Log in

View Full Version here: : Invitation to new public viewing nights at the UWS Observatory Domes


Omaroo
05-02-2009, 09:14 PM
Invitation

Macarthur Astronomical Society, in conjunction with the University of Western Sydney (UWS) will hold nine public viewing nights at the UWS Rotary Observatory during 2009, to celebrate the International Year of Astronomy.

The President of the Society, John Rombi (astronut here on IIS) invites Macarthur residents to come and look through our telescopes and says that the public events are a great opportunity for families to spend an hour or two viewing some of the wonders of the universe, including the moon, planets, star clusters, nebulae and galaxies.

He said that the the University and the Society have the shared objective of bringing astronomy to the community and MAS is very grateful for the full cooperation of UWS in agreeing to host these nine events at the observatory.

The first date is Saturday 7th March, commencing at 7.30 pm.

In the event of inclement weather conditions, alternative arrangements will be made for the public to meet local amateur astronomers indoors.

Bookings are not necessary and there will be no formal admission charge, although the Society would be accepting gold coin donations to assist with it's costs.

Refer to the location map (http://www.macastro.org.au/home/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=102&Itemid=142) for directions. Visitors should proceed to Car Park 6 at the Western end of the University complex and walk to the Observatory. For further details about the events, send an e-mail to contact@macastro.org.au or phone 4626 7911 (John) or 4627 2838 (Roger).

spacezebra
08-02-2009, 04:19 PM
Hi Chris

This is fantastic!!! What a great outreach program!

I look forward to hearing about your coming events

Cheers Petra

astronut
08-03-2009, 09:20 AM
The Macarthur Astronomical Society inconjunction with U.W.S Campbelltown held the first of 9 Public Observing Nights at The Campbelltown Rotary Observatory last Night (March 7th)
With a clear sky, we had between 200- 300 members of the public in attendance, observing through the two observatory telescopes and 21 member operated telescopes.
We were gratified to hear all the oooh's and ahhh's coming from the field, as objects like the Moon, Saturn, Orion Nebula, Jewel box etc were viewed through the eyepiece.
If you would like to join us on the next Public Night on Saturday May 2nd, go to the M.A.S website at www.macastro.org.au

John Rombi
President, M.A.S

Omaroo
08-03-2009, 09:32 AM
Yep - a fantastic night John. The members did a great job showing hoards of enthusiastic kids and their parents a great deal of the sky. The lines at each scope were quite long at times, but everyone was well-behaved and there were no incidents. The local newspapers articles preempting the evening did very well at delivering the message to people living in and around our area.

We also had quite a few people who had recently bought telescopes turn up and say that they were now "re-enthused", and would go out at their first chance to use them again. It's amazing how many really young kids knew about space-related topics, and were more than enthusiastic about letting you know! LOL! Just like me when I was their age! LOL! :thumbsup:

Can't wait for the next night in a few weeks. :D