Welcome to the Great Southern Amateur Astronomers
home on the web. The GSAA is currently a 'club in progress' which
exists to unite and serve the needs of amateur astronomers right across
the great southern region of Western Australia. We have a club room
located at the Mt Barker high school where we hold monthly meetings
and viewing nights. Any and all persons interested in astronomy are
invited to attend our meetings and join this new, rapidly growing
club.
Meeting Schedule
The second Wednesday in each month for regular meetings (good viewing
or not).
(Viewing Nights are weather permitting so keep and eye out for Len's
email update)
Please note: Weather permitting ALL regular meetings are also VIEWING
NIGHTS
Viewing Nights
The fourth Wednesday in each month for viewing nights (again weather
permitting).
Night Skies
Don't forget to check out each Monday's West for the 'night sky' highlights
supplied by the Perth Observatory
There is a special viewing night at Kendenup Country
Club on April 3rd @ 7.30 to celebrate the International Year of Astronomy.
Hello Everyone,
It's been an eventful start to the year!
Apologies for being slow to get this cab off the rank.
As seen in the photos above some of our members have recently been
engaged in the pursuit of their television careers, lending telescopes
to the "Lockie Lenard" production for a very interesting
evening.
The 'Angelus' T-shirt has inspired us to begin a quest for our own
logo. Here are two that Wes came up with and he promises another but
I haven't heard from him yet (that's a hint Wes).
Do you see anything you like? Do you have another design? Please let
us know.
Better still come to a meeting and show us.
T-Shirts, mugs, keyrings… we could be on to something here.
Last meeting, after a little misdirection we located the comet Lulin.
That was rather inspiring. The last time I found a comet was when
Halley's comet
paid us a visit. We were lucky to have a clear sky that night.
Also it was great to meet the lovely Janine Carter from the ABC who
is going to do a story about our group. Pity the tape recorder was
on the blink. Janine enjoyed a bit of stargazing and was not fooled
for one moment by Bob's Coke Can on the Moon Routine. She promises
to return, boyfriend in tow, to enjoy the use of the telescopes again.
If you're like her and love looking at the sky from a deckchair on
your back porch come and see some of those stars and planets a little
closer. Bring that telescope you always wanted to learn how to use…
Some links:
We may have had this one before but it's worth a revisit. Astronomy
WA will send you their free e-bulletin - UFO (updates from outerspace).
http://www.astronomywa.net.au/
FOLLOW THE PROGRESS OF WAs BID FOR THE SKA (square kilometre array).
Good luck Mr Buswell.
The Perth Observatory is always good value and night sky events are
on the weather page in the West every Monday: http://www.perthobservatory.wa.gov.au/
I hope to see many more of you at the next meeting
(clouds or no). Your editor - Soopi - celebrating…
Hello Everyone,
'Tis nearly the end of the year and Christmas is almost upon us -
can you believe it? But, before then, you have two more excellent
chances to star gaze with us (see above). The editor particularly
will be paying close attention as she has missed the last two meetings
and is still kicking herself as things have been heating up. The weather
remains stubbornly unheated but that was not a problem for the last
viewing night (so I'm told) and last night's meeting appears to have
been busy according to Len's email. If you've received Len's emails
you'll have read how busy a meeting can be when the planets align
(pun intended).
Astro-photography is popular with several members
of our club. If you have the chance to come along to the next meeting
Denis Greaves has sent us a new disc with some of his work which we
will be displaying. You can also view these at our website when they
go up: http://waro.iinet.net.au/gsaa/index.htm
Club Activities: Apart from the obvious, the club
has the use of the classroom's dvd/video/tv to show programmes on
astronomy and also cd/dvds made by members. This is particularly useful
when the weather is not cooperating.
Other people bring along anything else that might be interesting so
you're never quite sure what surprises are around the corner. I'm
very sorry to have missed Wes Beck's contribution at the last viewing
night when the group picked up radio transmissions from the International
Space Station. And the iridium flare. I will be making sure I don't
miss the coming months. AND THAT'S FOR SURE.
Some interesting websites that Len has found:
http://www.windows.ucar.edu/citizen_science/starcount/
(Counting stars … yes, they are serious! Well I thought that
was just tooooo hard as I didn't have enough fingers.)
http://astrophotoinsight.com/
(Free online magazine…)
http://www.imo.net/live/orionids2008/
(Shooting 'stars'…)
http://www.spaceinfo.com.au
(What's going on up there…)
http://www.seed.slb.com/en/scictr/lab/byo_star/index.htm
(Are you the Master of the Universe … or just one star?)
There are more at our website. And these will be too when Paul has
a chance to put them up.
Putting things into perspective:
If the Sun was a 40mm ping pong ball the Earth would be .3 of a millimetre
(eg. A very, very small ball bearing).
The Sun would be 1160km from Earth (Albany to Carnarvon as the crow
flys).
(Info taken from "the nearest star" courtesy of Denis Greaves)
Just think … it's that far away and it still keeps us warm …
yes, folks even in our damp and drizzly Great Southern.
So, keep your eyes on the stars and your feet on the
ground … and come to the next meeting!
Cheers
Susan
The GSAA was invited to set up a display at the recent
Albany Hobby Expo. It was a great success with many members contributing
to the display. The club gained a few new members and Len and Susan
nearly lost their voices with all the talking they did. Well done
guys!
Albany Hobby Expo 2008
