April 2012 * Volume 322

Published monthly since 1985 byThe Binocular and Telescope Shop

84 Wentworth Park Road, Glebe NSW 2037and 519 Burke Road, Camberwell Vic 3124

Lettuce and Goldfish .....................2More on Moore ..............................2 April sky ........................................3 Mick ‘n Don ..................................4

subscribe to NIGHT SKYReceive your copy every month free by email. Get an eyeful of sky news in the mail or on your computer. email: mike@bintel.com.au and ask for your copy!

Sometimes you can’t be too care-ful. Recently, were were told by a good customer that she’d decided to take her Dobsonian telescope out to the footpath at the front of the house. The view towards Ju-piter was better there, than in the backyard. She set up the scope and then went back into the house to collect her eyepieces. Return-ing to the quiet suburban street she was just in time to prevent a motorist loading her telescope into his cavernous four-wheel-drive car, parked in the middle of the street with the engine run-ning! “Thought it was thrown out for the Council Clean-Up. “ he shouted as he drove off. Cheeky bathtub!

It looks, at first glance like Aus-tralia has missed being declared the site for the Square Kilometre Array telescope. However, read-ing between the lines one could be forgiven for guessing that the next meeting of the Board of Di-rectors in Amsterdam will see ‘frank and open discussion’ to use the diplomatic term, on just where the radio dishes are sited. Front-runner at the moment is South Africa and a number of na-tions to its north.

The upcoming South Pacific Star Party is to be held at the ASNSW’s Ilford site in NSW. A recent party of members was busily cleaning and tidying the site when one called out that he’d found a very unusual small snake. When curi-ous members gathered around they were unable to identify its species... until one remarked that it was actually a lizard that got too close to Kenny’s whipper-snipper in the long grass!

It seems that La Nina has got up and disappeared. We should now begin to get drier weather. “While sea surface temperatures around the continent remain warmer than normal and the tropical wet sea-son is active, there remains a risk of above average rainfall over Australia,” say the weather bof-fins, carefully hedging their bets. I’ve never seen the trees and the grasses so greenalong the east coast. Give Australia a couple of really dry years and we’ll have more bushfire fuel available than is really necessary for peace of mind.

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www.binte l .com.au

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ARMAGEDDONThe United States’ National Ignition Facility at the Lawrence Livermore Na-tional Lab, California, has fired the most powerful laser in history, a record-breaking two-megajoule shot. The laser was originally designed to reach 1.875 megajoules, but it beat everyone’s expectations, setting a new world record.192 laser beams combined into a single shot, initially reaching 1.875 mega-joules. By the time it passed through its final focusing lens, the laser reached 2.03 megajoules, making it the world’s first two-megajoule ultraviolet laser. The damage to the laser optics was less than predicted, which allowed the facility to fire another shot just 36 hours after the 2.03-megajoule one.How it works:It all starts with a single laser, which is split into 48 separate beams. The beams are then redirected using mirrors into amplifiers — previously pumped by a total of 7680 Xenon flash lamps. After four bounces, they are further split into 192 rays through all the facility — which is the size of three football fields. As they travel through those endless tubes they will be amplified again at an exponential rate.The result: from a tiny one billionth of a joule laser, the scientists at the Na-tional Ignition Facility obtains rays “a foot on their side” with a combined “1.8 million joules of ultraviolet energy”, 1000 times the energy of all the power plants in the United States combined. Five trillion watts.This time, the facility wasn’t firing into any target. This will come later in the year, as the facility — which is supported by the US Nuclear Weapons Com-plex — races to achieve ignition in its first nuclear fusion experiment.When that happens, the lasers will compress this frozen hydrogen fuel cell, which will be enclosed in a gold-plated cylinder called the hohlraum. The hohlraum is located inside the 10m diameter ignition chamber, and it will transforms the lasers into extremely intense X-rays, compressing the hydrogen at one hundred billion atmospheres in just 1/1,000,000 of a second.This will trigger a controlled nuclear fusion reaction that will create a small star, hopefully generating more power than the energy used to fire the laser and contain the intense heat inside the chamber.Editor’s Note: Do not attempt to replicate this experiment at home without adequate protective eyewear. and ear protection and proper ventilation.

