Southern Observer
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Southern Observer The Official Journal of The Sutherland Astronomical Society Inc. http://www.sasi.net.au September - October 2018 VOLUME 57 NUMBER 5 PRINT POST APPROVED NO. 100004524 Sutherland Astronomical Society Inc. Office Bearers: Location Curators Cnr Green Point Rd. & Caravan Head Rd. David Parkes (Green Point).......0437-046-934 Oyster Bay, N.S.W. 2225 Australia Brendon Bell (Waterfall) ...........0422-902-730 Lat: -34o 00’ 13”, Long: 151o 04’ 18” Star Night Officer Postal Address Brendon Bell.............................0422-902-730 PO Box 31, Sutherland N.S.W. 1499 [email protected] Telephone (use office holders' direct phone numbers) Merchandise Officer Renae Moss. .............................0415-374-916 Web Site.............. http://www.sasi.net.au [email protected] Email............................. [email protected] Librarian Barry Packman..........................0421-279-542 Patron.............Professor Fred Watson AM [email protected] Elected Committee: Public Officer [email protected] Brett McMillan JP .................... 0408-832-408 [email protected] President Craig Goulden………………….0414-868-497 Website Admin. [email protected] Craig Goulden…………….......0414-868-497 [email protected] Vice President Lou Pagano ...............................0412-416-714 Editorial Sub-Committee [email protected] [email protected] Brett McMillan, Rolando De Michiel & Secretary Al Dodge Brett McMillan JP……………..0408-832-408 [email protected] Education/SASPAC Officer Peter Eyland...............................0408-207-927 Treasurer [email protected] Michael Links................................ 9524-7835 [email protected] Technical Officer Committee Ken McEwen ................................. 9528-7571 [email protected] [email protected] President, V. President, Secretary, Treasurer and: Telescope Sub-Committee Brendon Bell ..............................0422-902-730 [email protected] David Parkes .............................................. Sandy Galos, Ken McEwen, Doug Parkes, Colin Draper ................................................. David Parkes Brief History Contents SASI was formed in 1961 when a small group of Editorial ...................page 4 people constructed an observatory south of the Letters. page 4 Georges River in the leafy southern suburbs of Sydney. The Society was known, until 1978, as In the News .................pages 5-7 the James Cook Astronomers Club and the James Speaker Notes. pages 8-16 Cook Astronomical Society. Observations. pages 17-19 Annual Dinner ................page 20 The present Green Point Observatory is locat- Daytime Astronomers . page 21 ed on Council land at the corner of Green Point Club Stuff ..................pages 22-23 and Caravan Head Roads, Oyster Bay. The prom- Merchandise ................page 24 inent silver dome, with its 41cm (16”) Newtonian Observing Schedule. page 25 tele- scope (now refurbished) and the library were Forthcoming Speakers .........page 26 completed in 1970. The meeting hall was com- Summer Sizzler Star Party .....page 27 pleted in 1974 and a roll-off roof observatory was completed in 1996. This now contains a state-of- The Back Page/Events ........page 28 the-art 35cm (14”) Celestron Schmidt Casseg- rain telescope. The buildings were joined & meeting hall extended in 2007. Meetings Magazine Submissions Give your literary masterpieces directly to The Observatory is open every Thursday evening us, or preferably email them to us as MS Word from 7.00pm. Visitors are welcome, but groups attachment to [email protected]. Please should book first by contacting Brendon Bell send images in jpeg format separately (Star Night Booking Officer). (approx 400kb or 900x900ppi) or submit on 1st Thursday of the month: Guest lecturer USB thumb drive or bulk upload thru www. (7:30pm). wetransfer.com. Please do not embed photos in 2nd Thursday: Junior Section (6:30- emails or MS Word documents unless you also 7:15pm - currently on hold, no meetings) send them separately. Committee meeting (7:30pm), social. 3rd Thursday: Miscellaneous meetings & Deadline for submissions to the DVDs (7:30pm) social November - December 2018 edition is 4th Thursday: Special interest workshops Thursday 20th December. (7:30pm). 