Reports - 2012
Special Viewing Night for Local Scout Groups - Friday 30th March 2012
The scout leaders of the Cobram & Baulkamaugh Scout Groups along with several parents drove 21 scouts over to
Benalla for a special viewing night near the Benalla Scout Hall. A relative dark site had been chosen nearby in Psaltis
Parade.
Prior to the scouts arriving, some locals had walked across the street to see what was going on and were quickly
invited to have a look at the setting up of the scopes and saw Venus thru Rupe’s 200mm Newtonian before the planet
dropped below the horizon and out of sight. They then saw the thin crescent Moon poke thru the clouds, thru Cynthia’s
250mm Dobsonian that showed the enormous craters scattered across the surface.
Fortunately all the cloud had lifted by the time the scouts arrived at 8-00pm and they were able to view all the sky. After
they had seen the Moon at two different levels of magnification, they were treated to a laser sky tour starting with the
Constellation of Taurus (The Bull), crossing Orion (The Hunter), Gemini (The Twins); Canis Major (The Greater Dog);
Cancer (The Crab), Leo (The Lion) and finishing with Centaurus sporting our nearest star, bar our Sun, Rigil Kentaurus
at 4.37 light years distance, and then the Crux Constellation.
The Southern Cross of course is used by scouts to help in night navigation in finding south. Views of the red planet
Mars and the open cluster The Jewel Box in Crux brought the evening to a close after many curly questions had been
asked of the Astronomy Benalla members.
Rupe Cheetham.
Benalla for a special viewing night near the Benalla Scout Hall. A relative dark site had been chosen nearby in Psaltis
Parade.
Prior to the scouts arriving, some locals had walked across the street to see what was going on and were quickly
invited to have a look at the setting up of the scopes and saw Venus thru Rupe’s 200mm Newtonian before the planet
dropped below the horizon and out of sight. They then saw the thin crescent Moon poke thru the clouds, thru Cynthia’s
250mm Dobsonian that showed the enormous craters scattered across the surface.
Fortunately all the cloud had lifted by the time the scouts arrived at 8-00pm and they were able to view all the sky. After
they had seen the Moon at two different levels of magnification, they were treated to a laser sky tour starting with the
Constellation of Taurus (The Bull), crossing Orion (The Hunter), Gemini (The Twins); Canis Major (The Greater Dog);
Cancer (The Crab), Leo (The Lion) and finishing with Centaurus sporting our nearest star, bar our Sun, Rigil Kentaurus
at 4.37 light years distance, and then the Crux Constellation.
The Southern Cross of course is used by scouts to help in night navigation in finding south. Views of the red planet
Mars and the open cluster The Jewel Box in Crux brought the evening to a close after many curly questions had been
asked of the Astronomy Benalla members.
Rupe Cheetham.
Pictures from the Hubble Site
