Charity Observing

[Greg Bryant]

Tomorrow (Friday), Oxfam is having its annual charity walk (run).

http://www.oxfam.org.au/trailwalker/sydney/

I'm not one of the runners, but I am a volunteer. On Friday night, between 8.30pm and 4.30am, I will be a traffic marshall, ensuring that the participants cross the Pacific Highway at Berowra at the right spot.

I'll also be keeping an eye on the sky. It's not every month I get to observe the night sky naked eye for 8 hours, but I'll certainly be doing that. I'll be aiming to seek out as many of the Bayer-named (ie. Greek letter) stars during the course of the night.

Of course, if the going gets really tough, I'll also have the cricket on the radio :)

[atalas]

No rest for the wicked Greg ! keep the good work up and don't get trampled while your looking up mate .

ps Do you remember the Greek alphabet ?

Louie :)

[h0ughy]

How did you get roped in with that one? While you are at it see how low in magnitude you can see. In Sydney on Tuesday night i was staying at the Ibis motel opposite Telstra Stadium, and I observed the night sky to fill in some time before dinner. I looked at the Southern Cross & I could only make out distinctly 4 of the 5 stars. Light pollution is very bad. Also any meteor showers to admire?

[Greg Bryant]

Louie,

There's 400 teams of 4 people each who will be passing through Berowra between ~3pm and ~6am. I definitely have to watch out for them, rather than the cars! And yes, it's an opportunity to refresh my Greek...

Houghy,

I know a few people who are doing the 100km trek, and I thought - why not - particularly as I'm only 500m from home. I'm also keen to listen to the cricket; perfect timing.

It's Last Quarter Moon, so it'll will be rising around 1am

Berowra is one of the northernmost suburbs of Sydney - its skies are dark, which is why I do most of my observing from home; which disappoints Iceman no end as both he (and I) would rather me be at Kulnura.

Looking at the meteor shower table, there's little on offer. Pity - my mind wanders back to November 2001 when I saw the Leonid meteor shower: that was fun!

Planets: Mars is rising before midnight, both Uranus and Neptune are transiting either side of midnight.

On reflection: I think I'll have to take my binoculars!

Now look, anyone who wants to deliver pizza to me in the early hours of Saturday morning, please PM me :)

[iceman]

Definitely take the binos greg, or even set your scope up on teh footpath.. i'm sure some of the walkers wouldn't mind taking a peek at Mars as they walk past!? :)

Sounds like a worthwhile event, good luck!

[Greg Bryant]

Mike,

That would certainly be Sidewalk astronomy indeed, but I'm sure I'll have my hands full with the (exhausted) participants as they walk/run past.

[iceman]

Really though, who's going to be running past at 3am? Does it really go for that long?

[Greg Bryant]

Well...

My location at Berowra prevented me from going too deep with naked-eye astronomy - I was positioned next to a set of traffic lights with street lights around me on the Pacific Highway. Nevertheless, the person I was teamed up with got an introduction to Mars and the Moon in the early hours of Saturday.

...and yes, there were dozens of people coming through at 3am. What drives these people to be bushwalking at that hour? Why...they be must amateur astronomers in the making! IceInSpace should have sponsored the event.

For the record, I understand that Oxfam were aiming to raise $1 million from this event for charity.

All in all, a long but cold night. No bright meteors. A touch of rain. Cricket on the radio (many walkers wanted a score update). It's been a while since I saw the Moon rise at 2am. (Climbed into bed just as twilight was beginning).

[ving]

sheesh! what a night greg!
wouldnt catch me out that late. I dont know the last time i did an all nighter on anything.

mike should have given you IIS stickers to hand out :P