Perth Observatory Volunteer Group Spring Equinox 2018

PERTH OBSERVATORY NEWSLETTER SPRING EQUINOX 2018

FIREBALLS IN THE PERTH SKY

MEDIA FRENZIES AND METEORITES TAKING OVER THE PERTH REGION

SETTING TIME ASTRONOMICAL CLOCKS ON A MUCH LARGER SCALE

JOIN US

CALLING ALL ARTISTS A BILLIONAIRES PLAN TO BRING ART FROM THE MOON TO EARTH

CALLING ALL ARTISTS

BE INSPIRED BY A FREE TRIP TO THE MOON

ENJOY THE PERKS OF BECOMING A PERTH OBSERVATORY VOLUNTEER

MARS A CLOSE ENCOUNTER WITH OUR RED COUSIN

"HOLY-FLIPP'N ROVERS" IT'S ALL BOUNCING ON ASTEROID RYUGU

CONTACT US

SUMMER NIGHT TOURS ARE COMING

PERTH OBSERVATORY P.O. Box 212, 5729 Wesley Rd. London +20 (36) 123 50 60 hello@talkoftown.com www.talkoftown.com

Experience our amazing night sky through our wide range of telescopes at our sky viewing nights. Our Volunteers will take you on a grand tour of the

EDITORIAL

Southern Hemisphere’s sky with a wide range of targets including Nebulas, planets, dying stars, and enormous star clusters.

MICHELLE ASHLEYEMILE Editor-In-Chief

JOHN FORD You will also be able to browse our museum and see historical instruments,

Operations Editor

our meteorite exhibit, astrophotographs

MINDY GO

& artwork, and admire the beauty of the

Technical Editor

Atlas Coelestis, the first Star Atlas ever printed in 1729 from the work of John Flamsteed, the First Astronomer Royal at the Greenwich Observatory in Great Britain.

Adult: $40.00 Concession: $30.00

CONTRIBUTORS Michelle Ashley-Emile, John Ford, Matthew Woods, Julie Mathews, Brendan Hill.

Child: $20.00 Tours Start: 8:00pm in October 8:30pm Nov - Feb

SUBSCRIPTIONS SUBSCRIBE ONLINE

MOORG REGOR :EGAMI

BOOK YOUR TOUR

www.talkoftown.com/ subscribe

IT'S A BRILLIANT SURFACE IN THAT SUNLIGHT. THE HORIZON SEEMS QUITE CLOSE TO YOU BECAUSE THE CURVATURE IS SO MUCH MORE PRONOUNCED THAN HERE ON EARTH. IT'S AN INTERESTING PLACE TO BE. I RECOMMEND IT. Niel Armstrong

CONTENT 01 A View Through the Eyepiece 03 Upcoming Events

04 Halloween Night Tour 05 In the Zone

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07 Great Balls of Fire

08 Perth Science Festival

09 That's Not a Clock

11 Volunteering at the Perth Observatory

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14 Dear Moon

15 Mars

16 michelle 17 Hyden in Plain Sight

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16 FIND US HERE

CONTENT 18

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18 Book Review 19 Movie Review 20 What's Up In the Sky?

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35 AstroShop 36 The Funny Space

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37 Recipe - Alien Pretzels

38 An Image From Hubble

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38 The Perth Observatory 337 Walnut Road Bickley Western Australia PO Box 179 Kalamunda WA 6926 Phone: (08) 9293 8255 Fax: (08) 9293 8138 info@perthobservatory.com.au www.perthobservatory.com.au Office Times: 10am to 4:30pm Mon - Fri (exclude public holidays), and open for scheduled tours

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A VIEW THROUGH THE EYEPIECE WORDS BY Diana Rosman

With beautiful Spring days, wildflowers and clear skies, we look back and marvel at the enthusiasm and engagement of so many who came along to our winter night tours. Often despite cold, cloudy days, participants were rewarded by a break in the clouds and some of the most amazing views of stars imaginable. Our event hosts and telescope operators who were there, confirm that winter viewing on a clear cold night is the best there is and this winter season with early start times we had the added thrill of having four planets to explore through our telescopes.

This August we were enthusiastic participants in the Science Week festival at Claremont Showgrounds with our booth being really popular and our Astroshop science themed books and activities in high demand. At the same time, we were honoured as one of four finalists in Science Engagement category of the Premiers Science Award. Attending the awards ceremony enabled us to showcase Perth Observatory as a living museum and promote our public engagement program to the academic science community. Our congratulations to the category winner, Rio Tinto Naturescape in Kings Park. Interestingly we were the only volunteer run organisation to enter any of the categories in this prestigious competition.