OR: HOW TO CREATE A STAR IN A BOTTLE AND HOPE THAT IT STAYS THERE. CAUSE, IF IT DOESN’T...

Readers may be interested to note and follow the progress of restora-tion of the Great Melbourne Telescope. This mighty 48-inch 8-ton cast-iron and bronze behemoth, made in 1868 at Dublin using furnaces heated by peat, was once the biggest steerable telescope in the world. It graced the Melburnian skyline for many decades before being transferred to Mt Stromlo in 1946, where it was upgraded several times with then-latest technology, and was active in the MACHO project of the 1990s. Then the ACT bushfires of 2003 destroyed it completely, shattering the Pyrex mirror and burning off all that new-fangled plastic and aluminium, leaving only the original iron. But the original, heavy speculum-metal mirror and about 90% of the GMT’s original parts had already been discarded by Mt Stromlo, and recovered and stored by Museum Victoria.The GMT is now being restored by volunteers from the Astronomical Society of Victoria, in a tripartite joint project with Museum Victoria and the Royal Botanic Gardens (stop press: for sound historical reasons the Bureau of Meteo-rology has just come on board). Work began in 2009, and so far 130 Wednesday Workshops have been attended. The project is expected to be completed in 2015 when the GMT, restored to its original appearance, will be replaced in its original building at Melbourne Observatory, opposite the iconic Shrine of Remembrance. The building itself is another historic artefact, due to its pio-neering construction with a roll-off roof. Despite its 1868 appearance, the re-stored GMT will be fully operational with modern optics and controls, and will become a major tourist attraction as a centrepiece of a sort of Science Park. Its characteristic lattice tube will once again rise, allowing tourists, schools and Internet users to admire and photograph the wonders of the Melburnian night sky (unless it’s raining).The restoration work so far has consisted of identifying and cleaning all the parts, documenting and photographing them, and constructing viable CAD drawings. Behind the scenes some man-years of effort has gone into mechani-cal, optical and electrical design, and on writing and agreeing documents such as the proposal for the visitor experience. We are now repairing some broken parts and making some trial assemblies. All parts of the GMT belong to MV, and must be handled and managed in accordance with Museum conservation principles. Ideally we would have had the original engineering drawings from Grubb (the Dublin manufacturer), but these were all lost in 1952 in another ACT bushfire. So now we archive all our work weekly, both on- and off-site.The project has attracted the approval of a number of august patrons, includ-ing a former Governor-General and all living former Premiers of Victoria; Dr Fred Watson; and Brendan Parsons (the 7th Earl of Rosse). Sponsorships will soon be sought from industry and individuals - we are looking carefully now at ways and means to buy a new 48-inch f/7 mirror. Essentially the ASV provides expertise and volunteer labour (over 6,000 man-hours so far, with double that yet to come), MV owns the telescope and provides the storage and engineering resources, RBG owns the Observatory site and facilities. MV and RBG act for the government and people of Victoria.The progress of restoration is reported in the cheerful, colour magazine PHOE-NIX which can be downloaded free, from the GMT website www.greatmel-bournetelescope.org.au or (for lazy typists) from the ASV website www.asv.org.au There is also a new book “The Great Melbourne Telescope” by Dr Richard Gillespie, Head of History & Technology at Museum Victoria, $30 post free from http://www.borders.com.au/book/the-great-melbourne-tele-scope/25878729/ and a recent article in the Melbourne Age, which I have linked to at www.tinyurl.com/age212 Steve Roberts

The Great Melbourne TelescopeAn Optical Oddity with a Strange and Violent History of Travels and Travails is being resurrected.

Construction of the GMT in 1869

The Binocular and Telescope Shop, 84 Wentworth Park Road, Glebe NSW 2037. Tel: 02 9518 7255The Binocular and Telescope Shop, 519 Burke Road, Camberwell Vic 3124. Tel: 03 9822 0033 April 2012 * Volume 322 * Page 2

