ASTRO EVENTS ARCHIVE 2002

CSIRO/TELSTRA ECLIPSE WEBSITE

CSIRO and Telstra are webcasting the total solar eclipse from Ceduna on 4 December 2002. The website (www.csiro.au/eclipse) is currently up and running.

Telstra is hosting the video stream and we hope many thousands of Australia (and people around the world) will log in on the evening.

NEAR EARTH OBJECTS REPORT


FIELD NIGHT
Pimpama State Shool- 28th September Gates open 6pm
corner of Hotham Creek Road and Rifle Range Road Pimpama
.
Exit freeway at "Exit 49" - Pimpama. At the exit roundabouts, head for "Willow Vale".
Head downhill to a bit of a floodplain untill you reach an intersection.
Turn right here.
Pimpama State School is on your left. See "Where we meet"


QUEENSLAND ASTROFEST 2002
See "Camps & Field Nights" for photos.


Dr Harrison Schmitt the 12th and last astronaut to walk on the Moon in 1972 was in Australia in July. He gave a free talk on the 15th July at the St Lucia University in Brisbane which gave many of us a special opportunity to see and hear from one of only 12 men to have ever walked on the surface of our Moon.
He showed us many slides of his incredible flight on Apollo 17 and his exploration of the lunar landscape.

Dr Harrison Schmitt showing a slide of himself on the surface of the Moon.

SAS members who took this opportunity to see Dr Harrison Schmitt.

S.A.S ANNUAL DINNER 2002

Our Annual General Meeting was held on the 3rd August 2002

Thank you very much to Greg & Kathy Bock for hosting the AGM at their home at Bannockburn. It was a lovely setting for our dinner. Unfortunately our new president Christine Mallett was very sick with the flu and was unable to be there for the night.

Renato reported on what the society had been up to over the past year. With all our field nights in at the schools. Special quest speakers at our meetings, our library displays & reports of our society in the media. Also the great astrophotography exhibition we had at Robina in January.

We handed out our special AGM awards for 2002. We also had a special guest for the evening. Judith performed some lovely belly dancing for us and her costume was beautiful.

After dinner and formalities Greg showed us his observatory with dancing & sitting around the fire to finish the night off.

Please find photos of some of our members receiving their awards from Renato and myself on the evening. Thank you Colin for taking the photographs.

Noeleen Lowndes
Secretary :)

Photos by Renato & ?:

Photos by Colin & ?

REGENTS PARK FIELD NIGHT

Please come along and help at our Regents Park field night on Tuesday 18th.
We expect about 60 families and need as many telescopes as possible. It
starts officially at 7PM but try to be there at least half an hour earlier
to set up.
Best wishes
El' Presidente de SAS
Renato

AUSTRALIAN MARS EXPLORATION CONFERENCE
If your interested in attending the Australian Mars Exploration Conference it is being held at the University of Sydney
12th - 14th July 2002.
The event looks entertaining and well organised. Guest speaker is Apollo 17 astronaut Harrison Schmitt.
Details and registration can be found at www.marssociety.org.au/
My calculation of expenses includes a 14 day advance paid return Gold Coast / Syd air fares $275.79 QANTAS, 2 nights accom and breakfast $165 double at the recommended Corus Hotel, registration which includes lunches and morning and afternoon teas $85.00 and Gala dinner with Harrison Schmitt (I'm guessing $60 - $80) total = $600.
Unfortunately, it's on a "Leyburn Weekend", and not a cheap exercise but it's still a bit tempting.

SPACE SHUTTLE OVERHEAD - Correction

An error has been reported in NASA's SkyWatch™ program, which provides details of satellite passages over various locations around the world, including predictions of ISS and space shuttle passages. As a result of this error, an incorrect notification was given to members of this group of an ISS passage over Brisbane for June 1, 2002. This passage will not be occurring.

NASA's spokesperson has reported that the error in the software has been corrected.

Apologies to all.

Richard Broad

This transmission is for the intended addressee only and is confidential information. If you have received this transmission in error, please delete it and notify the sender. The contents of this e-mail are the opinion of the writer only and are not endorsed by the Mincom Group of companies unless expressly stated otherwise.

