Northern Sydney Astronomical Society

We tried out Howson Oval for the first time on a cold and windy night, so it was probably the worst weather we would experience there, as it is exposed. Unfortunately, it was only me and Jenny, a visitor joining NSAS, so we persevered for several hours and gave up at 8 PM, when it was clear everyone else stuck their heads out their doors and decided to stay in front of the fire.

Howson Oval is a great observing site, far superior to NTGC, once we do a deal with the Council about access to the security lights on the dressing shed. There are no streetlights visible, and the only lights on the horizon are The San to the north, but even that is hidden. We could see near the horizon for 360 degrees from the middle of the oval, and while not as good to the north as Golden Julilee, it’s not bad. Even better, the toilets were unlocked! (probably Council security forgot them). We’ll give Howson a go again on a better night.

Observing is ON tonight at North Turramurra GC. Someone from NSAS will be there from 6:30 PM. Visitors welcome, as usual.

NSAS Observing for April will be on the Fridays 13th and 20th, at North Turramurra GC. Watch this space for an update as to whether it will go ahead on the afternoon of the day. Visitors are, as usual, welcome.

We finally got a good observing session in last Friday night at North Turramurra, with some wind, but reasonably good seeing. We had six members with five scopes from a 6″ to 16″, and five visitors. Geoff Unsworth provided the following list of observed objects:

M: 95, 35, 50, 46, 47, 93, 95 (sans Supernova), 96, 105, 66, 65,

NGC: 2392, 2266, 2244(Rosette Nebula), 2301, 2261 (Hubbles Variable Nebula), 2264 (Christmas Tree Cluster), 2467, 2477, 2451, 2440, 3132 (Eightburst Nebula), 3201, 2374, 2391, 2660

Other: Jewel Box, Tarantula Nebula, Eta Carina Nebula; Blue Nebula, and the difficult NGC2867

Here’s Tim Herridge’s list:

M42/M43 nebula in Orion
Eta Carinae nebula in Carina
NGC2808 Globular Cluster in Carina
NGC2516 Open cluster in Carina
NGC3532 Open cluster in Carina
NGC3242 (Caldwell 59) Ghost of Jupiter planetary nebula in Hydra
M68 Globular cluster in Hydra
NGC1851 Globular cluster in Columba
NGC3918 Blue planetary nebula in Centaurus
Omega Centauri globular cluster in Centaurus
47 Tucanae globular cluster in Tucana
M104 Galaxy in Virgo
M65 Galaxy in Leo
M66 Galaxy in Leo
M95 Galaxy in Leo
M96 Galaxy in Leo
M105 Galaxy in Leo
Mars
Saturn

Everyone enjoyed the show, and are hopeful that we will have more like this in the coming months.

Observing at North Turramurra is ON tonight. There will be someone there from 6:30 PM if you need help with your scope.

Observing tonight, Fri 16th, is cancelled due to increasing cloud. We’ll try again next Friday.