Lettuceto the EditorMike,I found the article by Alister Ling on the Caldwell Catalogue (March ‘Night Sky’) fascinating and agree with his comments on Sir Patrick’s list. I’d like to extend this work, includ-ing a bias towards those of us who are lucky enough to live under the glori-ous Southern Hemisphere skies. For example the ‘Herschel 400’ is a fine collection of deep sky objects but con-sidering its ‘northern’ origins show, it only goes down to declination -32° (the galaxy in Hydra, NGC 3621, is the furthest south).Returning to the ‘Caldwells’. In gener-al most are visible through modest am-ateur telescopes, if not binoculars. Sir Patrick’s numbering system is a little unique, being arranged in order of dec-lination e.g., C1 is an open star cluster in Cepheus (NGC 188) at declination +85°, down to C109 a planetary neb-ula NGC 3195 in Chamaeleon at -80°. I’ve found this unusual arrangement has one advantage. From mid-latitude Australia, you can forget about the first 20 for they are generally considered too far North, and negative declination objects start at C52. It is also interest-ing to note Sir Patrick chose to select the same number of objects as Messier. It is a restriction I consider unneces-sary and when looking at its members, particularly in the far south, one could question why some were included ahead of others. For example, there are three globular clusters listed with mag-nitudes fainter than 10, but the brilliant Carina globular NGC 2808, at magni-tude 5.7, has been excluded?! Also be-ing ‘All Sky’ it is not Patrick Moore’s ‘Southern Hemisphere’ answer to the Messier, as I’ve heard from a few of sources. Dr. Pamela Gay even recently propagated this fallacy in an episode of the popular podcast ‘Astronomy Cast’ (an unusual error in an otherwise fan-tastic resource). The closest Southern Hemisphere alternative to Messier is the lesser-known Bennett Catalogue. John (Jack) Bennett (1914-1990) was a dedicated amateur astronomer and from the late 60s, for nearly 20 years, patrolled the night sky from South Af-rica with his 5 inch refractor. His main interest was searching for comets and, like Messier, compiled his own im-pressive catalogue of deep sky objects that could be mistaken for comets.

He even referred to his work as ‘Shades of Messier’, however his was a little different to Charles’ list. The Messier list includes many distinctive open star clusters, like M7 in Scor-pius, that could never be mistaken for a cometary visitor to our Sun. Jack’s list comprises 152 deep sky objects of which 84% consist of galaxies, globular clusters and nebula, which can be easily taken for comets with-out tails, given poor observing condi-tions. It is also interesting that Bennett only included objects south of the celestial equator, i.e., with negative declina-tions, although from South Africa (like Australia) he would have seen well into the north. Perhaps this re-striction helped him avoid having to deal with the multitude of bright galaxies in the Virgo/Coma Bereni-ces cluster. It would not be surprising if he avoided these areas of the sky when searching. He had remarked that he avoided the Large Magellanic Cloud, with all its comet like objects. The constellations, which are richest in Bennett objects, are Sagittarius and Ophiuchus. Bennett once wrote, “The constellations Scorpio [sic], Ophiuchus and Sagittarius contain a bewildering variety of comet-like ob-jects. These are mostly globular clus-ters and all except the largest defy attempts to distinguish them from tailless comets. This relatively small area of sky contains about a third of all the comet-like objects visible with small telescopes south of the equa-tor”.Jack not only discovered 2 comets, but during one of these search ses-sions he happened upon the spiral galaxy M83. Knowing the field so well, he immediately noticed a ‘new’ star, making him the first amateur astronomer in history to visually dis-cover a supernova!Glen Dawes(co-author of Astronomy 2012)

The following site gives a list of the Bennett Catalogue, along with links to images of a number of the objects.www.astrosurf.com/antilhue/Bennett.htm

The Board of Directors of the SKA Organisation held a meeting in Manchester, UK on Monday 19 March. The Board formally noted the admission of Canada, represented by the National Research Council, Canada (NRC), as the 8th mem-ber of the SKA Organisation.The main item of business at this meeting was to consider the site report and recommendation. Board members had the opportunity to question the chairs of the SKA Site Advisory Committee (SSAC) and the SKA Siting Group (SSG), and to clarify a number of the SSAC’s conclusions.The Board agreed to pass on the site recommendation to the members of the SKA Organisation, together with a commentary that captured the Board discus-sion and noted certain issues.The members will meet in Amsterdam on 3 April 2012, but it is not likely that this meeting will make a final decision on the site; rather it will be the start of a process of discussion and negotiation between the members. An array of thousands of receptors will extend out to distances of 3,000 km from a central core region. The SKA will address fundamental unanswered questions about our Universe including how the first stars and galaxies formed after the Big Bang, how galaxies have evolved since then, the role of magnetism in the cosmos, the nature of gravity, and the search for life beyond Earth.Sixty seven organisations in 20 countries, together with industry partners, are participating in the scientific and technical design of the SKA telescope which will be located in either Australia – New Zealand or Southern Africa extending to the Indian Ocean Islands. The target construction cost is two billion dollars and construction is scheduled to start in 2016.Major contenders for the placement of the SKA are Australia/New Zealand and South Africa, with some receivers in nearby countries. Seconds out.... !

