NASA's Saturn Observation Campaign.

NASA’s Saturn Observation Campaign for 2008

It’s been another wonderful year for observing this beautiful planet in the night sky, and over 1800 people have taken the opportunity to come to a SOC event to view Saturn in a telescope, and to hear all about the new discoveries being made at Saturn by the Cassini spacecraft in 2008.

Saturn has been traversing near the brilliant star Regulus in the constellation of Leo (The Lion) for the past two years, and that has made it very easy to find in the night sky. But on the evening of the 6th July 2008, there was a very special alignment in the western sky where an amazing celestial event was happening. The crescent Moon joined Regulus, Mars and Saturn in the western sky and they were all perfectly lined up and evenly spaced out together. By the 10th July Mars was only 1 degree away from Saturn in the night sky. (Please see a photo below of this spectacular conjunction).

On the 30th June, the Cassini spacecraft completed its incredible four-year prime mission and now begins a very exciting extended mission, which was approved by NASA in April 2008. This new extended mission will be known at The Cassini Equinox Mission, and it will continue until 2010.

Please go to the Cassini web site below, to see all the wondrous discoveries that have been made in the past four years by this most amazing spacecraft, and as one Cassini adventure ends, another new one begins with the Equinox mission at Saturn.
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/news/features/feature20080627.cfm
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov

This also means, that NASA’s Saturn Observation Campaign will continue until 2010 too…Yippee…another two more years of showing this magnificent planet to everyone :)

Please find below, some photographs from the latest Saturn events, where I’ve had so much fun showing everyone this beautiful planet and presenting all the latest discoveries being made by the Cassini spacecraft. So many people have been absolutely blown away at the beauty of Saturn, it doesn’t matter if they were 2 years old or 92 years young…everybody’s thoroughly enjoyed the experience of seeing Saturn.

Among the many exciting events for 2008, was our clubs Saturn in the Park night, which was held on Saturday the 14th June, and over 800 members of the community came and enjoyed seeing Saturn, the Moon and Jupiter in our telescopes. Thank you to all the SAS members for coming along to show everybody the night sky…you did our club very proud.

Please also see some more photographs on NASA’s SOC web page at: http://soc.jpl.nasa.gov/experience/gallery.cfm

Happy Saturn gazing…Noeleen Lowndes :)

Photo1.
Beautiful alignment of the crescent Moon with Regulus, Mars and Saturn on the 6th July 2008

Photo2.
Sky map of Saturn traversing near Regulus in the constellation of Leo (The Lion) as viewed in the Southern Hemisphere in 2008.

Photo 3.
An image of Saturn in Leo (The Lion), which I took on the 12th January 2008 at Flannigan’s Reserve in Rathdowney.

Photo 4.
Steven Craft a member of the SAS, took this beautiful image of Saturn in his backyard at Deception Bay on the 21st March 2008 with his Meade LX200r 10" and an Orion Star Shoot Solar System camera.

Photo 5.
A quick group photo of some of the members of SAS at our special Saturn in the Park event on the 14th June 2008, where over 800 members of the public came to view Saturn and other objects in the night sky. Everybody had a wonderful night under the stars :)

Thank you so much to: Michael Adams, Chris Wheeler, Kevin Dixon, Ray Suckling, John Connolly, Julie & Andrew Lancaster, Bryan & Sherlene Pott, Duncan Gillespie, Dave Larkin, Warwick & Monica Burgess, Bob Clarke, Renato Langersek, Ray & Joy Murray, Warren Sayer & Courtney Lowndes.

Photo 6.
Chris Wheeler enjoys showing everybody Saturn through his telescope.

Photo 7.
Renato Langersek, our SAS wizard enjoys showing everyone Saturn through his telescope.

Photo 8.
Ray Murray enjoys showing everybody Saturn in the night sky, with his telescope.

Photo 9.
My daughter Courtney Lowndes came along to help me with my telescope so I could run around and take some photographs…thank you Courtney :)

Photo 10.
I had a really lovely day with the senior people at the OzCare respite centre in May 2008. Pictured here (from the left) are the carers at the centre, Katrina Vuori, Eva Kalman, Helen Edwards, Anne Rieck and Mr Morris Wood. Thank you for making me feel so very welcomed.

Photo 11.
I had a really lovely day with the senior people at the OzCare respite centre in May 2008. Everybody made me feel very welcomed and I really enjoyed talking with everyone. Ms Eileen Thomas and Mr Morris Wood were very amazed at what’s being discovered in our Solar System and found it all so very exciting!

Photo 12.
Luke and his little sister Alissia Sheldrick, had a lot of fun looking at Saturn and the Moon through my telescope, at the Amazing Saturn night at Kingfisher Bay on Fraser Island in April 2008.

Photo 13.
Kingfisher Bay Rangers, Genevieve Berry and Leah Milne enjoy a night under the stars looking at Saturn and the Milky Way. I had a wonderful time talking with everybody about the mission and showing beautiful Saturn in my telescope.

Photo 14.
One of the newspaper articles in the Gold Coast Sun for my event at the Runaway Bay Library, over one hundred people come to look through our telescopes at Saturn. Thank you Kevin Dixon from SAS who came along to help me on the night.

