[Shark Bait (Stu)]

Through the fundraising efforts of the School Community at the Primary School my Son attends, three 8" Saxon Dobsonian telescopes have been purchased. They will be made available to all students and looked after by the Science Club.

I don't have all the details, but this Primary School is soon to be part of a pilot program run by a University (? QUT ?). The goal is to have dedicated Science Labs in Primary Schools. At the moment, the Science Club meets in a classroom set up for their Science program but it will be great to see it turned into a lab. The new telescopes will be a good fit with this program.

They ended up with 3 Saxon 8" Dobs and enough accessories to run successful astronomical viewing evenings. They will soon be set up to safely study solar activity as well. The image of the Moon was taken with a happy snapper held to the eyepiece. The artwork behind one of the scopes was completed by the students as part of their 'Read Across the Universe' book week.

I would like to thank Richard (richardda1st) for making azimuth setting circles available on ISS. I have added your setting circles to their scopes aiming to make it a little easier for the students to find some of the fainter objects. The School already has iPads loaded with planetarium software.

I would have preferred to have the setting circles set up in another way but that would have meant drilling holes or making cut outs in the base. For the time being they can get used to the current setup and when the time comes I can improve the setting circle layout.

I would also like to thank Peter of Astro Pete's for his assistance in getting this project off the ground.

Stu.