SPACE SHUTTLE OVERHEAD

The International Space Station (ISS) will pass over Brisbane on the evening of Saturday, June 1 at 5:50pm.

It will appear 11° above the horizon to the NW, and will pass from view 14° above the horizon to the SE. Maximum elevation will be 76°. It will be visible for approx 6 minutes.

(By comparison, the width of your closed fist held at arm's length is approx 9°.)

The ISS orbits the Earth at an altitude of 247 nautical miles, at an orbital inclination of 51.6 degrees. This permits it to pass over or be visible from a large percentage of the Earth's surface, and often passes over Brisbane; however, the only time that it can be seen is when the sky is dark but the ISS itself is still in bright sunlight. If the passage occurs during daylight hours, the ISS will not be visible against the bright sky; if too late at night, the ISS will be in the Earth's shadow and will not be visible. This makes the best observing time around local sunset or local sunrise.

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KALINGA PARK FIELD NIGHT

The last SAS Field Night was at 7pm on Friday 22nd February at Kalinga Park (Park Avenue x Henry Street) Brisbane.

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GOLD COAST ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY EXIBITION

"The First Southern Astronomical Society Astrophotography Exhibition"

Our society had it's first exhibition of astrophotography which was held at the Robina Community Art Gallery from 17th January to 2nd February 2002. Renato Langersek the President of SAS thanked Councillor Jan Grew for providing the venue for our members to display their work. Thanks were also given to Christine Mallett the Vice President for organising this first event for our society which was a great success.

Members photographs on display were taken by: Renato Langersek, Chris Wheeler, Michael Horn, Ray Suckling, Dr Roy Duncan, Greg Bock, Christine Mallett with St Kevin's Astronomy Club, Blake Pearl & Greg Hornsby, Gary Gawronski, Noeleen Lowndes, Eddie Trimachi & Mark Bolton. (Many other photo's of members with their telescopes and at our Christmas Party were also displayed)

We were entertained by the award winning Banana Blenders barbershop quartet, "28 South" which sang a song especially for those supernova lovers. Local poet Mark Scrivener gave us some stellar poetry. Which was followed by a glass of champagne & orange juice which was happily given out by Pat Pearl & John Connolly.

All the photographs were much admired and the exhibition gave many people their first opportunity to see how truly beautiful our universe is.

To the delight of the public, members families and friends, Kevin Dixon set up his large 16" telescope to show the sky with the planets Jupiter and Saturn in perfect view with a crescent Moon. Tony & Adam Davies & John Connolly also had their telescope set up for the many people wanting to have a look at the night sky.

Two of our new members Donna Dalton & Rob Macrae did a wonderful job of selling the raffle tickets for the magnums of champagne in which Tony Davies won.

I hope you enjoy the photographs Gary and myself took of the night of the opening. (Noeleen Lowndes Secretary SAS)

Photo 1. Renato Langersek President of SAS with Councillor Jan Grew.
Photo 2. Christine Mallett Vice president & her photo's with St Kevin's Astronomy Club photo's.
Photo 3. Banana Benders quartet "28 South" with Barry Mallett MC for the night.
Photo 4. Local poet Mark Scrivener.
Photo 5. Michael & Barbara Horn with his photo's.
Photo 6. Ray Suckling & his photo's with Amanda wearing her beautiful stellar dress.
Photo 7. Dr Roy Duncan & his wife with his poster of " Mapping the Milky Way" & other photo's.
Photo 8. Greg Bock & his photo's.
Photo 9. Cathy Bock (left) & Noeleen Lowndes with her photo's.
Photo 10. Blake Pearl & Miranda with his photo's.(Our youngest SAS astrophotographer)
Photo 11. Gary Gawronski & his photo's.
Photo 12. Eddie Trimachi & his photo's.
Photo 13. Greg Hornsby & his photo's.
Photo 14. Pat Pearl & John Connolly our barmen for the night.
Photo 15. Donna Dalton & Rob Macrae selling the raffle tickets.
Photo 16. A crowd enjoying the exhibition..
Photo 17. Kevin Dixon with his 16" telescope showing the night sky.