Northern Sydney Astronomical Society

The weather forecasts for tonight at Linden suggests that there will be cloud early but it may clear later in the evening. I won’t be going up there myself as we had a session last night at North Turramurra. However, for or anyone wishing go up to Linden tonight, just check with WSAAG on 0405194724 before driving up to confirm that it’s on.

Details of the location are on the WSAAG website at: http://wsaag.org

Don’t forget to donate $5 as a guest of WSAAG to support Linden.

Peter Nosworthy

The forecasts look good – so observing tonight (Friday August 26th is ON.

Location: North Turramurra Golf Club.

Map: http://nsas.org.au/contact/north-turramurra-golf-club

Sunset is at 5:33pm. (No need to get there before sunset)

The gates should be open by 6pm.

Peter Nosworthy

There are conflicting weather forecasts for tonight at both Linden and North Turramurra. Although we might get some clear sky tonight I don’t think it’s likely to be a good night. I’m also concerned that the strong winds will be blowing our dobs around and it will be hard to keep them pointed accurately.

Therefore, observing tonight (Sat. 20th) is OFF.

Of course if the weather does improve and you’re keen, members can still go up to Linden. Just check with WSAAG on 0405194724 before driving up to confirm that it’s on. Don’t forget to donate $5 as a guest of WSAAG to support Linden.

Peter N

It’s raining and it looks like this will continue.
So observing tonight (Fri. 19th August) is OFF.

Peter N

It was sunny all day on Friday and the clear sky continued into the night for our fist successful observing night at North Turramurra since May 27th.

We had a exceptionally good turnout of 8 people (6 members and two visitors) with a total six scopes. The scopes were:

One 16 inch dobsonian (Geoff)
Two 12 inch dobsonians (Bob and myself)
One 8 inch dobsonian (the club scope operated by Colin)
One 6 inch newtonian on a german EQ mount (Tim)
One 80mm refractor on a german EQ mount (brought by a visitor)

It soon became apparent that the seeing was quite good and that this could turn out to be one of our best nights at North Turramurra. During the evening, I recorded the objects which I personally observed (not all in my own scope) as follows…

7pm to 8pm

Saturn with moons Titan, Rhea Dione and Tethys. The planet looked exceptonally sharp with the Cassini division visible in the rings.
NGC 4684 (a magnutide 12 spiral galaxy in Virgo) was also visible in the same field as Saturn. This galaxy was visible in the larger scopes depite the glare of Saturn.
M104 (spiral galaxy in Virgo – The Sombrero Galaxy)
Omega Centauri (glob in Centaurus) – Geoff declared this to be the best globular in the sky, but I pointed out that this point is the subject of debate within the society.
M7 (open cluster in Scorpius – Ptolemy’s Cluster)
NGC6541 (glob in Corona Australis)
M13 (glob – Hercules Cluster)
M5 (glob in Serpens)
M57 (planetary – Ring Nebula in Lyra) – Initally seen through the trees but later emerging into full view.

8pm to 9pm

M54 (glob in Sagittarius) – Interesting because it is in the centre of the Saggitarius Dwarf Galaxy (which is too big and dim to be seen)
Centaurus A (galaxy in Centaurus – Hamburger Galaxy)
NGC5102 (eliptical galaxy in Centaurus)
M10 (glob in Ophiuchus)
M107 (glob in Ophiuchus)

9pm to 10pm

M4 (glob in Scorpius near Antares)
M27 (planetary nebula in Vulpecula – The Dumbell Nebula) – Quite large and bright
M71 (glob in Saggita)
M8 (Lagoon Nebula in Sagittarius)
M20 (Trifid Nebula in Sagittarius)
M12 (glob in Ophiuchus)
NGC6144 (glob in Scorpius) – Very dim and right next to Antares and the much brighter glob M4
M80 (glob in Scorpius)
NGC6124 (open cluster in Scorpius)
M2 (glob in Aquarius)

10pm to 11pm
NGC6302 (planetary nebula in Scorpius – The Bug Nebula)

Geoff then suggested that we try to see Pluto (a former planet) which was high in the sky in Sagittarius.
The dwarf planet was close to a mag 3.8 star Polis (Mu Sagittari) which helped in identifying it.
Geoff believed he had probably indentified Pluto. Bob and I both found Polis without difficulty, but could not be sure which ‘star’ was Pluto. The dwarf planet was magnitude 14 and the star field included many stars of magnitude 12 and dimmer. I was unable to identify any star patterns in the mag 12 stars which matched those shown on the computer, making positive identification of Pluto difficult.

We then gave up on Pluto and decided to target the much brighter (magnitude 7.8) Neptune which has just this month completed its first full orbit of the Sun since it was discovered in 1846. I have identified Neptune before using only binoculars so I expected it would be easy to find. We relied on the goto system rather than star hopping, and when my scope stopped slewing I couldn’t see anything in the eyepiece that didn’t look star-like. A bit of searching in the same region was also unsuccessful. I was too tired to put in the extra effort to find the elusive gas giant, so we ended the night and started packing up at around 11.15pm.

Despite these failures towards the end of the session, it was a very good night of observing indeed.

Peter Nosworthy