Northern Sydney Astronomical Society

You know – every so often you see a photo and just scratch your head and say “Wow – how did they do that?”

On top of our own clubs imagers where they have produced some stunning images of NGC1365 and M42 (refer Feb 2019 Reflections) there was one other image which I have seen this month which I thought people would be interested to see. Andrew McCarthy recently gained some press for his 150,000 composite photo of the moon in glorious colour Link but in following the links and doing a little googling I came across his other photo of the moon. Its simple, well framed and the light glow is well balanced to show our heavenly partner in just the right way. I hope you enjoy looking at some of his images as I have.

Two other events are coming up shortly one of which is the New Astronomers Group (NAG) course on April 13. If you are interested in attending this once a year opportunity I highly recommend it. It’s how I started and it gave me a great insight to many things. The course is being run at Regis Hall which is where our club meetings are held. We will have observing out on the field that night so it should be a great event. If you would like to register please complete this form and we will see you on the day. There will be BBQ and other food available with more details to follow in the coming weeks. The event starts with registration from 9:30am and will go till approx 8pm at night. Its a great way to get involved quickly. Parking is onsite.

The Hunter Valley Star Party preparations are also going well with a number of tour operators and vineyards working with us to provide discounts or experiences for you to enjoy. A reminder that this event will be a partner friendly event with opportunities for socialization and relaxation as well as supporting observing and the like. The event is scheduled from Thursday 26th Sept till Sunday 29th. This is a members and guests only event and you need to register now please so we can complete our preparations. The Registration form is here. We have also identified some alternative accommodation which might be of interest to some people. It is equally well located to the other hotels being just down the road from the observing site. It is called the Leisure Inn with room rates for approximately $200 per night with $130 p.n. showing on some booking engines. This should be a fabulous weekend away with the new moon being perfectly timed for 6:30pm Saturday night !!

I look forward to seeing you all shortly.

Clear Skies (hopefully this rain will stop soon!)
David Stevenson
Club President

Hi everyone

One of our popular events is on next week and I know that as you have all been up and about celebrating the holidays with Santa I thought I should remind you that you can bring your new (or old) toys 🔭 to the “Bring your Telescope” night that is on next Tuesday. You can arrive from around 7pm to give you time to set up your scopes etc while it is still light. If you plan to come along can you please reply and let us know that you will be coming as an ATTENDEE or as a HELPER so we can make sure we have the right support in place.

Please note this information is also available through our Forum and can be found here.

PS – also – if you are interested in astrophotography please don’t forget we have our inaugural 2019 astrophotography night on the 29th January – This will be hosted by John Mills our Astrophotography Lead.

Looking forward to seeing you all.

David S

P.S. Visitors are most welcome.

NSAS is proud to announce the Hunter Valley Star Party is now up and confirmed for Thursday 26th Sept to Sunday 29th September 2019.
Details have been added to the NSAS Website Home Page.

Guys,

We have a Christmas Party!!

Please note that this year’s party will be at the Regis Hall (above our meeting room) on Sunday 9th December from 12 noon.

This is open (and free) to all NSAS members and their partners. As usual, food and drink will be provided.

All members should have received an e-mail concerning this.

David Wallace

P.S. Thank God for Julie—AGAIN!!!

Hi everyone

We continue to plan for the Hunter Valley Star Party in 26-29 September so “Save the Date!”. We would appreciate anyone with event management experience to step forward to give us some assistance – It is looking to be a great experience in September and some planning now will help us to make it an exciting experience for everyone.

Following the success of the “Bring Along Your Scope” night we have decided to run a similar event on 15th January. This will be just after Christmas and hence people who have been surprised with a telescope (or surprised themselves !) this will be relatively soon afterwards and hence available for people to get a handle on this quickly. It is a “Welcome in the New Year” event.

John Mills, our Astrophotography leader will also be holding a practical session on the 29th January where some of the dark arts will be explained! These two sessions in January will be replacing the Christmas event in December which was proving to be difficult to arrange. Look out for these and save the date. We plan to hold 4 of these events this year and they should be exciting nights.

And finally if you wish to made aware of Observing night at the field then you must subscribe to the relevant page on the website – Enter your email address on the home page and then press the “Sign-me Up” button.

Clear skies
David Stevenson
Club President