SQUARE KILOMETRE ARRAY

GOLDFISH IN SPACE ?MEL EXAMINES THIS STRANGE POSSIBILITY . . .

Looking up at the southern sky on a dark night, you can see two fuzzy cloud-like patches. These are the Clouds of Magellan, two irregular shaped companion galaxies of our own Milky Way. The bigger of the two is the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), which is spread out across two constellations – Dorado and Mensa and is defined as an irregular spiral (more about the LMC later). Dorado is best known as the goldfish but can also be known as the sword-fish and it was Bayer who introduced this constellation in 1604.The constellation is irregular in shape covering some 179 square degrees of sky. Apart from the LMC in the southern part of the constellation, there are a number of interesting stars and a number of lovely galaxies.Beta (β) Dor is a yellow-white super-giant but more interestingly it is one of the brightest Cepheid variables in the sky. Every 9 days, 20 hours it var-ies in magnitude from 3.5 to 4.1. The star is about 1040 light years away.R Dor is a red giant star and is an ir-regular Mira-type variable with a pe-riod averaging 338 days (11 months). It varies between magnitudes 4.8 and 6.6and lies about 204 light years away.NGC 1566 is the brightest galaxy (not including the LMC) in this constella-tion and is a face-on spiral galaxy. It has a round, bright nucleus and two distinct spiral arms can be seen. At magnitude 10.3, a 10.5cm aperture telescope or greater will be needed to see the spiral arms. It is a type of galaxy known as a Seyfert, a group of galaxies whose nuclei show highly ionised gas in their spectrums. NGC 1566 lies about 38.6 million light years from us.NGC1549/53 are a pair of interact-ing elliptical galaxies. NGC 1549 is round with a bright nucleus with a magnitude of 10.7, while NGC 1553 is lenticular in shape and a magnitude of 10.3. They are about 53.3 and 50.9 million light years away respectively. In dark skies, a telescope with an ap-erture of 7.5cm can easily see these galaxies. The LMC is 170,000 light years away, contains about 10,000 million stars and is about 25,000 light years across or approximately 12 times the apparent size of the Moon. It consists of vast regions of star clouds, nebulae, open and globular clusters and numerous stars and provides a wonderful sight in both binoculars and telescopes. In February, it was 25 years since Supernova 1987A was first observed. SN1987A is still being carefully mon-itored by astronomers to learn about this part of stellar life cycles.

While the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) is starting to get a little low in the sky at this time of year, the LMC is still high in the southern skies and well placed for observers after sunset and into the evening. The most fa-mous and perhaps best-loved region of the LMC is NGC 2070 or the Ta-rantula Nebula. The name ‘Tarantula’ comes from the spider-like appear-ance of the nebula in telescopes and photographs. This cloud of hydrogen gas appears as a fuzzy star to the eye (known as 30 Doradus) and is about 1,000 light years across. At the centre of the Tarantula lies the open cluster R136, which contains some of the hot-test and most massive supergiant stars known. Stars of this type have short life spans and are likely to end their lives as supernovae. The Tarantula is brighter and larger than any nebula in the Milky Way and if we were to bring the Tarantula into a distance of 1,500 light years (distance of the Orion Nebula from us), than the neb-ula would cover a region the size of the constellation Orion and shadows would be visible here on Earth!While large aperture telescopes are an advantage when observing the LMC, there are many objects that are suitable targets for small apertures as well.NGC 1763/69 are three bright emis-sion nebulae, enhanced by dark re-gions with relatively few background stars. The largest is NGC 1763 which is very bright and bean-shaped. Near-by at the southern end of this region is NGC 1761, a richly scattered star cloud. An aperture of 20cm shows this region well but it worthwhile for small apertures as well.

