16 September 2009

Earlier start for 26th September OGM

As discussed at recent meetings, the AAQ OGM will start one hour earlier at 3pm starting from September 26th and will continue at this earlier time for the rest of 2009. This decision takes advantage of the STBP offer of an extra half hour for the OGMs, on the condition that we start at 3pm instead of 4pm and finish by 5:30pm, allowing more time for members who wish to present images or more Items of Astronomical Interest, or simply to discuss meeting topics in more detail.

September OGM (starts at 3pm)
The Main Item this month will be Julian West presenting his talk on DIY Spectroscopy. Julian is an experienced speaker and many of our regular attendees are looking forward to this presentation.
The BFN observing session follows after the September OGM and will be held on the lawns above the STBP, as we did in August; Tony Dutton will highlight the targets chosen.
Astrofest 2009 was another huge success with the number of attendee nights significantly higher than the previous year; Astrofest substituted for our normal August DSO. As noted at the August OGM, several AAQ members won prizes in the Astrofest raffle: thanks again to the vendor/retailers who donate their wonderful prizes.

September Field Nights

As noted above, the BFN will immediately follow the OGM in the Mt Coot-tha grounds just west of the STBP. Remember to bring your telescope to the OGM, unless you live close to the grounds and do not need to return home to collect your equipment.

Subject to weather, there will be a DSO (Deep Sky Observing) at the Harrisville OATS site from 4-11pm on 19th September. Remember, you can find out about AAQ field nights by navigating from the ‘Activities' tab on the website, http://www.aaq.org.au
During September, I had the pleasure of participating in two AAQ Education field nights at St Oliver Plunkett (Cannon Hill, grade 1) and St Peter and Paul (Bulimba, grade 4, photo: view from staff balcony). Both classes were a credit to their teachers who had obviously prepared the students for their viewing nights. Special acknowledgement to Terry Cuttle at the Bulimba school, where he managed two telescopes, one on Jupiter and the other on a double star (α Centauri), let alone the impact his green laser had on the students!

Joint Societies Observing Night, 24th October
Mark Rigby, curator of the STBP, has organised a Joint Societies Public viewing night at the planetarium for Saturday, 24th October. This will start at 7pm and coincides with our normal October OGM and BFN night, so be aware that there will be a large number of people at the BFN on this occasion.

Membership
Welcome to our newest member, Stephen Gilmore.