Astronomy Benalla Baddaginnie Dark Sky Site Report Sat 20th March 2010
Astronomy Benalla held its first Starbeque on Saturday 20th March.
Attendance was way beyond the committee’s expectations with a good blend of
experienced, beginners and juniors. Right on time, members arrived and soon had their
chops & sausages sizzling on the barbeque prior to setting up their telescopes. Although
cloudy during the afternoon, as the dusk came the clouds disappeared over the western
horizon leaving a pleasant warm night for viewing. Patrick’s Maksutov scope was first to
pick up the ringed planet Saturn low in the east and with a change of lens Saturn’s moon
Titan could just be made out with adverted vision, despite the poor seeing conditions.
After four visitors arrived, plus the beginners and juniors, Wayne Roberts took them on a comprehensive guided laser tour of
the stars on either side of the Milky Way. Starting with Orion, The Saucepan, he took them through 10 constellations on his
way to the giant Eta Carinae nebula via the three crosses, ‘Crux’ or Southern Cross, the false Cross and the Diamond
Cross.
Rupe had his Newtonian firmly fixed on 47 Tuc a globular cluster of ½ million stars just adjacent to the ‘Small Magellanic
Cloud’ whilst most of those in attendance took turns to view this huge ball of stars.
Ian, using his binoculars on a mounted stand, took in the larger open star clusters of
The Pleiades and Hyades in constellation Taurus the Bull. The thin crescent moon
was just to the left of the Seven Sisters low in the western sky. Cynthia & David
also had a steady flow of customers at their 10” Dobsonian telescope to view the
golden planet Mars which is high in the sky at the moment adjacent to the Gemini,
Twins heads Castor & Pollux. The colourful Jewel Box in the constellation of Crux
also came in for some close scrutiny. Exhaustion caused the gathering to call it a
night after a supper in the pavilion.
Summary A very successful nights viewing for the newbies
Reports - 2010