Along with tours and events for adults and families, we run School Day Tours for primary school children who attend as a class with their teachers to enjoy hands on activities and site tours. They use simple telescopes, make sundials and learn about the essentials of survival on the moon, among many other curriculum based activities specifically designed for their age group.

Just this week, we were again rewarded for a huge effort in preparing detailed applications, for official Australian Tourism Accreditation and then for the Perth Airport Tourism Council of WA’s awards. In Fremantle on Thursday, we became one of five finalists in the “Tourist Attractions” category of the awards, with the category winners to be announced in November.

We are so pleased to be emerging as a tourist destination, with many people dropping by during office hours to find out more about the many viewing options. Some are pleased to discover we have regular Night Tours each weekend bookable via the website, with others more interested in special events such as star adoptions, exclusive night tours, guided day tours and our open afternoons on the first Sunday of each month.

Recently we were also pleased to welcome UK visitors Trevor and Kate Dunn to a night viewing and post viewing soiree. Trevor was the first chairperson of POVG and drafted our first constitution in the late 1990s. We wish Trevor and Kate a wonderful Aussie outback holiday and event filled retirement, hoping they will return to WA to visit the Observatory again soon.

As we continue to expand our volunteer base in response to increasing demand by our loyal customers the second recruitment and training program for 2018 is now in full swing. In a few weeks they will be ready to participate in tours and complete their training “ on the job” over the busy summer season. Our next volunteer intake will be in March 2019, so if you’d like to join us, please send an expression of interest via https://www.perthobservatory.com.au/become-avolunteer.

Wherever you are located, I hope you enjoy reading the astronomy and space stories in this Spring Equinox edition of the Perth Observatory Newsletter presented by the talented POVG “vollies”. Please also note our hints about what to look for in our skies at this time of year.

Diana Rosman (POVG Chairperson)

FRONT COVER IMAGE BY FIREBALLS IN THE SKY

CONTRIBUTORS

CONTACT US

EDITORIAL

PERTH OBSERVATORY 337 Walnut Road 6076 Bickley, WA

MICHELLE ASHLEY- Michelle Ashley-Emile, EMILE John Ford, Matthew Editor-In-Chief

JOHN FORD Operations Editor

(08) 9293 8255 newsletter@povg.org www.perthobservatory.com.au

Woods, Julie Mathews, Brendan Hill, Arthur Harvey, Geoff Scott, Roger Groom,

SUBSCRIPTIONS Click Below to subscribe to our newsletter

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THE PERTH OBSERVATORY

UPCOMING EVENTS ADVENTURE

STORYTELLING, SUNSETS & STARGAZING We invite you to join our guides on a Storytelling, Sunsets and Stargazing experience, taking a

FUN

DR WHO NIGHT

Come up dressed as your favorite Doctor Who character to the Perth Observatory to celebrate everything Doctor Who on the night of Tardis Day. This Friday the 23rd of November is the 57th anniversary of the debut episode of Doctor Who, and we’ll have Doctor Who characters at the Observatory and maybe even a Dalek. Our telescope operators will be ready to show you stunning objects whether including massive nebula, double stars, old and young open star clusters.

step back in time learning about history and culture of Western Australia's first national park, John Forrest National Park.

This is a 5.6km hike along the

Experience our amazing night sky through our wide range of telescopes at our sky viewing nights. Our Volunteers will take you on a grand tour of the Southern Hemisphere’s sky with a wide range of targets including Nebulas, planets, dying stars, and enormous star clusters.

Railway Heritage & Eagle View Walking Trails through mixed forest and varied terrain within the park. The section from National Park Falls to the Eagle View Lookout is undulating as we

You will also be able to browse our museum and see historical instruments, our meteorite exhibit, astrophotographs & artwork, and admire the beauty of the Atlas Coelestis, the first Star Atlas ever printed in 1729 from the work of John Flamsteed, the First Astronomer Royal at the Greenwich Observatory in Great Britain.

walk along the ridge of the valley wall, then there is a slightly more challenging component as we

We’ll also be giving out great prizes on the night for the best adult and child costume so make sure you dress up for a chance to win.

descend for approximately 20mins to Rocky Pool below. A relatively steep section, but with care and ease can be done quite safely. Hiking Poles are handy, if you have them bring them for this section.

Group Size: Max 15 $45 adults, $35 children, $140 family (2a + 2c)

Location and Times: Swan View Railway Heritage Hub December 8th - 5.30pm - 9.15pm GET YOUR TICKETS

Adult: $45.00 Concession: $35.00 Child: $25.00 Start Time: 8:30 pm

GET YOUR TICKETS

This 31st of October put your costume on, get on your broomstick and head up to the Perth Observatory for an amazing Halloween Night and Dark Matter Day.

