ANU BHS Earth Hour - Viewing Night

silvinator · #1 23-03-2009, 11:44 PM

Hi everyone,

Here's a last minute event for those of you in Canberra this week:

Australian National University, Fellows Oval, Saturday, 28th March, 2009.

Join the ANU Black Hole Society for a night of viewing - a rare chance to see the night sky while Canberra's city lights are off for a whole hour. ANU Green is providing entertainment and activities from 6pm onwards at the nearby Chifley Library Lawn. For more details, click here.

Please note: There will only be 2 telescopes available for viewing through on the night, as such, there may be a long wait for each telescope depending on the number of people attending. Objects viewed will also be dependent on the weather.

Cheers,
Silvie

toryglen-boy (Duncan) · #2 24-03-2009, 09:48 AM

Sounds good ... although there is a dark sky night this weekend in Canberra, there is usually is on the first Saturday after the full moon.

silvinator · #3 24-03-2009, 05:39 PM

That's fine, thanks for the heads up on the dark sky night

However, just for clarification, this BHS event is mainly for those who live near campus and who don't have a car (so mainly students!) and for anybody else who felt like stopping by. Some people can't make it to things like dark sky nights because of transport issues so we thought we'd give some of our members and others from the public a chance to have a quick look through a telescope while Canberra goes slightly darker for an hour. It should be fun even if we only get 5 people

We're not fussed about getting large numbers, as long as the few who do come along gain an interest in astronomy, especially if they weren't interested in it before

jkrah · #4 24-03-2009, 07:45 PM

hey this sounds pretty cool.. would other scopes be welcome ?
and was there a link to more info ?

silvinator · #5 25-03-2009, 01:15 AM

Other scopes would definitely be more than welcome

Oh and yes there was supposed to be a link:

http://billboard.anu.edu.au/event_view.asp?id=41862

Sorry about not including it in the original post! It's the link to the ANU Green portion of the events. BHS have just decided to tag along and hold our own thing nearby

jkrah · #6 27-03-2009, 10:21 PM

Hi Silvie,
thanks heaps for the link.. I'm still very keen.. just sent you a pm with a few questions.. fingers crossed for a clear night..

side note:
if your reading this H or Damo.. I hope yous can make !!

silvinator · #7 27-03-2009, 10:59 PM

Hi Jason,

PM sent

I hope the other fellas can make it too

Octane (Humayun) · #8 28-03-2009, 05:57 PM

I'd love to be there, Jase, but, I'm in Sydney.

Regards,
Humayun

jkrah · #9 29-03-2009, 12:33 AM

A big thank you to Silvie and the rest of the ANU Black Hole Society ..
A great night .. had lots of fun and it was very rewarding to hear peoples reactions.. kids and parents alike..

I tried to take a few shots when I could but only these couple turned out..

h0ughy (David) · #10 29-03-2009, 12:39 AM

well done guys

silvinator · #11 29-03-2009, 01:15 PM

Hey Jason,

Thank you so much for bringing your scope! Without your help, there would have been longer lines to look through a telescope so we should be thanking you for taking the time out to come and help us

Great photos as well - I especially like the third one - Orion shows up really nicely! I hope you don't mind I steal your pics and put them on the club's website

And thanks David, it was great fun indeed. The kids are the best part of doing something like that - they were just sooooo adorable and I think all of them went away wanting to buy a telescope

Mission accomplished!

Cheers,
Silvie

jkrah · #12 30-03-2009, 07:32 PM

Hey it was no probs.. I really enjoyed it..

theres a bit of an astro night at coming up at my daughters school in a few weeks and helping out on Saturday has gotten me heaps more confident and excited about it..

Feel free to use the photos.. Ive got a couple more but I posted the best.. let us know if you want the raw (non scaled) images..

Thanks to Ken also .. getting to experience a $1k EP in my own scope was a total buzz...

I think I gonna have to join CAS now..

Silvie .. did any of your shots turn out at all ??

charsiubau · #13 30-03-2009, 09:48 PM

Hey Jason it was good to meet you. Ken likes to show off the Ethos (he paid less than $1k - got it when the exchange rate was better). It will improve the view through just about any scope - we had it in a 4 inch Tasco at Mt Stromlo the other week looking at the Tarantula nebula and it gave a very nice view.

By the way, CAS's sidewalk astronomy event is on this Saturday 7.30 to 9.30 in Commonwealth Place carpark (between Questacon and the lake) if you can make it. I've posted a note in the IYA section of the forum.

Bronwyn