Reports - 2011

Astronomy Benalla  Outreach Programme - July 2011 Over the past month Astronomy Benalla has moved into top gear with its outreach activities. President Rupe Cheetham spoke at the Benalla Woodworkers Association (Woodies) Annual General Meeting which was attended by about 30 of their members. Using a Powerpoint presentation  Rupe showed what has been achieved by Astronomy Benalla in their short history of 18 months, followed by an explanation obout the general make up of the stars using the 1809 English nursery rhyme - Twinkle Twinkle Little Star - as his theme. Later in that same week, 30 of the Benalla's Cubs/Scouts, their Leaders and several parents travelled to Astronomy Benalla’s dark viewing site at the Roy Hill Pavilion adjacent to the Benalla racecourse. With the weather overcast the group moved inside and in an activity, acted as the planets of the Solar system. From a display of telescopes, they were able to see how the telescopes collected the faint light of distant stars and, after viewing a DVD, participated in a light-hearted quiz about the Moon. A week later a very keen group of 20 Baulkamaugh Scouts and leaders travelled from near Numurkah to the same venue hoping to see some stars. However, Mother Nature felt the need for rain. The evening commenced with a barbeque then continued using a similar format to that above, only this time the scouts enjoyed a hands-on use of four different types of telescopes on display in the hall, Solar telescope for daytime viewing, an 80mm altitude- azimuth mounted refractor, a 300mm Dobsonian mounted Newtonian reflector and an equatorial mounted Maksutov- Newtonian - see photo’s below.                 Wayne and his Dobsonian                                            Ed and Jeff with the Personal Solar Telescope                 Patrick’s Maksutov-Newtonian                        David and the refractor Finally, the ABCs Matt Dowling early morning radio session now has a monthly (Ist Thurs of the month) live Astronomy Benalla segment, presented with Rupe, and is drawing considerable attention of early risers from right across the region. Rupe draws attention to outstanding heavenly happenings, such as bright meteor showers.

Pictures from the Hubble Site