NGC 1711 is a cluster with a strong central condensation. There appears to be some debate over whether this is an open or globular cluster, with numerous reliable sources not seem-ing to agree. The cluster was observed by both James Dunlop (from Parra-matta, NSW) with a 9-inch f/12 tele-scope who saw a small round nebula and John Herschel (from the Cape of Good Hope, South Africa) with an 18-inch f/13 speculum telescope, who described NGC 1711 as a globular cluster. The cluster is estimated to be NGC 2004 is a bright irregular clus-ter with a condensed centre. Its age is estimated to be 20 million years old and an aperture of 15cm will define this cluster well.NGC 1714 is a bright emission nebula and appears as a bluish, round but irregular object. It is easy to see in an aperture of 7.5cm or greater and is close to two other interesting ob-jects – NGC 1715, a small faint round nebula and NGC 1718, a faint round cluster. NGC 1866 is a bright cluster with a globular appearance. It is classed as a ‘blue globular’ and has no counter-parts in the Milky Way. NGC 1866 is also well known for its number of Cepheid variable stars, all of which have periods of approximately three days. The clusters’ age is estimated to be 150 million years and it is an easy target for small apertures.Locating the somewhat inconspicuous Dorado is quite easy with the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) straddling Dorado’s southern border so there is no excuse not to spend a sometime gazing at the wonders of the goldfish this Autumn.

We are deeply saddened to announce that Celestron founder, Thom-as J. Johnson, passed away in March. Tom’s innovative, pioneering spirit created a revolutionary method of mass producing an affordable Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope design, which allowed millions of ama-teur astronomers to pursue their passion for astronomy. Other notable achievements include a 1978 David Richardson Medal from the Opti-cal Society of America, a 1993 Bruce Blair Medal from the Western Amateur Astronomers, and a 2009 Lifetime Achievement Award by the Small Telescope & Astronomical Society.Our hearts go out to Tom’s wife and family and to all who were touched by his achievements and innovation.Sincerely, Joseph A. Lupica, Jr. President & CEO Celestron

TOM JOHNSON, FOUNDER OF CELESTRONDIES IN CALIFORNIA.

Tom Johnson was the man who solved the prob-lem of manufacturing Schmidt Cassegrain tele-scopes in a cost-effective way, making it possible for amateur astronomers to own and enjoy one.

The Binocular and Telescope Shop, 84 Wentworth Park Road, Glebe NSW 2037. Tel: 02 9518 7255 The Binocular and Telescope Shop, 519 Burke Road, Camberwell Vic 3124. Tel: 03 9822 0033

Saturn rises in the East in Virgo about 6pm. Good viewing by 8pm as

its rings are tilted to a decent angle.At Opposition mid-month high in the northern sky.

Neptune: Is in Aquarius in the pre-dawn sky. A greenish spot is all you’ll see. Its to the left of the Helix

Nebula.

Uranus: Is in the dawn sky. Not viewable easily, though it’s below brighter

Mercury this month.

7th Full Moon

8th Moon at Perigee

13th Last Quarter

21st New Moon

22nd Moon at Apogee

31st First Quarter.

Pluto: Has to choose his friends very carefully these days. It seems that

the Blue Heelers are beset by the Norshore Poodles while the Green Hornets are scratching their fleas. The Mad Catters are chasing their tails actually hoping to catch them.

Asteroid NST-64-012 is causing some concern for astronomers, says the prestigous French astronomy journal “Rien De La Nuit”.The asteroid, half the size of Manhatten, has never approached the Earth or cause any concern. However, the same team that wrote the software which predicted Mars would break from its orbit and destroy the Earth in five billion years has come up with a prediction of concern. It seems that NST-64-012 may move from its current orbit between Mars and Jupiter and head towards Earth. Depending on the position of the Moon at the time, there is a chance that it could strike the Earth in about two billion years, say the French.

April 2012 * Volume 322 * Page 3

You can shop on-line at www.bintel.com.au for your astronomical needs.

Mercury: Is low in the eastern sky ahead of sunrise. Late in the

month it’s much easier to see. Near the Moon on the 27th.

