Carnival of Space #117 on Simostronomy August 26, 2009
Posted by astroed in Astronomy.Tags: Astronomy, Carnival of Space, space
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The latest edition, #117 is up, hosted on Simostronomy. Learn about analemmas and and the equation of time, send a message to Gliese 581d, get an update on planetary missions and much, much more.
Science Week Activities in Geraldton & Yalgoo August 25, 2009
Posted by astroed in Education.add a comment
Last week was a busy one, based in Geraldton in the Mid West region of Western Australia for a range of activities during National Science Week. After a day in Perth on Monday I flew up to Geraldton on Tuesday and went to give a series of talks to the students at Nagle Catholic College. Unfortunately a fight delay meant I arrived late and missed one of my scheduled talks. Luckily I was still able to give a talk about telescopes to the whole of Year 9. Despite having all just run the 1500m for their athletics competition they were engaged and well behaved. The students asked lots of interesting questions.
After a short break I returned to Nagle for an evening of teacher professional development that Mike Francis, Head of Science at Nagle, had organised for me. Teachers from Nagle, Geraldton Senior High School and Geraldton Grammar School attended. The poor weather that had delayed me in Perth persisted in Geraldton, depriving us of the chance to have a viewing night so I covered a range of practical demonstrations and indoor ideas instead. Having left my physio thermaband at home I had had to scout the clothes shops of Geraldton testing elastics to find something suitable for one of my favourite demos – the expanding Universe. Photo below. I was joined at Nagle by Megan Argo, a postdoc from Curtin University who is passionate about astronomy outreach. She was accompanied by a new PhD student at Curtin, Kevin, and his wife Agnes.
Expanding Universe demonstration
Wednesday morning I was up bright and early for an on-air lesson about telescopes at the Meekatharra School of the Air. The students are scattered across stations far and wide in the Mid West region with a few even up at Thursday Island in the Torres Strait. My lesson was well attended and I got some great questions. One of the mothers came on to ask about a strange light they had seen the night before. As with many folk who live in the outback I found her description detailed and helpful. She had seen a very bright light, lasting 5-6 seconds travelling east to west across 160 degrees of the night sky around 8.30pm. It was bright blue and seemed to be giving off sparks. My best guess was either a very bright meteor or possibly some space junk. It later turned out this was seen far and wide with many similar descriptions. Pity I missed it.
On-air lesson at Meekatharra School of the Air
After my lesson I headed out east for a few hours to the outback with Barbara Glenister, the Mentor Principal for school in the Murchison region. We headed for Yalgoo where I and Megan were running a viewing night for students from three schools; Yalgoo Primary, Pia Wadjarri Remote Community School and Sandstone Primary. On the way we stopped to look at some of the stunning wildflowers; the Mid West region of WA is renowned as one of the best spots in the world for wildflowers.
Fortunately the clouds cleared as the afternoon progressed so by evening it was stunningly clear. We had a few 20cm Dobsonians and were able to show the students and parents a range of telescopic sights including Jupiter, the Jewel Box cluster, Omega Centauri and more. The clarity and darkness of the night sky was fantastic. The arch of the zodiacal light was prominent. The clouds of the Milky Way showed amazing gradation and subtlety. Despite being low on the horizon I was able to point the telescope at Eta Carinae and the Keyhole Nebula and see the nebulosity clearly with pinpoint star images, an indication of the quality of the sky. We also pointed out constellation sot the students and tried out the Big Aussie Star Hunt. Needless to say we image 7 in the sky hunt!
The students were excited but tired quickly so we had a chance to spend 20 minutes photographing the sky ourselves before packing up. Luckily for me Barbara was driving so I got back safely to Geraldton late at night.
On the Thursday evening I gave a talk about the scientific work of Galileo. This was the prelude to the Junior Players of Theatre 8’s performance of Brecht’s The Life of Galileo. Their performance was done as 50’s style radio play, with the young actors changing outfits onstage for different characters. The play was somewhat condensed with links provided by a narrator/radio announcer. Overall a very enjoyable night with some fine performances by some of the young cast.
Big Aussie Star Hunt extended to 30 August. August 20, 2009
Posted by astroed in Astronomy.Tags: Astronomy, Big Aussie Star Hunt, national science week
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Due to cloudy weather over much of Western Australia this week the ABC has just announced an extension to the Big Aussie Star Hunt. You can now observe Scorpius and enter your results and competition form on the website before midday Monday 31 August. Every observation logged puts you in the draw for $2,000 of goodies from the ABC Shop.
Fortunately my viewing night in WA last night was clear of clouds and absolutely stunning. Hopefully I’ll have some pics to post soon.
Carnival of Space #116 August 18, 2009
Posted by astroed in Astronomy.Tags: Astronomy, blogs, Carnival of Space
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Seems I was rather slow posting about Carnival of Space #115 last night. Carnival of Space #116 is now live at Habitation Intentions. Lots of interesting things to read and view.
Carnival of Space #115 August 17, 2009
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The Carnival of Space is a great weekly compendium of some of the best astronomy/space blog writing out there. It is hosted by a different blogger each week. Issue #115 is hosted by New Frontier News.
One of these days I mean to write something of interest to post to the Carnival. Meantime, don’t hesitate to go and read the latest issue.