The Observatory will be decorated and the volunteers in costume for this special night. We’ll also be giving out great prizes on the night for the best adult and child costume so please come in a costume.

Experience our amazing night sky through our wide range of telescopes at our sky viewing nights. Our Volunteers will take you on a grand tour of the Southern Hemisphere’s sky with a wide range of targets including Nebulas, planets, dying stars, and enormous star clusters.

You will also be able to browse our museum and see historical instruments, our meteorite exhibit, astrophotographs & artwork, and admire the beauty of the Atlas Coelestis, the first Star Atlas ever printed in 1729 from the work of John Flamsteed, the First Astronomer Royal at the Greenwich Observatory in Great Britain.

We’ll be showcasing ghostly objects on the night so book now

Wednesday 31st October 2018. Start Time: 8:00pm

Adult: $45.00 Concession: $35.00 Child: $25.00

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The Perth Observatory Halloween Night Sky Tour

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and the role of Australia along with its strategic partners in the Indo-Pacific region. Our capabilities in this area continue to evolve, building upon the recent establishment of Australian Space Agency. In collaboration with The University of Western Australia, the Perth USAsia Centre is hosting the 2018 In The Zone (ITZ) conference with a focus on space policy and international engagement. “The Zone Above: The Indo-Pacific Era in Space” will bring together experts from across the region for a thought-provoking discussion on Australia’s strategy to work with its Indo-Pacific partners to secure space, maintain the space environment, and enhance earth observation capabilities. Join us at ITZ to influence and shape Australia’s space agenda exploring three key themes:

SECURITY Indo-Pacific countries will need to ensure access and use of the “Zone Above” is free, assured, and secure. Space technology can have military, intelligence, and civilian applications, so a code of conduct and agreed norms are needed to maintain trust and cooperation. What kind of legal and political frameworks are necessary to secure space? What are the risks involved with the technologies that we are developing?

EARTH OBSERVATION Scientists rely on earth observation satellites as their “eye in the sky” to collect critical data and visualise information needed to solve terrestrial problems, including climate change and water scarcity. Satellite constellations provide services like precision navigation and provide information and communications technology to remote areas. What other cutting-edge applications does earth observation have? Which emerging problems could earth observation help solve?

SPACE ENVIRONMENT Low-earth orbits are becoming crowded with debris like remnants of spent rocket stages and decommissioned satellites, making collisions more likely and earth observation more difficult. There are risks for all countries if the space environment becomes unusable. How can countries cooperate to clean up the space environment? As traffic increases, what tools do we have to prevent low-earth orbits from becoming cluttered with debris?

Date and Time: Monday, 8 October 2018, 8:30am - 5:00pm Location: Optus Stadium, 333 Victoria Park Drive, Burswood, WA 6100

NOTABLE SPEAKERS The Hon Kim Beazley AC

Dr Megan Clark AC

Governor of Western Australia

Head, Australian Space Agency

The Hon Mark McGowan MLA Premier of Western Australia

Professor Peter Klinken AC FTSE Chief Scientist of WA

The Hon Julie Bishop Former Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs

Pamela A. Melroy Director, Space Technology and Policy at Nova Systems; former NASA Astronaut and Space Shuttle Commander

FOR THE FULL LIST OF SPEAKERS AND TO BOOK YOUR SEAT CLICK HERE

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Perth’s Optus Stadium will set the scene for a thought-provoking conference, delving into space exploration,

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The response from the Western Australian public

GREAT BALLS OF FIRE

has been amazing, within minutes of the meteor exploding, Twitter and Reddit was abuzz and the Perth Observatory received dozens of calls from frantic people all saying they had witnessed it.

After I talked to Chris Ilsley on 6PR we were inundated with footage of the meteor and news agencies across the country including The West Australian, News.com.au, Daily Telegraph and

WRITTEN

international news agencies including CNN, Daily

MATT WOODS

Mail, Guardian, Space.com and Yahoo picked up the story. The next day got even busier with both The Fireballs in the Sky team from Curtin University (http://fireballsinthesky.com.au) and myself being interviewed by the ABC, Channel 7,

After a week we’re we saw a change of Prime Minister, you couldn’t believe things could get

9 and 10 for their nightly news, plus we did countless radio interviews across Australia.

any fierier. But that’s the thing about the universe, it always has a way of proving us wrong. On the night of the 28th at 19:40 (AWST), A meteoroid approximately a metre in

NI.SUDNIMAET :EGAMI

diameter that was minding its own business orbiting around the sun meet its dynasty as the Earth moved into its orbital path and it entered our atmosphere, becoming a meteor or what some call a fireball or bolide (French for missile).