Photo 15.
For the opposition of Saturn in February 2008, I joined fellow Saturn Observation Campaign member Rodger Macqueen (in space shirt) in Toowoomba, to show everybody Saturn. We did a similar event last year and had a lot of fun together. Pictured in the photo are also his wife Robyn, and his friends Jared Martin and Laine Davidson.

Photo 16.
Ray Suckling enjoys showing Alan Ross and two overseas students, Omar from Oman and Ahmed from the United Arab Emirates the beautiful planet Saturn through his telescope. At the Mermaid Waters Library in May 2007, thank you Ray for coming along to help me on the night.

Photo 17.
Kevin Dixon enjoys showing the Andre family Saturn through his telescope at the Mermaid Waters Library in May 2007, thank you Kevin for coming along to help me on the night.

Photo 18.
What a beautiful model of Saturn, Star Allen is proudly showing her beautiful model of Saturn that she has just completed for her space project. Star goes to the Musgrave Hill State School and she has the perfect name for an astronomer.

Photo 19.
What a beautiful picture of Saturn that Murphy Reid has done for me. Murphy is in grade 3 and goes to Trinity Lutheran Primary School at Ashmore; all the students enjoyed the talk and presentation on the Cassini Mission.

Photo 20.
How exciting… we are all going to see Saturn in the telescope…Yippee.
Megan Moate brings along her children and their cousins, Jack, Samantha, Ashleigh, Sam & Emma on our Amazing Saturn night held at Toowoomba in February 2007.

‘Saturn in the Park’ for the Gold Coast Community

Because this is a very special year for our club, we decided to share our 20th year celebrations with the community. On Saturday the 6th May we held a FREE ‘Saturn in the Park’ event at Paradise Point in conjunction with my involvement with NASA’s Saturn Observation Campaign. Please find NASA’s ‘SOC’ web site at: http://soc.jpl.nasa.gov

This was a very exciting evening for the general public; we set up our telescopes all along the Esplanade at Paradise Point, right along the waterfront. The setting was lovely, with the stunning colours of sunset reflecting on the Broadwater and a perfect clear sky. While we were setting up our telescopes the excitement began to build, as people walking by with their children and dogs wondered what we were doing. We’d done a lot of advertising for the event, and received wonderful support from our local newspaper the Gold Coast Bulletin and radio stations ABC 91.7 & 102.9 Hot Tomato. We were expecting many hundreds of people to come, but what really happened was amazing!

By nights end, over one thousand people had come look through our telescopes, it was like a great big party, with cars full of people arriving and leaving all night. Everybody just loved looking through our telescopes at the beautiful ringed planet Saturn, the Moon, Jupiter, and the constellations of the night sky. We had people from all works of life and from all different age groups coming together to enjoy the wonders of the night sky it was fantastic!

On the evening we had 20 members who kindly brought along 22 telescopes for viewing the night sky, without this wonderful support from our many members, the night would not have been the success it was.

I would very like to acknowledge and thank our members: Kevin Dixon, John Connolly, Ray Suckling, Bryan Pott, Peter Marples, Phil Pidgeon, Renato Langersek (SAS Wizard) Bob Clarke, Warren Sayer, Ron McNaught, Mark Gasper, Michael Adams, Lyn Ahern, Kay Simmons, Colin Drescher, Robin Cox, Warwick & Monica Burgess, Ray & Joy Murray, for giving up there time to share the wonders of the night sky with so many people, we all had a wonderful night under the stars. (Please see some of the photographs below from the night)

Your president
Noeleen Lowndes

Photo 8. A group photo of some of us SAS members setting up early for the Saturn event.
(Left back row) Warren Sayer, Kevin Dixon, Bryan Pott, Peter Marples, Don McNaught, John Connolly, Mark Gasper, Phil Pidgeon, Bob Clarke (Bottom Left) Noeleen Lowndes, Ray Suckling & Robin Cox.
Photo 9. Little Mary-Lou O’Neil and her mother Louise are very excited to have their first look at Saturn through my telescope.
Photo 10. Warren Sayer having a lot of fun explaining to people what they’ll be looking at through his telescope.
Photo 11. My niece Gabby Nelson (right) and her best friend Teagan Nowicki are having a wonderful night at the telescopes.
Photo 12. Our SAS Wizard (Renato Langersek) having lots of fun sharing his love of astronomy with the public.
Photo 13. Phil Pidgeon our club secretary, busy showing the night sky with our SAS club telescope.
Photo 14.‘WOW’ everybody wanted to look in Warwick Burgess’s big 22-inch telescope! His lovely wife Monica came and helped him too on the night.
Photo 15. Now… just how big is Saturn…it’s this BIG! Colin Drescher has a bit of fun with my model of Saturn, while Warwick Burgess, Robin Cox & Joy Murray look on in the background ?
Photo 16. A group photograph of SAS members at the end of the night, on our wonderful ‘Saturn in the Park’ evening for the community. Happy 20th Anniversary SAS!

