ASTRO EVENTS ARCHIVE 2003

BENOWA SCHOOL FIELD NIGHT, COOMERA SCHOOL FIELD NIGHT

A school field night is being held at the Benowa State Primary School on
Monday the 3rd November from 6.30 - 8.30 p.m. for four year 3 classes
and their families. If any members are able to bring a telescope and
come help on the evening that would be great.

The school is on corner of Benowa Road and Carrara Street at Benowa (Ref
UBD Map 38 P9)
If the weather is cloudy the night will be cancelled.

We also have another school field night, our last for the year at
Coomera State School near Dreamworld for four classes of year 1's and
their families for Monday the 1st December from 7.00 - 8.30 p.m.. (Ref
UBD Map 7 A8)

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all members who have
helped with our school field nights and community events this year,
where many people have thoroughly enjoy viewing our beautiful night
skies.

Kindest regards to all
Noeleen ( President of SAS) :)

 

AN EVENING OF MARS & BEYOND.
An Evening of Mars & Beyond was held at the Gold Coast Arts Centre 135 Bundall Rd Surfers on Saturday 6th September from 6.30pm
Tickets were $7 per person with all profits to the Qld Cancer Fund.

The presenters were NASA’s Australian and SE Asian Representative, Mr Neal Newman, presented on Mars and it’s exploration. And internationally recognised photographic-scientist and astronomer, Dr David Malin gave us a tour of images around the universe.
Afterwards, telescopes outside the function rooml provided guests with views of Mars and other objects.
Live images from a remote observatory werep rojected into the function room.
There was an exhibition of astrophotos in the lobby bar, a barbershop quartet, a raffle for a telescope etc.
500 seats were sold, with more sitting on the floor, and countless viewing outside.


QUEENSLAND ASTROFEST 2003
See "Camps & Field Nights/QLD Astrofest" for photos of 2003, 2002, 2001
See also http://members.optushome.com.au/earthlight/astrofest.htm

SAS ANNUAL MEETING 2003
Our Annual General Meeting was held on the 9th August 2003

This year we held our AGM and dinner at the ‘Slovene Club’ at the Bocce Centre at Cornubia. Thank you to Renato Langersek for organising this lovely venue where we had traditional Slovene food and drinks. That special mineral water sure is bubbly!

We reported on what our society have been up to over the past year and gave our annual reports. Renato and Christine thanked the past committee and we welcomed in our new management committee for the coming year.

After dinner and formalities, we were bedazzled by our own “SAS” DJ Gary Gawronski with Pat Pearl on drums & Peter Marples on guitar who rocked our AGM to late and we danced the night away! “They were terrific”

Please find some photographs of all of us having a wonderful night.

Noeleen Lowndes
President

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.

Click here to read previous SOC entry

Click here to see the SOC page

MT. STROMLO CERTICATE OF ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The Australian National University acknowledges, with sincere appreciation, the donation from The Southern Astronomical Society Inc.
of $123.00 for the Mount Stromlo Redevelopment Fund. Thank you.

2003 INTERSOCIETY ASTROQUIZ

The 2003 Intersociety Astroquiz was hosted by the Southern Astronomical Society Inc.on Sat 8th March at Pimpama Primary School,
The theme for the night was FUN.
Party and door prizes (of little or no monetary value!) awarded. 2 magnums of champagne raffled for the Mt Stromlo Observatory Rebuilding Fund.
A great time was had by all especially members of the Brisbane Astronomical Society who won the Astroquiz.

NASA/JPL “SATURN OBSERVATION CAMPAIGN” for 2003

A spacecraft called “Cassini-Huygens” has been on a journey for over five years travelling through the Solar System. On the 1st July 2004 it will finally arrive at its destination to the spectacular planet Saturn.

This is the first year for the “Saturn Observation Campaign” and it will continue through to the year 2008. Many people from all over the world were chosen to be part of this campaign for 2003. If your go to the NASA/JPL web site at http://soc.jpl.nasa.gov you will see members chosen from Australia. The main site for the “Cassini-Huygens Mission” to Saturn is at http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov

Among the many scientific goals of the Cassini spacecraft is a thorough characterisation of its largest Moon called Titan. The Huygens probe which is being piggybacked on the spacecraft will be released early in 2005 to slowly plunge into the hazy Nitrogen-rich atmosphere.

Cassini’s objective is a four year, close up study of the Saturnian system, including Saturn’s atmosphere and magnetosphere, its rings and several of its moons.
It is believed that Saturn, its rings and moons hold clues to understanding the origins of our Solar System.

This campaign is a wonderful event, the interest has been incredible and the public are really amazed at what is happening in the exploration of our Solar System. Members from the “Southern Astronomical Society Inc” have kindly offered to help me with extra telescopes during my events to show this amazing planet in all its glory.

I am very proud to be part of this very exciting first year for the “Saturn Observation Campaign”. (Noeleen Lowndes secretary of SAS)

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a co-operative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA’s Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C.

Click here to go to the "SOC page" and see photos

MT STROMLO OBSERVATORY DESTROYED BY FIRE
The Sydney Morning Herald has a report on the damage to Mt Stromlo:
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/01/19/1042911270928.html

Sky and Telescope article:
http://skyandtelescope.com/news/current/article_848_1.asp