The glow from the meteor was caused by friction on the meteor as it was going through the atmosphere. These meteors enter the atmosphere at 15 to 20 km per second which melts the outer layers of the meteor making it glow. The fascinating thing about the glow is that it can tell us the makeup of the meteor, the greenish/yellowish glow of this meteor means it was made up of magnesium and iron. The friction from our atmosphere also causes the meteor to heat up and expand, which then caused it to air burst (explode) while still travelling through our atmosphere and possibly land in multiple

The Fireballs in the Sky team are currently investigating whether the meteor hit the earth near the town of York which is around 100 km east of Perth. They have a camera network around Perth and their Northam camera managed to capture the meteor in an image. They also had 20+ people report the meteor through their Fireballs in the Sky mobile app which is helping them to triangulate where the possible pieces of the meteor may have landed and when they can narrow down the search area which should take a couple of weeks they go hunting.

locations.

YROTAVRESBO HTREP :MI

WRITTEN BY JULIE MATTHEWS

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PERTH SCIENCE FESTIVAL

Perth Science Festival 18th and 19th August 2018 We had an amazing weekend at the recent Perth Science Festival. The Showground was humming with families queued up to enter the pavilion well before the advertised starting time. We met some wonderful people and enjoyed talking about Perth Observatory and coaxing the public to come visit us for a tour.

The Astro Shop was very popular and Matt Woods had the children enthralled with his fun experiments and activities.

Thank you to everyone who helped with the festival and see you all again next year!

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That’s not a clock …

THAT'S A CLOCK! Perth Observatory has its Kulbergs and its Shortts … but they are not clocks. At least not in the same sense as the Astronomical Clock in Beauvais Cathedral in northern France. Never was Paul Hogan’s line in “Crocodile Dundee” so convincingly apparent than when we saw this masterpiece of the clockmaker’s art The work of Auguste Lucien Verite [1806 -1887], this ‘exceptional collection’ of 9000 wheels, levers, rods and gears brings together all the known details of timekeeping in a staggering 52 dials. As if this was not enough, there are also 68 automata displaying the religious ‘raison d’etre’ for this clock.

Three years in construction there is astonishing beauty in both the dials and the mechanical workings which are unfortunately not very visible.

The Beauvais Clock is not the only masterpiece created by Verite. In Bescanon there is one similar but smaller and there are numerous other examples of his work although not all are readily accessible or in such remarkable condition.

There are also other astronomical clocks to be found around Europe and they are more than worth the effort to locate.

The pictures show: The Main clock with it centre, left and right collection of dials.

The pendulum which has a combination of brass & steel rods to help prevent inaccuracies due to expansion. The four dials visible in this picture are: Top left: The hour & minute of sunrise Btm left: The day of the week Top Right: The hour & minute of sunset Btm Right: The planet which gives it name to this day.

The left hand group of dials which are: The outer ring at the bottom: the date & saint of the day. Within this ring, the three dials show the phases and the epact of the Moon and the mean time of the Moon’s passing through the Beauvais meridian.

The nine dials above show the local time and the time in eight other French towns.

The top dial shows the Sun’s rise and set times at Beauvais.

On the left lateral side there are three dials: they show the tide times at Mont St Michel, a celestial map [dial 43, see picture] and the dates of solar eclipses visible from Beauvais.

The movements of the planets around the Sun are shown on Dial 45 on the right lateral side which is unfortunately not visible to the public.

BEAUVAIS ASTRONOMICAL CLOCK

WORDS AND IMAGES BY ARTHUR HARVEY

Busy Bee Day

VOLUNTEERING AT PERTH OBSERVATORY A big welcome to our newest recruit of volunteers for School, Day and Night Tours, Heritage, Administration, and Maintenance. We value your interest in the Perth Observatory Volunteer Group and look forward to getting to know you.

Volunteers are the necessary cogs that keep the Perth Observatory running. If you’re not a volunteer already, have you ever thought of becoming one? Here are the areas that need Volunteers: Night Tours Learn how to operate the Observatory’s telescopes for a Night Sky tour and talk to small groups about objects in the night sky; or on a cloudy night, assist with the presentations and tours of the facility. Training for experienced presenters to become a tour host is also offered.

School Day Tours Learn how to interact with small groups of primary school children, describe a basic scientific topic or activity and encourage students to participate. School Day Tours are held during school hours Monday to Friday.