Saturn is now in the Constellation of Cancer (The Crab)
For NASA’s ‘Saturn Observation Campaign’ in 2006

The magnificent ringed planet Saturn is now back in the night sky for you to see in all its glory. During 2005 the planet was very easy to find, because it was meandering above the lovely stars called Pollux and Castor in the constellation of Gemini (The Twins). Now in 2006, Saturn has moved on into the constellation of Cancer (The Crab) and will spend most of its time this year near the pretty open star cluster (M44) also known as the Beehive Cluster.

To find a map of Saturn’s position in the night sky over the coming months please go to NASA’s ‘Saturn Observation Campaign’ web site at: http://soc.jpl.nasa.gov/viewing.cfm

In 2005 the Cassini spacecraft has had an incredible year with its tour of discovery of the many icy moons of Saturn, in 2006 the voyage of discovery will continue to surprise and intrigue us in trying to understand the complexities of the Saturnian system.

To see all the latest amazing images of Enceladus, Dione, Rhea, Hyperion & Iapetus along with all the new discoveries being made with the many fly-bys of Titan please go to the main web site at: http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.cfm

Please find below photographs from my latest ‘SOC’ events held in 2005, where everybody who came to hear about the Cassini-Huygens mission and to view this beautiful planet in the night sky had a wonderful time.

Noeleen Lowndes
Saturn Observation Campaign member
http://soc.jpl.nasa.gov

Information of my photographs:

On a visit to Eric’s beautiful property near Boonah, Michael, Peter & Jessica Vandersande spent such a long time doing these wonderful space drawings of Saturn.
Thank you for the lovely pictures.

There’s an awful lot of space out here! They are the words that Jessica Vandersande is going to beam back to NASA headquarters, when she becomes an astronaut and takes a journey to Saturn. I love your rocket Jessica………can I go with you

Little Shaun Tay was so surprised to see that he was featured in the December 2005 edition of ‘Australian Sky & Telescope’ that I wrote about NASA’s ‘Saturn Observation Campaign’. I’m only one of 400 ‘SOC’ members worldwide showing this beautiful planet to the community and talking about this amazing mission to Saturn by the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft. What a fantastic experience its been being involved with this mission where discoveries are being made almost daily in the explorations of this magnificent ringed planet.

To see the other ‘SOC’ members involved with the campaign from Australia and from around the world please go to the ‘SOC’ member page at:
http://soc.jpl.nasa.gov/members.cfm

Hannah McLeod is only in grade one at Coomera State School and she just loves space! When she grows up she wants to be an astronaut and go to Saturn to see all the things that the Cassini spacecraft is seeing, especially Saturn’s beautiful rings.

What an incredible space project!
On a visit to the grade 3 classes at Mudgeeraba State School to talk about Saturn, I came across an amazing model of Neil Armstrong made by one of the young students. Her name is Courtney Brown and she made this project all by herself from bits & pieces around the house & flexible duct from her fathers air conditioning business.
Congratulations on a most spectacular project!

During the Saturn Campaign for 2005, Saturn was traversing above the brilliant stars of Gemini called Pollux and Castor (The Heavenly Twins). This photograph of Gemini was taken with my Canon 300D SLR digital camera piggybacked on a 10” Meade LX200 telescope. The image of Saturn was taken through the telescope with a 15mm eyepiece on the night of the 15th January when the Huygens probe landed on Titan. A very exciting night of discovery!

During a toddler’s session at the Tamborine Mountain Library for Science Week 2005, Lilly Mackay did this beautiful colouring in of Mr Dinosaur looking at Saturn through his telescope. What a wonderful job you’ve done Lilly!

Look at my picture too! Little Ruby Andersen was also at the toddler’s session at the Tamborine Mountain Library and had a lot of fun colouring in her picture of Mr Dinosaur looking at Saturn. What a clever little girl you are ?

David Sapier brought his small son Mitchell to our ‘Amazing Saturn’ night held at the Runaway Bay Library in June, to hear all about the adventures of a special little spacecraft called ‘Cassini’.

Marea and Adrian Andrews came to the Runaway Bay Library to hear all about this amazing mission to Saturn by the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft. They are absolutely stunned at the images that are coming back from the spacecraft and will back in 2006 to hear more about Cassini’s discoveries.

This is what NASA’s Saturn Observation Campaign has been all about, families coming out to explore the heavens, and to have their first look at this spectacular planet through a telescope. Susanne Stevensen brought her two children Samantha and Matthew to the Runaway Bay library, to hear all about the Cassini-Huygens mission and to view magnificent Saturn in the night sky.

A exciting update on the Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn & Titan.

The Huygens probe parted from the Cassini spacecraft on Christmas Day and began a unaided free fall of 21 days to impact with Saturn's largest moon 'Titan'. On the evening of the 14th January 2005, Saturn looked so serene and beautiful in our evening sky, it was just so magical knowing that a little probe from our Earth was about to enter Titan and explore this strange new world. Everybody at the European Space Agency, NASA, Italian Space Agency & JPL held their breath waiting to see if Huygens would wake up just before plunging into Titan's atmosphere ............it was very very exciting!!!