Mars is high in the North-East at mid-month, near

the bright star Regulus in Leo... about where its heart would be (if the lion had a heart) see Wizard of Oz.

Venus: Venus is near the Pleiades in Taurus early in the month.

Watch as it slides across the top and appears to swin against the tide of

the stars.

Jupiter is in Aries, low in the western sky. Gets increasingly difficult to

see as it drops into the Sun’s glare.

Evening sky April 2012

Jupiter

Venus

Do you believe these weird state-ments about the Moon?If you fold a piece of A4 paper in half 44 times it will reach the Moon. (?!!)A full moon is nine times brighter than a half moon.Astronauts reached the moon in less time than it used to take to travel the length of England by train.27% of Americans believe men never landed on the moon.The lunula is the half-moon shaped area at the bottom of finger nails.

Mars

Saturn

Whilst over in the southern sky look-ing at Dorado, spend some time fur-ther south-west and have a look at the Sculptor Galaxy, NGC 253. It’s a good target for observation with a large telescope, but it’s easily seen even in binoculars.In a good telescopes, it appears as an elongated oval with a mottled disk. In 16” scopes the dark dust lane north-west of the nucleus can be seen and a number of faint foreground stars are visible in front of the bulge.Very noice!

The Binocular and Telescope Shop, 84 Wentworth Park Road, Glebe NSW 2037. Tel: 02 9518 7255 The Binocular and Telescope Shop, 519 Burke Road, Camberwell Vic 3124. Tel: 03 9822 0033

His Eminence Professor Dr Nervo Shatterini, Director Emeritus of the Gold Coast Observatory and Casino wishes you to draw near, roll the dice and answer the following questions:

The height of the seat is easily adjustable for observing from azimuth to horizon.Ideal for difficult positions encountered with Newtonians or different tripod heights with Cassegrain ‘scopes.A footrest aids comfort when the seat is raised towards the top.