Guided Day Tours Learn how to take a small group on a tour of the Observatory, explain astronomical concepts and describe the role of the Observatory, its museum, and telescopes.

Heritage Group Learn how to research the background of heritage items and documents, enter data into the heritage database and work on interpretation material, as needed.

Celebrity Tours, are some of the perks.

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Office Support Learn how to respond to customer calls, change bookings, greet visitors, general office activities and help in the Astro Shop. These tasks are generally done Monday to Friday between 10am and 4pm.

Making life-long friends through our love of astronomy and science

Maintenance Assist with general maintenance of the Observatory buildings and grounds. This includes gardening, painting and assorted manual tasks.

All our volunteers go through a four week introduction to the Perth Observatory Group combined with initial training, before branching off into their area of interest to learn under the mentoring system.

We don’t throw anyone straight in the deep end and are always supportive of each other.

There’s benefits too! You get to make friends with like minded people of all ages with an interest in science outreach and history.

Caring, funny and inspiring people who are happy to give up their personal time to keep the Observatory running. We also have social events, busy bees, ongoing training in many areas and after you have given a certain amount of hours you are given the opportunity to bring some friends up for a Night Sky Tour.

Till Operator Friendly Till Operators for both Night and Day Tours are needed in our Astro Shop. Instruction is given and you get the added bonus of helping the Host give the public a warm welcome to the Observatory..

VOLUNTEERS ARE THE NECESSARY COGS THAT KEEP THE PERTH OBSERVATORY RUNNING. JULIE MATTHEWS

If you’d like to join our happy crew, fill out the Volunteer Application Form on our website HERE Getting to play with the coolest toys

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DEAR MOON WRITTEN BY BRENDAN HILL

When Humans first raced into space, the main driving factors pushing and more importantly funding the research required were mainly political. The Governments of the USA and USSR pushed each other further and further, vying to be the “first” to achieve the milestones that we are all familiar with, first in space, first to orbit the moon and of course first to walk on the moon. This was done to score propaganda points and to confirm any perceived military advantage. Despite the increasingly aggressive stance of modern day Russia and the infamous “Space Force” touted by President Trump, the appetite of the two great superpowers to continue their advance into space seems to have dried up over the last couple of decades.

"If John Lennon could have seen the curvature of the Earth, what kind of songs would he have written?"

So going forward, who is going to drive the advance of humanity further and further into space? While there is some advance from the traditionally smaller players in the space race, such as the Chinese and Japanese governments, it increasingly looks like the largest future advances in space exploration are going to be made for commercial rather than political reasons. Companies like SpaceX, Virgin Galactic, and Blue Origin are leading the way in this space with the first main commercialisation opportunity being “Space Tourism” with wealthy individuals providing funding for the opportunity to experience space for themselves.

The latest and most ambitious of these projects is the recently announced “Dear Moon” project.

Yusaku Maezawa has paid an undisclosed (but large) amount to SpaceX to become the first space tourist to complete a full lunar orbit. The trip is due to occur in 2023 and will use the as yet undeveloped SpaceX B.F.R. (the “B” stand for “Big” and the “R” stands for “Rocket”, SpaceX have not disclosed what the “F” stands for). It is expected that the trip will take 4 or 5 days, and Mr Maezawa does not intend on spending that time alone.

Mr Maezawa has announced that on his trip he will be taking a selection of artists in order to share the unique experience of leaving the planet with as many people as possible, through the art that is then created. In Mr Maezawa’s own words; “If Pablo Picasso had been able to see the moon up-close, what kind of paintings would he have drawn? If John Lennon could have seen the curvature of the Earth, what kind of songs would he have written? If they had gone into space, how would the world have looked today?

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BRIGHTER THAN BRUNO WRITTEN BY JOHN FORD

This winter our skies had a visit from Mars, one of our inner solar system neighbours.

Even a casual glance towards the East in the evening showed a bright and vivid orangered star outshining even Jupiter. Normally, Mars is a slight let-down looking through the telescope: not much more than a small orange ball with no features. However, this year we could add this fascinating planet to our viewing list, with features such as the polar ice caps and surface colour variations easily visible.

"... a casual glance towards the East in the evening showed a bright and vivid orange-red star outshining even Jupiter."

Why is Mars so “mercurial” with its brightness? One main reason is due to its slightly unusual orbit compared to Earth. As Tycho, Kepler and Newton painstakingly worked out, the planets orbit in ellipses—not circles—around the Sun, so the planet’s distance to the Sun can change. Earth’s orbit close to circular; it’s distance to the Sun varies by 5 million kilometres during the year. Mars, however, has a much larger variation of about 43 million kilometres! So when the Sun, Earth, and Mars form a line— known as opposition—Mars could be as close as 60 million kilometres or as far away as 100 million kilometres.