After a anxious wait, finally a signal was received that Huygens was 'alive'..........but was the probe ok!...... and was it transmitting all the vital information as it parachuted down onto the surface..........we had to wait a lot longer before anyone knew!

The Cassini orbiter was 60,000 kms above Titan and for nearly three hours it had it's high gain antenna pointed at the little Huygens probe on Titan. When Cassini turned its antenna back to Earth to relay its payload we here in Australia at the Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex (CDSCC) were the first to receive this precious data.

It was instantly relayed to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California and then as quickly sent to the European Space Agency's mission control centre in Darmstadt, Germany. Everything on board except one small instrument worked absolutely perfectly. It was truly a incredible achievement for all the scientists at ESA, NASA, JPL and the Italian Space Agency.

So what is Titan like?..... Well this is a big surprise!..... It looks very very familiar even a lot like our Earth but at -180C 'O' so alien!

Here's a remarkable description from Dr Martin Tomasko, Principal Investigator for the Descent Imager-Spectral Radiometer (DISR), from the ESA press report on the 21st January 2005.

"We now have the key to understanding what shapes Titan's landscape".

While many of Earth's familiar geophysical processes occur on Titan, the chemistry involved is quite different. Instead of liquid water, Titan has liquid methane. Instead of silicate rocks, Titan has frozen water ice. Instead of dirt, Titan has hydrocarbon particles settling out of the atmosphere, and instead of lava, Titanian volcanoes spew very cold ice. Titan is a extraordinary world having Earth-like geophysical processes operating on exotic materials in very alien conditions.

Please find the full news report on the European Space Agency web site at
http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Cassini-Huygens/SEMHB881Y3E_0.html

The main NASA's Cassini-Huygens web site is at http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov
Here you will see all the latest images that the Cassini orbiter is taking of Saturn, its magnificent rings and icy moons.

'NASA's Saturn Observation Campaign for 2005'

Saturn is now in our evening sky, as soon as it gets dark have a look in the northern sky, and you'll see two bright stars called Castor and Pollux that are in the Constellation of Gemini (The Twins). Just above Pollux, and to the left, you will see what looks like another soft yellow star, this is the beautiful planet Saturn. Even if you only have a small telescope you will see the planets amazing rings.

To find a star chart and other information to view Saturn in 2005, please go to the 'SOC' 'Saturn Viewing' page at http://soc.jpl.nasa.gov/viewing.cfm

If you would like a 'SOC' member to visit your classroom or community group please go to the 'SOC' members page at http://soc.jpl.nasa.gov/members.cfm

You will find many beautiful images of the night sky along with stunning images of the planets on the 'SAS' members 'Astrophotography' page at http://www.sas.org.au

Please find below some photographs from the latest 'SOC' events held over the past few months. Everybody's having a wonderful time hearing all about this amazing mission to Saturn and viewing this beautiful ringed planet in the night sky.

Noeleen Lowndes
'Saturn Observation Campaign' member 2005
http://soc.jpl.nasa.gov

Information on my photographs:

Photo 1.
Look I can see Saturn!
Little Shaun Tay is having a wonderful night looking at Saturn for the very first time through a telescope, at the 'Amazing Saturn' event held at Helensvale Library on the 31st March 2005.

Photo 2.
Jon Lee and his family enjoyed hearing all about how the Huygens probe landed on the mysterious moon Titan, at our 'Amazing Saturn' event held at the Helensvale Library.

Photo 3.
'Wow' What a incredible spacecraft!
Peter Ball from Tamborine Mountain is utterly amazed at the achievements of the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft.

During a 'SOC' event held at the Tamborine Mountain Lions Club in February 2005, members and their guests heard all about the wonderful achievements that this incredible spacecraft has made since it left our Earth seven years ago.

Photo 4.
'Magnificent Saturn In The Land Down Under'
Erwin Van der Velden took this beautiful image of Saturn on the 19th January 2005 at his home in Brisbane.

Erwin uses a Celestron C9.25 235 mm Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope and a Vista Pro modified CCD webcam. To see more stunning images of Saturn and animation of this image please go to Erwin's web page at: http://members.dodo.net.au/~erwinvandervelden/planets.htm
ErwinvanderVelden@compuserve.com

Photo 5.
We're having lots of fun looking at Saturn tonight!
Emma and Laura Whittington are very excited at seeing Saturn for the first time through a telescope. Emma, Laura & Nevyn belong to the 'Pimpama Junior Astronomy Club' where they had a lot of fun on our 'Magnificent Saturn' night.

Photo 6.
Luke from year 3 at Mudgeeraba State School had lots of fun making this beautiful model of his favourite planet Saturn.

All over Ms Perry's classroom were fantastic models of the student's favourite objects in space! It was a joy to talk to such enthusiastic students about astronomy and space :)

Photo 7.
Christine from year 3 at Mudgeeraba State School did this lovely drawing of the Cassini spacecraft at Saturn. It's a very busy place out there in the Solar System just look at all those comets & meteors!