April 2012 * Volume 322 * Page 4

February

Macarthur Astronomical Society Inc: NSW ☎ 0402 479 776 Trevor Rhoades www.macastro.org.auSutherland Astronomical Society Inc: NSW☎ (02)9832 4082 Brett McMillan.www.sasi.net.auNorthern Sydney Astronomical Society Inc: ☎ Bob Fuller 0423 971374 www.nsas.org.auSydney City Skywatchers (BAA) (NSW) ☎ 9398 9705 www.sydneycityskywatchers.asn.auThe Astronomical Society of NSW. ☎ 0428 965 249 John O’Brien www.asnsw.comThe Western Sydney Amateur Astro Group Inc ☎ Gerry Aarts 0416 292 020 www.wsaag.org.auwww4.tpgi.com.au/users/wsaag Sydney Northwest Astronomical Society☎ (02) 9634 1736 Ken Petersen The Hawkesbury Astronomical Association: ☎ (02) 4572 1568 Adrian Saw .The Wollongong Astronomy Club. NSW☎ (02) 4261 9369 Paul BrownThe Illawarra Astronomical Society: NSW ☎ (02) 4276 3199 Peter McKinnonwww.illawarraastronomicalsociety.hostoi.com Shoalhaven Astronomers: South Coast NSW ☎ (02) 4423 2255 Jack Apfelbaumwww.shoalhavenastronomers.asn.auThe Astronomical Society of the Hunter: NSW (02) 4937 4664 Col Maybury colmay@kooee.com.auNewcastle Astronomical Society: NSW ☎ (02) 4950 0725 Allan Meehan www.nas.org.auCoffs Harbour Astronomical Society: NSW ☎ (02) 6653 2742 Win Howard Coonabarabran Astronomical Society, NSW☎ secretary@coona-astro.org.au Central West Astronomical Society, NSWJohn Sarkissian: john.sarkissian@csiro.au. Port Macquarie Astronomical Association NSW☎ (02) 6582 2397 Joy Woods www.pmobs.org.auGrafton Astronomical Society, NSW☎ (02) 6643 1349 Mick Austin, President Pro tem.Bombala Astronomy Group, NSWUniversity of New England Astronomical Society ☎ (0427 892 011 Chris Wyatt Clarence Valley Astronomical Society☎ (02) 6643 3288 Steve FletcherBallaarat Astronomical Society: Vic ☎ (03) 5332 7526 bas@cbl.com.au http://observatory.ballarat.netBendigo District Astronomical SocietyPO Box 164 Bendigo Vic 3552 . Kate McMillanAstronomical Society of Victoria Inc ☎ (03) 9888 7130. Linda Mockridge www.asv.org.au Latrobe Valley Astronomical Society Vic☎ (03) 5122 3014 home.vicnet.net.au/~lvas Astronomical Society of Geelong, Vic☎ 0407 345 070 Frank Baker for details.http://vicnet.net.au~asogMornington Peninsula Astronomical Society, ☎ 0419 253 252 Peter Skilton for details. Astronomy Benalla 03 5762 1523 Rupe Cheethamwww.astronomybenalla.org.auAstronomical Society of Albury-Wodongawww.asaw.org.au ☎Petra De Ruyter 0431 535 417Snake Valley Astronomical Association (Vic)☎ 0418 425 207 Me Ken James.Canberra Astronomical Society: ACT☎ (02)6248 0552 J. Howard www.mso.anu.edu.au/casBrisbane Astronomical Society: Qld ☎ (07) 3321 8511 Darryl Mitchellwww.bas.asn.auSouthern Astronomical Society:Qld☎ 0421 866 376 Joe Zerafa.www.sas.org.auAstronomical Association of Queensland, Qld☎ Peter Hall (07) 3378 1173 www.aaq.org.auSouth East Queensland Astronomical Society, ☎ (07) 3239 0032. www.seqas.orgIngham Amateur Astronomers Club☎ (07) 4776 5773 Tracey Castles.Bundaberg Astronomical Soc. Qld☎ (07) 4159 7232 www.interwox.com.auRedlands Astronomical Society Qld☎ (07) 3207 2818 Chris Tacke www.ras.org.auBundy Skywatchers (South-Central Qld)☎ (07) 4159 9674 Karlene GalwayAstronomical Society of South Australia, SA ☎ (08) 8338 1231 Tony Beresford. www.assa.org.auAstronomical Society of Tasmania, Tas ☎ 0419 305 722 Bob Coghlan. www.ast.n3.netAstronomical Society of Alice Springs N.T. ☎ (08) 8952 9817 Annette GreenDarwin Astronomy Group NT☎ (0420 238 663 Matt Bartonwww.darwinastronomy.comGove Amateur Astronomers, NT ☎ 0417 601 490 Ian Maclean for information.Astronomical Society of Western Australia, WAhttp://www.aswa.info ☎ (08) 9364 9603Astronomical Society of The South-West, W.A. ☎ (08) 9721 1586 Phil Smith.

Night Sky has been published monthly since before some of you were even born by

The Binocular and Telescope Shop Pty Ltd84 Wentworth Park Rd, Glebe 2037

Tel: (02) 9518 7255 Fax: (02) 9518 5711Any errors, mis-spellings, dropped apostrophes and missing words are the fault of Mike Smith.

Complain at - mike@bintel.com.auPrinted by the really nice people at Omega Creative Communications

4 Campbell Street, Artarmon NSW 2064. This newsletter is available at The Binocular and

Telescope Shop and at many astronomical society meetings and astronomy centres around Australia.

Night Sky is available free by email.

Ask mike@bintel.com.au to be on the mailing list for the NIGHT SKY.

Hey Don,Did you

hear that the banana

benders have banned solar eclipse

glasses.

Took their time, didn’t they, Mick.

They’ve had years to

think about it.

Wonder if somebody has acted without knowing what

they’re doing?

I hear they’re recommending

that people use welding glasses!

Seems a bit fishy to me. D i dn’t know the Sun in Queensland is that different from everywhere else.

Well, the current solar glasses have been

okayed by authorities all around the world.

HEADS UP FOR STAR PARTIES!

Star Parties! Where amateur astronomers get to meet old friends, look at the skies, learn, listen to talks and see the latest equipment in use. Here’s a few for 2012.National Australian Convention of Amateur Astrono-mers (Brisbane) 6-9 AprilSouth Pacific Star Party (Wiruna NSW) 19-22 AprilCentral West Astrofest (Parkes) 14-15 JulyQueensland Astrofest (Duckadang) 10-19 AugustBorder Stargaze (Albury Wodonga) 15-19 AugustVic South Desert Spring Star Party 12-14 October.All are listed on the ‘net!