So how often does Mars put on its show?

During their orbits, Earth and Mars enter opposition every 2.1 years (give or take a month). Each opposition is about 50 degrees further on from the previous opposition, so every 15-17 years, Earth and Mars are in opposition when Mars is at its closest to the Sun. This is when the Red Planet really does “assume the port of Mars”.

The next opposition in 2020 will less bright than this year’s, but still very prominent. Thereafter, Mars will become rapidly dimmer each opposition until 2031 and 2033 when it will approach the brilliance we have seen this year. If you’d like to see Mars at its best, better visit us soon!

IMAGE:SPACE.COM

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HOPPING ONTO THE NEAREST ASTEROID

WRITTEN BY MICHELLE ASHLEY- EMILE

JAXA prepared for another attempt with the Hayabusa2 spacecraft leaving earth 2014 touching down on asteroid 162173 Ryugu in 2018. The uniqueness of this mission comes in the form of the small MINERVA-II1 Rovers engineered to encounter the unpredictable terrain of the asteroid. The rovers are identical and are of cylinder shape weighing 1.1 kg each, 18cm in diameter and 7 cm tall (similar to a robotic vacuum cleaner). They contain a stereo camera, wide-angle camera, and thermometers and are powered by Solar cells and double layer capacitors. Unlike the rovers we know on Mars the MINERVA-II1 rovers move by hopping across the asteroid surface. Due to the rocky terrain and uneven shape they use a torque generated by rotating masses within the rovers. Hopping is with caution though, as asteroids have

For the last 15 years, The Japanese Aerospace Exploration (JAXA) has been developing and sending

such a weak gravitational pull a hop too high can send them bouncing through space.

probes to nearby asteroids in to hope to gather samples and data, learning more about the beginnings and composition of our solar system.

After an attempt in 2003 with the launch of spacecraft Hayabusa onto the asteroid 25143 Itokawa, it was the first spacecraft to land on an asteroid and return with a sample, however, failed to launch its detachable mini lander MINERVA.

A short video sent back to Earth on the 23rd of September 2018, shows the mission as so far successful, with data and high definition images clearly showing the unusual landscape and geology of Ryugu. JAXA is certainly one to watch over the next few years with planned missions to Mercury and exploration of Martian Moons.

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HYDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT

By

John

Photo

Ford

by

John

Ford

After a warming sausage sizzle, Matt gave everyone a talk on our solar system, with the bright planets providing a perfect backdrop. Then, despite a few patchy non-Magellanic clouds, the many students and parents that turned up were treated to great views of Venus, Mars, Saturn and Jupiter, taking advantage of this lucky line-up of planets. Later, some of the keener attendees who braved the cold were shown some deep-sky targets including the

Many of our mostly Perth-residing POVG volunteers always enjoy the chance to head to regional areas in

globular cluster 47 Tucanae, the Ring planetary nebula and the galaxy Centaurus A.

WA where some of the darkest night skies in the world are. So naturally when Hyden Primary School asked us to come out in August to show them the night sky through telescopes, volunteer coordinator Matt Woods and volunteer John Ford packed the van and headed to the wheat belt town of Hyden.

POVG volunteers enjoy presenting night sky tours to lots of different people in lots of different places throughout WA: the darker the better! If you would like some POVG volunteers to attend your event, get in contact with us.

NOMADIC

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N E R D I N A B O O K C L U B

AND A BIT ABOUT THE BOOK ARTEMIS BY ANDY WEIR

BOOK REVIEW BY JULIE MATTHEWS WELCOME TO ARTEMIS. The first city on the moon.

Population 2,000.

Mostly tourists. Some criminals.

Jazz Bashara is one of the criminals. She lives in a poor area of Artemis and subsidises her work as a porter with smuggling contraband onto the moon. But it’s not enough.

So when she’s offered the chance to make a lot of money she jumps at it. But though planning a crime in 1/6th gravity may be more fun, it’s a lot more dangerous…

As soon as I read the above synopsis by Penguin Books I knew that I had to read this book.

What’s more, I knew I’d found the perfect novel to inflict on my poor long-suffering Book Club.

