2009.04.17 02:47:46

Nick Lomb

Various groups in Australia enthusiastically took up the challenge of organising viewing nights and other events during the 100 Hours. Despite the occasional clouds and rain in Sydney, Brisbane, Launceston and Parkes they all seemed to have worked out well. Below are edited extracts of reports from various places around the country, starting with separate reports for Sydney Observatory’s two special observing nights. The images are by my colleague Geoff Wyatt of Sydney Observatory on the Sunday evening.

Sydney Observatory Saturday 4 April – Toner Stevenson

The notes of saxophone and strings playing ’starry starry night, paint your colours …” and spectacular images of the night sky large and bold on the old wall of the cottage created the most amazing ambience. Visitors really got into the swing of things and comments such as ‘it was incredible ‘ were to be heard as they emerged from the 3D Theatre experience.. In the planetarium astronomy guide, Thea, intrigued the audience with stories of the Southern Cross while in the North Dome the robotic telescope was made to strut its stuff and on the front lawn there was a practical workshop on using binoculars and small telescopes at home. Any of the 120 visitors would agree with me in saying that the 100 hours program was loads of astronomy even though we could not see any stars in the sky!

Sydney Observatory Sunday 5 April – Geoff Wyatt

What a wonderful night! Clear skies gave the 90 visitors great views of the Moon, Saturn and star clusters through the main North dome telescope and a large portable one in the yard along with laser guided binocular tours. Music with Panache again accompanied the stars with some very entertaining Jazz. The 3-D theatre specialist program “Observatory 3-D” was simply brilliant as it put the controls into the guests hands. More details and video here.

Brisbane Planetarium Saturday 4 April – Mark Rigby

Well - the night for the IYA "100 Hours of Astronomy" was affected by bad weather. Overcast with showers during the day and a little drizzle during the evening. But despite that, we had hundreds turn up and ran live mini shows in the Cosmic Skydome to appreciative audiences. So it was good from that point of view, but not the thousands we have got on clear nights with free telescope viewing. We still had some who couldn't understand why we couldn't use optical telescopes to see through the clouds.

Launceston Planetarium Thursday 2 April & Saturday 4 April – Kerrie Dougherty

On the Thursday and Saturday evenings the Planetarium Manager and Curator of Physical Sciences at the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery in Launceston, Tasmania, Martin George, presented a public lecture on “Great Discoveries in Astronomy”, followed by public telescope viewing in the grounds of the Inveresk museum with the assistance of the Astronomical Society of Tasmania. Unfortunately, the sky was clouded on Thursday night, but broken cloud on Saturday night allowed attendees to see the Moon and Saturn, at least briefly. About 100 visitors attended both events. The lecture and star gazing program was repeated again on Sunday night in the town on Devonport (about 100km from Launceston), where about 120 attendees had a chilly, but clear night.

Parkes, NSW, Saturday 4 April & Sunday 5 April – John Sarkissian

Well, the 100 Hours of Astronomy activities were a wonderful success, both in the Central West and around the world. Central West Astronomical Society (CWAS) members organised or took part in several sidewalk astronomy events. On Saturday night in Parkes, we setup alongside Galileo's statue, oops, I mean beside Henry Parkes' statue on Clarinda Street. Over 100 people availed themselves of the opportunity to view the Moon and Saturn. CWAS President Laurie Crowley, and members Peter Cannon and I had telescopes setup and ready to go from 6:30PM. We stayed until 10:30PM before things became too rowdy with the night clubbers. It was wonderful to see so many families attend. Often they would phone other families members to race on over and check out the fantastic views of the Moon and Saturn. We were pleased to see the Mayor of Parkes, Cr Ken Keith, attend. He showed up to view the Moon and Saturn and to lend his support for the event. Pictures here.

Astronomy Australia