Sutherland Astronomical Society has teamed up with CBT Holidays to offer a fully arranged tour to Cairns in time to watch the Total Solar Eclipse in November. Previous SASI tours have been sell-outs. Contact Sophia or Jimmy at CBT Holidays 02 9262 1555 or info@cbtholidays.com.au

The National Australian Convention of Amateur Astronomers has been held around Australia since 1967, and has become a significant national forum at which amateur astronomers can ex-change experiences, stay abreast of the latest trends, foster co-operative activities between individuals, societ-ies and the professional sphere, and network amongst their peers through-out Australia and beyond. NACAA will take place in the histor-ic Grand Court of the University of Queensland at St Lucia in Brisbane between the 6th and 9th of April. Well over a hundred amateur astronomers will take part in discussions, lectures workshops and meetings. The prestigeous 2012 Berenice and Arthur Page medal is expected to be presented at the convention dinner.

(1) Menzel 3 reminds us of which insect?(2) How long is the Rheita Crater on the Moon?(3) Which is the brightest constel-lation?(4) Which was the first white dwarf star found?(5) How long is a Tropical Month?(6) What lies between Andromeda and Aries?(7) Astrology says the Sun is in Gemini from 21 May till 21 June. Is it? (8) Where id the North Galactic Pole?(9) Who measured the Trigonomet-ric Parallax of 61 Cygnus?(10) When did New Style Dates be-gin?(11) In which Constellation did the Greek gods swear allegiance?(12) How many constellations can Pluto traverse?(13) The Great Globular Cluster in Hercules pales when compared to which globulars?(14) Who, in his wisdom created Monoceros as a constellation?(15) Where would we find Pandora and Pan together?(16) What is 30 Doradus better known as?(17) In which year did Elvis Presley tour Australia?(18) How often are Saturn’s rings seen edge-on?(19) In what frequency of light can we see the Venusian clouds moving?(20) Who invented the Ronchi Test? Now turn the page upside down (without spilling your glass of port) and check your answers!

(1) An ant (the Ant Nebula)(2) About 450km in length(3) Crux, the Southern Cross.(4) Sirius B by Alvan Clark in 1862(5) 27.21222 days(6) Triangulum, with M33(7) No, its in Gemini from 20th June to 20th July.(8) In Coma Berenices(9) German astronomer F.W. Bessel.(10) September 14, 1752 in America and Britain.(11) In Ara, the Altar.(12) Forty one constellations, believe me.(13) 47 Tuc and ω Cen in the south-ern sky.(14) Dutch theologian Petrus Plan-cius. Why? Dunno.(15) Around Saturn?(16) the star in the middle of the Ta-rantula Nebula.(17) He never did. He was frightened of flying.(18) Every fifteen years.(19) In Ultra Violet light.(20) Vasco Ronchi.

Best wishes for a successful and fruitful convention are extended to the organizers

and all amateur astronomers at the 25th N ational Australian Convention

of Amateur Astronomers !

NORFOLK ISLAND SOLAR ECLIPSE

TRIP

Join astronomer Jim Barclay for a week of adven-ture and astronomy on Norfolk Island, culminat-ing in the Eclipse on November 14. The Sun will be 98% eclipsed by the Moon. Weath-er conditions should be excellent. Norfolk has a colourful history dating back to 6th March 1788 when a party of soldiers and convicts arrived from Sydney. It’s great for birders, golf-ers, divers and if you just want to get away.

Contact Jim 07 4164 6194www.starsabove.com.au

WOLLONGONGSCIENCE CENTRE & PLANETARIUM

Squires Way Fairy Meadow NSW 2519sciencecentre.uow.edu.au/Holiday stuff for kids !

Wizard Science 10th April 6-10yrsForensic Science 1 1th April 8-12yrsSlime Chemistry 12th April 8-12yrsBubbles & Burps 13th April 6-10yrs

STELLAR SEAT

$179It makes your back a happy chappy !

SYDNEY OBSERVATORYIS OPEN

FOR THE SCHOOL HOLIDAYS !