Sometimes I feel a little sorry for the other members of my Book Club. We’re a group of mixed aged mum’s who share the bond of having our children once going to the same Primary School. I admit, their literary tastes can be a little different to mine. I’ve valiantly worked my way through stories full of love, drama, true life murders or kidnapping, those with a “message” (not another self-help book with affirmations!) and of course the “clever” books – I still get a headache thinking about “Rhubarb”. So, when it is my turn to announce my selection, I quietly enjoy the looks of apprehension and panic on my fellow Bookclubber’s faces. Early on, they learnt too late that I am a total nerd and science fiction fan.

My mission was to bring the joy of science fiction to these women no matter how much they begged and pleaded for something “normal”.

They were slightly mollified by me selecting “Artemis” as it is by Andy Weir and I’d previously forced them to not only read “The Martian” but watch the movie version. They had been pleasantly surprised by The Martian and actually enjoyed it, though I must admit most of the comments seemed to be centred around Matt Damon and not the physics, I mean could you really grow potatoes from your own ……?

I don’t want to give away too much about “Artemis”. It’s a rollicking space adventure where our main character, Jazz, gets into one scrape after another, each decision worse than the one before. She’s rude, offensive, funny, incredibly brilliant and as we discover at the end has a heart of gold.

There’s a lot of easy to understand physics and technical language in all the right places and Andy Weir describes living on the moon in so much well thought out detail that it is 100% believable. I now desperately wish I could visit the Apollo 11 Visitor Centre and go exploring in a hamster ball!

My Bookclub survived the re-hash of the novel, including when the emergency sirens went off and I had to evacuate them into the “airlock” (tent) until the air decontamination systems worked. Interestingly enough, they weren’t allowed to leave the air lock until they had discussed the story (hee hee).

I thoroughly recommend “Artemis” for those of you who like an exciting, realistic space adventure that also gets you thinking about our future on the moon. It’s also available in Audio narrated by Rosario Dawson.

REVIEW

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A S C I - F I R E G U L A R

MOVIE REVIEW BY MICHELLE ASHLEY-EMILE

RELEASE: 11 OCTOBER 2018 DIRECTOR: DAMIEN CHAZELLE STARRING: RYAN GOSLING, CLARE FOY

CLICK FOR TRAILER

The movie “First Man” is a biopic taking a close and personal look at the life of Neil Armstrong and the events that led up to him becoming the first human to set foot on the moon. It details both the triumph and the tragedy of that tumultuous time through the lens of the people who lived it.

The movie begins almost a decade prior to the moon landing as Armstrong deals with a personal tragedy while attempting to get into the NASA Gemini project team. Instead of following the technical achievements of the project, the movie focuses instead on the emotional journey taken by the soon-to-be astronauts and their families. We watch the friendships grow as the families spend years bonding around their similar circumstances.

Anyone familiar with the Gemini project will know the risks that the pilots were taking every time they went up in these new and untested machines. They were test pilots in every sense, pushing the out-most limit of what could be achieved at that time with the material and technology available, inevitably things did not always go to plan. The way this film deals with the tragic events that befell the project is to show the effect this had on the pilots themselves, as well as their families. It is a much more personal story that has been told of this time before and this makes it much more relatable.

The cinematography style used is quite effective at making the film feel like it was filmed back in the 60’s and this gives the film a wonderful aesthetic. The action is quite spectacular and quite intimate, with a shots focussing on the minor details like the lines of rivets holding the tiny cockpit together and the creaks and moans the metal makes as the incredible force of the rocket fires them into space. By bringing the focus in close you are able to get some semblance of what this amazing and terrifying experience might have been like. It portrays the risk that these men were taking in a much more visceral way that can be conveyed by the grandiose wide shots of rockets taking off. In this film, you can almost feel the worldshaking as the rockets fire. The moments of greatest action are interspersed with poignant moments of pure silence. These are especially well done during the lunar sequences.

This may not be the movie most people expect but it is a wonderful and very human film. The film shows the mental journey that Neil and those around him took as they completed one of the greatest feats of humanity. It is an exploration more than a celebration and is all the better for it.

4 out of 5.

EGAP 02 • GNIRPS XONIUQE

MERCURY Mercury will be low in our Western sky and starts out at the beginning of the month in the Virgo Constellation (The Virgin) and will set at 18:53 pm (AWST). It'll move through the Libra Constellation (The Scales) during the month and at the end of the month, Mercury will set at 20:31 pm (AWST) and it'll be between the Constellations of Libra and Scorpius (The Scorpion).

VENUS Venus, the closest thing in our Solar System to hell and also Earth's twisted sister is currently in between the Constellations of Virgo and Libra. It'll set at 21:00 pm (AWST) at the beginning of the month but it'll be lost to the Sun's glare towards the end of the month.

