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Well, great weekend. As hoped, the skies were clear both nights we were away, but boy was it cold. My seven year old daughter was amazed to see the whole sweep of the Milky Way for the first time. We also saw lots of shooting stars which was a first for her and her little sister.
A few things we learnt:
1. With a sky so crowded with stars, its hard to pick out constellations, even with a map. We could find the Southern Cross easily (and looked at the Jewel Box, and each of the main stars), but were stumped trying to navigate Scorpio.
2. How do you manage your stuff in the dark? I got set up in the light, but when it was really dark, it was a full time job getting kids and adults to eyepieces without knocking everything (Dobbie on table, binoculars on tripod) crashing to the ground.
3. Even though the sky was clear and it was cold there seemed to be a lot of turbulence in the atmosphere, so the 'seeing' wasn't all that spectacular. In fact Saturn looked better at home in Sydney. Couldn't get Mars to look like much of a disc. It was a bit better the second night, but interestingly the sky was crystal clear at home on Sunday night.
4. Saw Canopus pulsing red and white light like an aircraft! Amazing sight, low to the horizon, huge and blinking like a UFO.
5. Binoculars are under-rated. First outing for some Andrews 11x70 on a tripod and they were great. Bit hard to sight at first (especially with such a lot of stars in view, even more than visible with naked eye - quite tricky to navigate, but got the hang of it). The Jewel Box clearly to be seen, plus lots of clusters really jump out with it.
6. Great fun just to explore the Milky Way with our little Dob on low power - it makes you feel tiny.
7. We visited the Dish at Parkes. Amazing structure and interesting stuff on Pulsars, but as a tourist experience it doesn't have a lot of basic info on radio telecopy and what the Parkes facility does and why. Good gift shop though. I picked up A Walk Through the Southern Skies there - nice book.
My daughter is even more interested in astronomy from the trip. Last night after we had got home, I set up the binos in the back yard and we got some viewing of the new Moon, Jewel Box etc. She loves it. She can immediately find Saturn and Mars and the Southern Cross; and my wife was even inspired on the weekend, getting up before dawn with a star chart!
I tried to take some photos of the Milky Way with my point and shoot camera (which has a starry skies setting), but it didn't work well on a 30 second shutter speed. Must try again next time we got to the dark (hopefully when its warmer).
Thanks for all the help from forumites here.
smith
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