Photo 8.
Huygens plunges into Titan.....what will it find!
Jade from year 3 at Mudgeeraba State School is wondering what the Huygens probe will find as it parachutes down onto the surface of Saturn's mysterious moon Titan!

Photo 9.
And....... Cassini went through Saturn's rings like this!
'Amazing Saturn' at Guardian Angels Primary School. The students from the year 3 classes were intrigued to heard all about how the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft went through the planets rings to be captured by mighty Saturn!

Photo 10.
See 'Mount Huygens' on our Moon
The Huygens probe is named in honour of the 17th century astronomer Christiaan Huygens who discovered Saturn's moon Titan. There is a large lunar mountain on the spectacular Apennines Mountain Range named in his honour.

The best time to view 'Huygens Mons' is at first or last quarter Moon phase.
Photo was taken at a Last Quarter Moon using my Meade 10 inch Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope and a Canon 300D digital SLR camera.

Photo 11.
See the 'Cassini Crater' on our Moon
The Cassini spacecraft is named after Jean Dominique Cassini and there is a crater on our Moon named in his Honour. Crater Cassini is a flooded crater 57 kms in diameter on Mare Imbrium (Sea of Rains). The best time to view this lovely crater is at a first or last quarter Moon phase.

Have fun looking at this beautiful area of the Moon with your binoculars or telescope. Photo was taken at a Last Quarter Moon using my Meade 10 inch Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope and a Canon 300D digital SLR camera.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

'Saturn in the Park'

On Saturday the 27th March 2004 a special evening was held in 'Staffsmith Park' on Tamborine Mountain to view beautiful Saturn in the night sky.

Over two hundred people young and old came to experience the wonders of the night sky and to look through the telescopes. Saturn & Jupiter looked absolutely stunning in the telescopes and the stars looked like jewels in the night sky for all of us to enjoy!

I would very much like to thank members from the Southern Astronomical Society Michael Adams, Lex Neilson, Colin Christensen, Bryan Pott, Harry Hahn, Kevin Dixon, John Connolly, Ray Suckling & Greg Hornsby. Thank you for helping by bringing your telescopes and sharing your knowledge with the community it was very much appreciated and thoroughly enjoyed by all.

Please find a couple of photographs taken on the night, as you can see everybody was having a wonderful time in the park.

Noeleen Lowndes :)
'Saturn Observation Campaign' member

1. Members from the Tamborine Mountain community thoroughly enjoy the view of Saturn through Harry Hahn's go-to telescope.

2. Lex Neilson showing his children Lewis & Kilian the magnificent planets Jupiter & Saturn through his telescope. Little Kilian is having a wonderful time :)

3. 'Wow' Sam & Jack Hardy have never seen a telescope as big as this one!
Bryan Pott enjoys showing Saturn through his huge 16 inch telescope on our 'Saturn in the Park' evening.

4. Michael Adams member of 'SAS' and resident of Tamborine Mountain enjoys showing Christine Muir the night sky on our Saturn night

5. Ashleigh & Grace Fuller are having a wonderful time looking at the craters on the Moon, the rings around Saturn & the moons of Jupiter through the many telescopes. All the children has a wonderful night under the stars :)

"AMAZING SATURN" at Tambourine Mountain on 25th February 2004

A exciting day was held at the Tamborine Mountain library for the community for NASA's 'Saturn Observation Campaign'. In the little under 5's session the children's faces all lit up when they heard all about the Moon, stars & planets and becoming a astronaut and blasting off into space seemed like a really fantastic thing to do!

A adult session was held where everybody enjoyed listening to the incredible mission to Saturn by the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft which will finally arrive on the 1st July to begin a tour of the Saturnian system for the next four years.

Much activity was happening at 3.30 p.m. where many youngsters were busy making their own special models of Saturn to take home and hang in their rooms. I would very much like to thank my mother Pam and the librarians Karen, Arne, & Helen for all their help and hospitality on my day at your lovely library.

I would also like to thank the Beaudesert Shire Council for hosting this special 'Amazing Saturn' day for the 'Saturn Observation campaign'.

Noeleen Lowndes
NASA's 'Saturn Observation Campaign' member for 2004 :)

One of the photographs from the little under 5's event held at the Tamborine Mountain Library. (Click on photo for enlargements)

Photo 0
Jed Heslop (left) & Damon Scaturchio (Right) proudly showing their drawings of Mr Dinosaur looking through his telescope at the stars :)

Photo 1.
Little Jack Marshall-Lee really liked this astronaut and enjoyed hearing all about the stars & planets and how astronauts blast off into space!

Photo 2.
Some of the members from the Tamborine Mountain community who thoroughly enjoyed hearing all about the mission to Saturn by the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft.

Photo 3.
Enjoying the ‘Saturn Observation Campaign’
Being part of this wonderful campaign has enable me not only to talk about this amazing mission to Saturn but also to show many of my photographs taken of our beautiful Southern Skies :)

Photo 4.
‘Busy busy busy..... making models of Saturn’
The Tamborine Mountain Library was full of activity as many students came to make their own model of Saturn to take home.

