Northern Sydney Astronomical Society

NSAS Events for February

bobsastro — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 22:00:37 +0000

On Tuesday the 14th the Theory Group will pick up where it left off with “Understanding the Universe”, at the revised time of 7:45 PM. The General Meeting will be at 7:30 PM on Tuesday the 21st. Our speaker for February is Francisco Di Mille from the AAO, who is recently returned from Chile. He and a colleague have been recently in the news regarding their discovery of stellar jets from Sanduleak’s Star, which he will discuss, along with the Magellan Telescope, where he did his work in Chile. All meetings are at Regis Hall, St Ignatius.

Observing Fri. 20th Jan. is OFF

PeterN — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 06:01:16 +0000

Yet again, the forecasts are for increasing cloud tonight.
So observing for tonight (Friday 20th January) is OFF.

We still have another chance next Friday (27th) when there will be a 4 day old crescent moon.

Peter Nosworthy

Observing Fri. 20th Jan. – decision at 5pm

PeterN — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 04:36:39 +0000

The forecasts for tonight are conflicting – some say mostly clear and some say cloudy.
I will wait to make a decision until about 5pm, which is 3 hours before sunset.

Peter Nosworthy

Observing Friday Jan 13th is OFF

PeterN — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 05:13:47 +0000

Once again the forecast for tonight is not good.
Cloud is expected to increase during the evening with about 70% cloud cover by 9pm.

Therefore observing for Friday Jan 13th is OFF.

Peter Nosworthy

Christmas Morning Comet

PeterN — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 01:01:10 +0000

I photographed Comet Lovejoy at 4.30am on Christmas morning from Riverview. I was looking east towards the city so there was a lot of sky glow. However being Christmas morning, the city sky was darker than normal. The comet was just barely visible to the unaided eye, but in binoculars it was easily visible with a tail of about 15 degrees (three binocular fields) in length.

Image details: Nikon D700, 15 sec, f10, ISO3200, 60mm lens

Peter Nosworthy

Observing Fri. 23rd Dec is OFF

PeterN — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 05:45:39 +0000

Hello observers,

The forecast for tonight is dubious – about 50% cloud cover for most of the evening.
Therefore observing tonight (Friday December 23rd) is OFF.

For those interested, Comet Lovejoy may be visible in the eastern morning sky before sunrise for the next few days.
Here are some pictures taken this morning:

http://astro.gunagulla.com/

Peter Nosworthy

Christmas Party Tomorrow Night the 20th

bobsastro — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 07:08:06 +0000

For anyone not checking their emails, the Christmas Party is tomorrow night, the 20th, at Regis Hall, at 7:30PM. The format is to bring a dish, and the Society will supply drinks. See you there.

Observing Sat. 16th Dec. is OFF

PeterN — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 05:23:18 +0000

The sky looks good right now (4pm), but the forecasts are predicting cloud for both Sydney and the Blue Mountains.
Therefore observing tonight (Saturday 17th Dec.) is OFF.

We’ll try again next Friday.

Peter N

Observing Fri. Dec. 16th is OFF

PeterN — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 06:34:19 +0000

It’s 5.30pm and the sky hasn’t improved, so observing tonight (Friday 16 Dec.) is OFF.

Peter N

Observing Fri. Dec. 16th – Decision 5.30pm

PeterN — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 05:08:11 +0000

The forecast for tonight (Fridat December 16th) looks good.
However, the forecast of ‘mostly clear’ for this afternoon was wrong and it is still totally overcast at 4pm.

Therefore I’m going to wait until about 5.30pm to make a final decision.

Sunset is at about 8pm tonight.
If observing goes ahead I’ll be opening the gates at about 7.30pm.

Peter Nosworthy