Science Week in Geraldton August 17, 2009
Posted by astroed in Education.Tags: Astronomy, Big Aussie Star Hunt, galileo, Geraldton, national science week, schools, theatre
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I’ve got a busy week ahead of me. I’m flying over to Geraldton in Western Australia for a series of events as part of National Science Week. Tomorrow I’m giving several talks to students at Nagle Catholic College in the afternoon followed by some professional development for teachers in the region and, hopefully, a viewing night.
The following morning I’ll be up bright and early as I have an on-air lesson about telescopes with students from the Meekatharra School of the Air. After that I drive out a few hours to Yalgoo (the first town in the Outback) where I’ll be taking part in a viewing evening for students from three schools, Yalgoo, Pia Wadjarri and Sandstone, who have come together for a few days for their athletics carnival. I’ll be joined by Megan Argos from Curtin (AstroMeg). We plan on getting the students to take part in the Big Aussie Star Hunt, the national project for Science Week.
On Thursday I’m giving a public talk about the life and work of Galileo at 7.30pm in the Queen Elizabeth Theatre prior to Theatre Eight’s production of Brecht’s The Life of Galileo.
It should be a busy but fun and rewarding week. Hopefully I’ll get some photos and more information up about the various events later.
What will Scorpius look like for the Big Aussie Star Hunt? August 14, 2009
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Starting on Saturday 15th August and running through to the 23rd August, Australians are encouraged to take part in the Big Aussie Star Hunt, this year’s National Project for National Science Week. As I’ve already discussed a key component of this program is getting people across the nation to go outside at night and observe the constellation of Scorpius. They can then compare their naked-eye observations with a series of eight diagrams to find which one best matches with what they see then log their results online via a simple form on the website. With enough observations from across the nation we hope to be able to map out light pollution.
On the website you can download some excellent sky maps and finder charts prepared by Kym Thalassoudis of Skymaps.com. There are eight charts showing what Scorpius looks like at different limiting magnitudes.
Now just to make the observations even more interesting it seems that a couple of stars in Scorpius are going through an interesting phase. Mike Simonsen, regular astronomy blogger and variable star observer reports that both Antares (alpha Scorpii) and delta Scorpii are much dimmer than normal at present. Read this story, the Scorpion’s Heart and Eye Grow Faint on his blog to learn more than go out and check for your yourself next week.
Brecht’s The Life of Galileo in Geraldton August 13, 2009
Posted by astroed in Astronomy, General.Tags: galileo, Geraldton, national science week, theatre
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Next week I am in the Mid West region of Western Australia for a series of events supporting National Science Week.
One of these is on Thursday, 20 August at the Queens Park Theatre in Geraldton. The Junior Players of Theatre Eight are presenting Bertolt Brecht’s The Life of Galileo at 8pm. Prior to this at 7.30pm I will be giving a public talk at the theatre about Galileo, discussing his contributions to science, especially physics and astronomy. The play itself runs for the following two nights at 7.30pm with a matinee on at 2pm on the Saturday. Tickets are available for $10 from Queens Park Theatre on 08 9956 6662.
Poster for Theatre Eight's production of The Life of Galileo
PULSE@Parkes from VSSEC August 7, 2009
Posted by astroed in Astronomy, Education.Tags: Parkes, PULSE@Parkes, VSSEC
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We’ve just finished a PULSE@Parkes observing session at the Victorian Space Science Education Centre, VSSEC. Students from Strathmore Secondary College, Footscray City Secondary College and Braemar College controlled the iconic 64m Parkes radio telescope remotely from Melbourne to observe pulsars.
As a first this session was broadcast live via twitter (@PULSEatParkes) to followers around the world.
Here is the media release. I’ll put more details up soon.
The Big Aussie Star Hunt, 15-23 August 2009 August 6, 2009
Posted by astroed in Astronomy, Education.add a comment
Get involved in this year’s National Project for National Science Week, the Big Aussie Star Hunt. This is a great opportunity to engage students and the public in astronomy. The project is designed to get people to go outside and learn more about the night sky. To achieve this there are several components:
- Tours, both a virtual one to try on your computer and an outdoors one.
- The star hunt survey which asks participants to locate Crux and Scorpius and compare their observations of Scorpius with eight diagrams to match the appropriate one. They then enter their results in a simple online form. The results are combined to produce what will hopefully be the largest night sky and light pollution survey conducted in Australia. This survey runs 15 -23 August. Submitting observations automatically enters you for a competition to win a bundle of stuff from the ABC store. There is also a schools competition.
- Tips and Tools; including reviews and links to great free software such as Stellarium, Celestia, Microsoft WorldWide Telescope and Google Sky. You can also learn how to find South using the stars,
- Special features including Aboriginal astronomy, a night sky quiz, ask an expert sections on several topics including light pollution and a photo gallery.
- A section with information for teachers. This includes my tips on how to run a viewing night and more.
- Links to other dark sky projects such as Globe at Night and other useful astronomical sites.
You can download a nine-page PDF with sky charts and background material to help with the viewing. There is also a narrated sky tour by Fred Watson that you can download as an MP3. The ABC Science Online team have done a great job developing this site and it was a pleasure working them from the initial conception onwards.
Go and visit the site then get out and look up in Science Week!
Big Aussie Star Hunt promotional poster