Photo 5.
‘Wow’ look what we made! Kate, Tyler, Jordan, Hamish & Harriet, Nigel, Anneli, Angus, Eugene & Eleanor, Rebecca & Ebony all from Tamborine Mountain proudly holding up their models of Saturn.

Photo 6.
‘ Rebecca shows her special Saturn model’
Rebecca Munro spent a lot of time making her model just perfect, what a lovely job she’s done!

SATURN OBSERVATION CAMPAIGN 2003 CONCLUDES

A quite remarkable thing has happened. Last year a call was made world
wide from NASA/JPL to interested members of the astronomical community
to see if we would be interested in becoming part of a new campaign
called the "Saturn Observation Campaign".

The aim of the campaign was two fold. One was to highlight the seven
year mission to Saturn by the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft, that would
finally arrive at Saturn in July 2004, and the other was to show this
beautiful planet in all its glory to the general public. I applied to be
a member and was absolutely delighted when I was chosen.

Over the four month period from January to April 2003 when Saturn graced
our skies, talks and field nights were given to many people in the
community and schools here on the Gold Coast in Queensland.

Please find photographs and stories from these "Amazing Saturn" events
on the 'SOC' web site at
http://soc.jpl.nasa.gov/experience/gallery-archive-photos.cfm.cfm?ShowAll=Yes
I was supported on some of these Saturn evenings by members from the
"Southern Astronomical Society" Kevin Dixon, Bryan Pott, Ray Suckling &
John Connolly which I was very grateful for, where we showed many
families their first views of the night sky through our telescopes.

A special story is also on the main NASA site called 'For the Love of
Saturn' at
http://www.nasa.gov/vision/universe/watchtheskies/s_o_c_2003.html
about some of us campaign members from different parts of the world.

If you would like to become a 'Saturn Observation Campaign' member and
be a part of the excitement of the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft arriving
at Saturn next year, please go to http://soc.jpl.nasa.gov to find the
on-line application form, which is open from the 1st July to the 29th
August 2003.

NASA has been very supportive with material and they have been a
pleasure to be involved with. You get a web page dedicated to your
events, where people can see and enjoy viewing their photographs, it's
also wonderful coverage for your community, astronomical society or
university that you are affiliated with.

For me the campaign has been a wonderful and most rewarding experience
that I will never forget, but most of all it's been lots of fun :)

Kindest regards to all

Noeleen Lowndes (Secretary)
Southern Astronomical Society Inc.

“Amazing Saturn” at the Upper Coomera State College on the Gold Coast in Queensland.

For the whole of the first term of 2003, fantastic ‘Out of this World’ happenings were going on in some of the classrooms at the Upper Coomera State College.

Two teams of teachers from grades one, two & three, and from grade four & five, had chosen to have a whole term dedicated to “Astronomy & Space” where they embarked on a exciting journey of discovery into our Solar System and beyond with their students. By the end of the term the students had turned their classrooms into a space odyssey. Where rockets, astronauts, planets, asteroids and moons, with a scattering of aliens were everywhere to be seen!

The journey of the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft to Saturn just added to the magic of all their discoveries. They learnt all about why the spacecraft was going to the planet and can’t wait until Cassini arrives next year to start taking stunning pictures of its amazing rings. Beautiful models of Saturn were made, which were proudly hanging from the classroom ceilings. Thank you Renato for the used CD disc's which have made so many models of Saturn :)

After months of discovering everything about the Solar System, it was time to see the real objects in the sky. Three evenings in March and April were chosen for the students and their families to enjoy their beautiful night sky. Here the students and their families viewed magnificent Saturn, where many exclamation of ‘Saturn’s just so beautiful’’ could be heard. Jupiter was also spectacular with its superb bands and many of its moons on display. The younger students could not believe their eyes when the telescopes were turned onto our Moon, seeing the craters & lunar seas for the very first time.

I would very much like to thank Kevin Dixon, Bryan Pott, Ray Suckling & John Connolly members from the “Southern Astronomical Society” who kindly brought their telescopes to help show the night sky to the many families of Upper Coomera State College. Everybody thoroughly enjoyed their evenings under the stars.

Thank you also to the teachers Christine Turner, Colleen Newman, Luke Nabbs & Don Sanderson from the year one, two & three grades. Also the teachers Jodie O’Brien, Inger Altermatt & Trevor Clements from the year four & five grades, for inviting me to their classrooms. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with you and your lovely students.

Noeleen Lowndes member of the Southern Astronomical Society Inc. & ‘SOC’ member for 2003 :)

Look at my beautiful Saturn Model! Brendan Rosin from year three at Upper Coomera State College proudly showing his lovely model of Saturn.

“We had so much fun making our models of Saturn” Students from Upper Coomera State College Jacob, Sarah, Jarryd, Riley, Nerida, Aliesha, Luke & Kimberly showing their beautiful models of Saturn that are hanging up all over their classroom.

Proud teachers Inger Altermatt, Trevor Clements & Jodie O’Brien from Upper Coomera State College holding up a beautiful patchwork quilt. It was one of the many space projects, that their students made during there wonderful term on space in 2003.