5th Thursday: Social Important disclaimer The opinions expressed in this journal Check the notice board, the back page of this jour- are those of the individual authors or nal and the website for any special programs or the editorial Sub-Committee, and are events. not necessarily the opinions of the So- Meetings subject to change, which will be advised ciety or Committee. All articles other by email and posted on website. than those from acknowledged or public PDF Journal sources are the copyright of the Suther- land Astronomical Society Inc. and, if ap- This Journal is available in full colour as a PDF file emailed to your inbox about 1 week before plicable, the individual authors. received by post. To request conversion to PDF journal please email [email protected]. A higher Cover drawing of the Green Point res pdf file is available on request. Observatory courtesy of Ian Sansom. Page 3 Editorial Letters Dear Readers, T'was the night before Christmas Welcome to the September - October 2018 And the word got around edition of “Southern Observer.” The Committee has just announced some That Grannie's Christmas pudding dates for 2019 club events. See the back page Had flopped and was unsound for details. We were lucky to have three good talks in What sad things befall us September and October. On the 6th of Sep- When we expect it not tember Rajika Kuruwita from ANU spoke on "Formation of Binary Stars and Planets To see such disasters Around Binary Star Systems" which was a As food goes to rot most interesting talk. See Stephen's write-up on pg8. But stop and think awhile On 13 September, Snaevarr Gudmunds- son from the Astronomical Society of Ice- In sad and hopeful mood land gave a captivating talk on astronomical Of those who have it all observing in Iceland and being a geologist he And those who have no food spoke on the fascinating geography of Iceland. A highlight was a number of magnificent time We Aussies have a good deal more lapse shots his associates made into a video of auroras. See Rolando's write-up on page 10. Of folk of other nations On 4 October Jesse van de Sand from the We have serenity and peace Sydney Institute for Astronomy at Sydney But sometimes conflagration University. spoke on "What do galaxies and shadow puppets have in common?" and talked It is a sunburnt country, yeah about the shape and spectroscopy of galaxies and our future merger with the Andromeda gal- With floods and fire around axy. See Rolando's write-up on page 14. So when disaster happens, mate On 22 September SASI held its Annu- Our mettle's pretty sound al Dinner which was a big hit with members thanks to Lou Pagano. See photos and write-up We pick ourselves up from the floor on page 20. The Astronomy 2019 Yearbook and guide To start again to sow to the Australian night sky is now available. The crops floods destroyed last year See Renae Moss for your copy. And watch the new lot grow The Secretary has just submitted club viewing nights for 2019 in an easy to read table format. See and print page 25 for your observa- And when disaster strikes our friends tional planning. From any other nation Sandy Galos has written a nice invitation We put aside our differences and summary of suggested activites for the And help, - no hesitation Summer Sizzler Star Party on his Grattai prop- erty to be held 26th thru 31st January. See page 27 for details. Hope you can come! But what we really do not want And finally, we hope you can make it to Above all other things GPO on Sunday 2nd December for the Christ- Is bigotry and wars mas BBQ to meet some new members and old And all those stinking things friends. Hope to see you all there! – Rolando De Michiel Happy Reading, Al, Rolando & Brett ☺ Page 4 In the News Dwarf Galaxy Found by Amateur By: Christopher Crockett | October 24, 2018 September - October 2018 Donatiello I is a tiny galaxy about 10 million light-years away, and it was discovered by an Italian Aussie Telescope Almost Doubles Known hobbyist with a homemade telescope..... Number of Mysterious ‘Fast Radio Bursts - See more at; https://www.skyandtelescope.com/ By Dr Ryan Shannon et al | October 11, 2018 astronomy-news/dwarf-galaxy-found-by-amateur/ Using a radio telescope in Western Australia, astronomers have nearly doubled the known num- Source for Europa Geysers Missing ber of 'fast radio bursts’— powerful flashes of radio By: Camille M. Carlisle | October 23, 2018 waves from deep space. The team's discoveries in- A new look at old data suggests there’s some- clude the closest and brightest fast radio bursts ever thing missing from suspected plumes on Europa: a detected and proof that FRBs come from the other heat source.... side of the Universe, rather than from.... - See more at: https://www.skyandtelescope.com/as- - See more at; https://www.icrar.org/bursts tronomy-news/source-for-europa-geysers-missing/ Ancient Merger Wreckage in the Two Explosions with Similar Quirks Milky Way By: AAS Nova | October 22, 2018 By: Camille M. Carlisle | October 31, 2018 When two neutron stars collided last August, Mounting evidence indicates that our galaxy forming a distinctive gravitational-wave signal and smashed up another smaller galaxy roughly 10 bil- a burst of radiation detected by telescopes