have noted, winter nights (June - August) here are quite cold and mostly clear and dry, typically down around 5 degrees and we get about half a dozen frosts each year. Seeing is not quite as good as you might expect, but transparency is pretty good.

Summer is at the other extreme, with minima around 20-25 most nights. October to December we experience a lot of humid cloudy weather with occasional thunderstorms, so this period of the year is a bit hit and miss.

If any of you are coming up this way, feel free to contact me and we will see what we can arrange (PM is best as I am a bit erratic with watching the forums, and I don't think the others are active IIS members).

Cheers,

Andrew Crouch

[brian nordstrom]

:question:consider yer self proven wrong , We are up here but the biggest problem is 5-6 :mad2: months of the WET ! , we cant plan ahead any more than about ???? 1 hour , sorry its the rain and clouds fault...:thumbsup:. But.,,

,,, Hey hows about a visit ? , I have a spare room and car park , next DRY season? :question:april 2012?
Hope the Alice trip is good for you and hope the weather holds off for a bit longer .
Brian , from Darwin .:thumbsup:

[brian nordstrom]

:rofl: BRRRR! Leon only 20 , thats a cold night up here ... Brr.rr ..:thumbsup: It has not dropped below 24 now since early september here in Darwin,, makes for some sweaty observing sessions , but nice seeing . Worth the effort .
Brian.

[Blue Skies]

Hey, I wasn't doubting there was anyone in Darwin, I was doubting there was anyone in Alice Springs! I understand your problems with the wet, I mentioned that above. I was frustrated with the lack of response from the Alice area. Anyway, 'nuff said on the topic, as they say. The original questioner has his answer now and I know who to direct people to if they ask the same question again.

[brian nordstrom]

:eyepop:Sorry , please dont get all hot under the collar .
20 degrees is hot and it does make it hard to sleep , so , if
you cant sleep ? ..
why not be out under the night sky ?:question:
Brian .
Oh yea its hot here tonight and jupiter looks good .
Brian.:thumbsup:

[geseidel]

The astronomical society here used to be very active until about 12 years ago. I used to be a member then but discontinued due to other commitments. I tried to rejoin for the last year - unsuccessfully - my communication reached them, but there was no response.
Alice Springs is a great place for astronomy even though lately we had problems with smoke from bush fires. I would love for interested people to get together again. The old fashioned club model seems to struggle though everywhere (legal organisatorial requirements, insurance etc). Maybe a loosely organized group based on email contacts, facebook or similar might work today. Anyone with ideas out there? :hi:

[GTB_an_Owl]

yep - just put a notice in the star parties thread of your willingness to be part of a group - and see what pans out

geoff