Look at our beautiful models of Saturn! Students from year four & five at Upper Coomera State College proudly showing their models of Saturn.

Dear Mum & Dad
I am entering space right now, I am feeling sick because it is my first day in space tomorrow we are going on the Moon.
Love from Bastian xoxox

Bastian is from year three and he did this lovely drawing during his “Out of this World” term on space in 2003. The students heard all about a special spacecraft called Cassini that’s on the way to Saturn and exciting evenings where held with members from the Southern Astronomical Society for the students and their families to see the beautiful planet Saturn in the night sky.

John Connolly a member of the Southern Astronomical Society showing little Vicky Clements and her mum Tracey beautiful views of Saturn through his telescope on our “Amazing Saturn” evening at Upper Coomera State College on the 10th March 2003.

Ray Suckling a member of the Southern Astronomical Society, thoroughly enjoyed showing many families the beautiful planets Saturn & Jupiter through his telescope on our Saturn evening at the Upper Coomera State College in the 9th April 2003.

After a whole term discovery everything about the Solar System, Nerida Chad finally got to see the real planet Saturn through our telescopes. With the biggest smile on her face she exclaimed ‘’Saturn’s so beautiful’!

Bryan Pott a member of the Southern Astronomical Society thoroughly enjoyed showing many families magnificent views of the night sky through his large 16” telescope on our “Amazing Saturn Evening” on the 9th April 2003.

“Wow” Jeremy what are we going to see in your telescope! Jeremy Hartley from grade two, set up his new telescope, and there behind it were all his friends lined up to look at the object that he was telling them about. He may be only 7 years old but I think he’s going to make a great astronomer :)

“We’re having a wonderful night under the stars” Riley, Mathew & Bradley Button having a lot of fun looking through Jeremy’s new telescope. The sky was perfectly clear for our night under the stars, Saturn, Jupiter & the Moon looked wondrous in the telescopes!

“Babe at the Telescope” Zara-Naharni Turner, ran from one telescope to the other all night long looking at every object in the sky, she was absolutely fascinated with the rings around Saturn, ‘Luna Moona’ (the Moon) & Jupiter.

“Happy Similes” Taliesha & Breanna Tait with their mum and dad from the Upper Coomera State College enjoying their evening under the stars.

This has been what the Saturn Campaign has been all about, families coming out and enjoying seeing ‘the real things in the night sky’.

Noeleen Lowndes ‘Saturn Observation Campaign ‘ member for 2003 :)

"Amazing Saturn" at Australian Geographic

On the evening of the 13th March 2003 Australian Geographic at Broadbeach in Queensland AUSTRALIA hosted a special event for the Saturn campaign.

Many members of the general public came to hear about this special mission to Saturn by the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft. Beautiful slides were shown of the spectacular images that Cassini has taken so far during its fly-by of the magnificent planet Jupiter in January 2001. Imagine the stunning images we are going to see next year as this spacecraft finally arrives at Saturn.

During the evening a beautiful new telescope was being given away for somebody to enjoy the wonders of the night sky. All you had to do was answer correctly how many moons does Saturn have?. Our lucky winner was a young boy named Christopher Murphy and his smile was as big as the universe!. I'm sure he is going to have a lot of fun with this wonderful prize.

The interest in the exploration of the Solar System has been incredible, everybody is enjoying seeing photographs of our beautiful night sky and finding out for themselves where the planets can be found. The arrival of the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft to Saturn next year will be welcomed with great anticipation of discovering many new things about this amazing planet.

A viewing of the Moon & planets was to be held after the talks, but because of the stormy weather we were unable to show our beautiful night sky. Thank you to the many members of the Southern Astronomical Society who offered to come with their telescopes for this special viewing of the sky for the Saturn campaign.

The Australian Geographic Society is dedicated to supporting scientific research and encouraging the spirit of adventure and discovery. Their beautiful nature stores across Australia encourage and stimulate a love of science and nature for all age groups and nationalities. Thank you to Kate, Ashley, Adele, Vanessa & Annette for all their support and help on our "Amazing Saturn" evening.

SOC member Noeleen Lowndes.
http://soc.jpl.nasa.gov

"Amazing Saturn" at Australian Geographic.
Many members of the general public came to hear all about the mission to Saturn by the Cassini spacecraft.

Beautiful images of Saturn along with spectacular images that Cassini captured during its fly-by of Jupiter in January 2001 were shown.

Joshua Copland is going home to make his own model of Saturn.

Look what I've won! Christopher Murphy with a brand new telescope for him to enjoy the wonders of the night sky!

Thank you to Vince Higgs who is also a member of the Southern Astronomical Society for your help on the evening

Annette, Kate, Ashley, Adele & Vanessa from Australian Geographic at Pacific Fair. We all had a great evening!

On Friday the 7th February I visited a beautiful small multi-age school on Springbrook Mountain in Queensland AUSTRALIA. At this school there are only 39 students from grade one through to grade seven and they all enjoyed the talks on astronomy & space and hearing about a special spacecraft called "Cassini" that is on it's way to Saturn.

