Parramatta Park Star Gazing event report

[gary]

The Parramatta Park Trust hosted a star gazing event in the Park this past Saturday June 4th.

A contingent of volunteers were on stand-by, including the Three Rivers Foundation (3RF),
who kindly supplied six large Dobs for the public to get the chance to look
through. Included among the instruments was a 30" scope, the remainder were 18".

Other amateurs had also come with their scopes as far as the Blue Mountains to assist.

Alas, though we set the scopes up and many hopeful members of the public turned out,
cloud and later light drizzle meant that no star gazing took place.

However, the night was not a loss because a heated marquee had been set up and none
other than David Malin was on had to provide a fascinating presentation of the
history of the Parramatta Observatory.

David's talk started with an explanation of the construction of the first observatory
in Australia by Dawes at what is now Dawes Point. David explained that where
the observatory stood would be today underneath one of the pylons of the Sydney
Harbour Bridge.

David explained how the observatory at Dawes Point had been a high priority for
the colony, even before reliable food sources could be established. Ships that
had made the long hazardous journey from England needed to reset their
chronometers in order to reliably navigate their way back and the Dawes
observatory was concerned with the accurate determination of time.

David gave a detailed history of the Parramatta Observatory which did important
work in the early history of the colony including the creation of a new catalogue
of southern stars. The presentation also allowed David to show to the public
many wonderful deep sky images to highlight various points, including to
compare them with original sketches by Dunlop.

Parramatta was the home of government for many years in the early days of the
colony and at one point had slated to become the capital of the country.

Hopefully next year's weather will be better as many members of the public
conveyed to us how excited they were at the prospect of being able to look through
the big scopes.

[noswonky (Peter)]

I was there too and I saw a star...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e62yOQYDwiU

[cookie8 (Vincent)]

Thanks for your detail report Gary. I would have gone for the talk at least but have to drive my son to the airport. Missed out

[gary]

Originally Posted by noswonky

I was there too and I saw a star...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e62yOQYDwiU

Thanks Peter,

Enjoyed it!

[gary]

Another YouTube video about the event here, where Chris Levins, Director of the
Parramatta Park Trust, is interviewed -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cMzI...eature=related

Video produced by "The Sun Parramatta Holroyd" community newspaper.

[seeker372011 (Narayan)]

That's two years in a row washed out...it just has to get better next time. Even the first year we had lightning in the distance and ominous clouds on the horizon, but still managed to show people objects for several hours before cloud came over

[tlgerdes (Trevor)]

Not bagging the PPT, but they need a little bit better planning, may be talk in advance to some of the clubs that they need support from for events like these.

Their first year was great.

2nd event, they organised for the same night as the Macquarie Uni Astronomy open night, talk about fighting to get a crowd, did they think this was ratings season.

This year, they picked a new moon weekend, 1) what do 80% of the public attending an open night want to see, the moon, 2) those that would normally want to help are away at a dark site taking in the joys of the sky themselves.