In celebration of the "Saturn Observation Campaign" Australian astronaut Andy Thomas signed one of his astronaut photographs and sent a mission patch from his last mission on board the space shuttle Discovery STS-102. The students and the principle, Mark Ionn, were absolutely delighted with this gift which will be proudly displayed in their library for all to see. If you would like to find out more about Andy's missions on board the space shuttles please go to the NASA spaceflight site at http://spaceflight.nasa.gov

The Springbrook State School is situated on the Springbrook plateau which is part of a ancient volcanic crater that is over 22 million yours old. There are incredible waterfalls and rain forest all over the area. A truly beautiful place to visit. The school has a web site that has the history of the area and all about their school at http://www.springbrss.qld.edu.au

Later in the evening a viewing of the night sky was held at a private observatory just down the road owned by Andre Clayden. Andre's observatory is called the "Springbrook Research Observatory" and inside he has a large 14" telescope all set up for viewing and CCD imaging. You can find some of his images of the sky on his web site at http://www.maguires.com/astronomy.

The observatory was big enough to fit a couple of families inside and even my Saturn model and posters :) The skies up here are really dark and the view of Saturn was superb with many of its moons on show. The "Orion Nebula" seen through a special wide angle eyepiece was absolutely breathtaking.

Thank you very much to Andre for opening his observatory up for the students and their families of this lovely small school on Springbrook Mountain.

Noeleen Lowndes "SOC" member for 2003.

The students of year one, two & three of Springbrook State School enjoying the talks on the Cassini spacecraft that is on its way to Saturn.

The students and teachers of the school proudly holding up the signed astronaut photograph and STS-102 mission patch from Australian astronaut Andy Thomas.

The whole student body of Springbrook State School with their principle Mark Ionn and teacher Matthew O'Brian.

Andre Clayden outside his Springbrook Research Observatory on Springbrook Mountain in Queensland Australia.

Bruce Gordon with his children Samantha, Mackenzie & Zachery inside Andre's observatory.

"Wow" what a big telescope! Didi Winter, Jessica Taylor & Jack & Kramer Davies beside Andre's 14" telescope.

Melinda Davies with her children Jack & Kramer, Didi Winter with her dad Bernie and Jessica Taylor who all come to enjoy the evening.

On the 30th January we had many members of the general public come look at both Saturn & Jupiter in a beautiful clear night sky. Both planets looked absolutely spectacular in the telescopes.

The magnificent constellations of Taurus, Orion, and Canis Major were all spread high across our north eastern sky. From Australia we see all these star groups “up-side down” quite confusing for new beginners to astronomy who live here in the southern hemisphere!. The view of the ‘Orion Nebula’ was at its best and most impressive to many people who had only ever seen pictures of it in books.

A special part of the evening was when a man came and had a look at Saturn and exclaimed with the biggest smile on his face "I am 80 years old and this is the first time I have ever looked in a telescope what I am seeing is fantastic"!

I would like to thank Kevin Dixon, Bryan Pott, John Connolly & Ray Suckling members from the Southern Astronomical Society who kindly brought their telescopes to help show the night sky to the community of Runaway Bay.

Please find some photographs of the evening which everybody thoroughly enjoyed.

SOC member
Noeleen Lowndes

Photo 1. Some members of the community of Runaway Bay
who came to look at the sky on the 30th January 2003.

Photo 2. A family getting ready to look at Saturn.

Photo 3. Alexandra Nelson enjoying her first look at the sky
through my telescope.

Photo 4. Kevin put a video eyepiece in his telescope and showed
Saturn & Jupiter on a portable TV set. A wonderful idea!

Photo 5. Bryan showing people the night sky.

Photo 6. A little boy really enjoying the view of the rings of Saturn.
He loved it!

“Amazing Saturn at Runaway Bay Library”

On Thursday the 9th January 2003 the Runaway Bay Library in Queensland hosted two of my first events for Saturn. I’d like to thank Leonie Lengert & Danielle Baldwin the librarians for holding these events in their lovely library.

We had many children turn up for the morning session to listened to the talks about a special spacecraft called Cassini that is on its way to Saturn. They loved seeing the photographs I’d taken through my telescope and learnt what to look for in the night sky.

The children were fascinated with the beautiful photographs of the “Total Eclipse of the Sun” that Kevin Dixon had taken from South Australia on the 4th December. All the children had a lot of fun making a beautiful model of Saturn to take home.

In the evening a adult talk and presentation was held but because of the cloudy weather we were unable to view Saturn in the night sky. Thank you to Kevin Dixon & Bryan Pott for bringing their telescopes for the evening.

Thank you to Renato for the used CD’s from Platypus Software look at the wonderful models of Saturn we are making with them :)

If you would like to know more about the “Cassini-Huygens Mission” to Saturn please go to the main web site at http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov

The “Saturn Observation Campaign” web site is at http://soc.jpl.nasa.gov

Noeleen and the children at the Runaway Bay Library.

Holly Simpson, Kent 7 Brock Lowrey proudly holding up their Saturn models.


Kevin Dixon showing the children his beautiful photographs of the Solar Eclipse that he took on the 4th December 2002 in South Australia.