JUPITER Jupiter, the Solar System biggest planet, will be really low on the Western horizon in the Libra Constellation with Mercury and Venus for the month of October. At the beginning of the month, it'll set 21:46 pm (AWST) and will set at 20:14 pm (AWST) at the end of the month.

MARS Mars is hanging around with Saturn and Neptune at the moment high in the Western sky early in evening. Mars will spend the month of October in the Constellation of Capricornus (The Goat) and at the beginning of the month it'll set 03:18 am (AWST) and will set at 02:00 am (AWST) at the end of the month. Saturn will spend the month of October in the Constellation of Sagittarius (The Centaur Chiron) and at the beginning of the month it'll set 00:54 am (AWST) and will set at 23:04 pm (AWST) at the end of the month. Neptune the last planet in our Solar System will spend the month of October in the Constellation of Aquarius (The Water Bearer) and at the beginning of the month it'll set 05:02 am (AWST) and will set at 03:02 am (AWST) at the end of the month

URANUS Uranus will be viewable in the early evening in the Pisces (The Fish) Constellation. At the start of October, the planet will rise around 19:59 pm (AWST) and by the end of the month above the horizon before nightfall.

WHATS UP IN THE SKY

BY MATT WOODS

OCTOBER

ORIONIDS METEOR SHOWER The Orionids Meteor Shower has been observed for at least 200 years now and they're caused by The Earth flying through the debris left over from Comet Halley's tail. They'll appear to be coming from the Orion constellation which is where the meteor shower gets its name from.

The debris field started hitting The Earth around the 2nd of October and it'll finish up towards the 7th of November. The meteor shower will peak on the night of the 21st and 22nd of October, and you should expect to see around 15 meteors per hour this year due to the Moon being almost a Full Moon.

The best time to view the Orionids is between 02:00 am and 05:00 am as. If you do get up at those ungodly hours to look at the meteor shower, you need to look directly east around midnight and then towards the North as it gets closer to sunrise.

TARANTULA NEBULA The Tarantula Nebula is an Emission Nebula which isn't even located in our galaxy, but in one of our galaxies satellite galaxies, the Large Magellanic Cloud. The Nebula is some 160,000 light-years away from our Solar System and is 300 light-years across. This Nebula is an extremely luminous object, Its luminosity is so great that if it were as close to Earth as the Orion Nebula, the Tarantula Nebula would cast shadows and take up 60% of the horizon. It's is the most active starburst region known in the Local Group of galaxies, this is because the nebula resides on the leading edge of the Large Magellanic Cloud where ram pressure is stripping, and the compression of the interstellar medium likely resulting from this, is at a maximum.

PTOLEMY'S CLUSTER Ptolemy's Cluster or M7 is a large open cluster near the sting of the tail in Constellation Scorpius. It is large enough to be seen with the unaided eye in a dark sky and is a nice sight in binoculars. It contains around 100 stars in total, with the colour of the stars in this cluster is predominately yellow, indicating this is an older cluster, with an estimated age of 260 million years. In comparison, clusters with many hot blue stars, like the Pleiades, are considerably younger.

It was described by the Greek-Roman astronomer Ptolemy in 130 AD from which it gets its common name of Ptolemy's cluster. Open clusters are the end result of an emission nebula, such as the Orion Nebula (M42) or the Tarantula Nebula (NGC 2070).

Over time the biggest stars in the cluster blow away the surrounding dust and gas that the cluster was born from, leaving a cluster of several hundred to several thousand stars that travel together within the galaxy. Older clusters are gradually scattered after several rotations of the galaxy, so they only last a billion years or so as a recognisable entity, whereas a globular cluster is usually the same age as the parent galaxy – in our case around 13 billion years old.

ALBIREO Albireo is a double star that is 390 light years away from us located in the constellation Cygnus. Albireo is the ‘beak star' in Cygnus the Swan. The origin of the name is through several mistranslations between Greek, Arabic and Latin. It is a good wide double star with a strong colour contrast, possibly the best available to modest telescopes. It is low in the North and only available for a few months of the year during the late winter and spring. The primary star is yellow/amber in colour whilst its companion is blue/green.

The primary star is, in fact, a close binary also, however, it is too close and faint to detect without very large telescopes and excellent observing conditions. The stars revolve around one another in about ~100 000 years. The primary star is ~5 times the mass and ~1 200 times brighter than the sun but with a cooler surface temperature of ~4 100 K. The secondary star is ~3.2 times the mass and ~230 times the brightness of the sun with a surface temperature of ~12 000 K.

SILVER COIN GALAXY The Sculptor or the Silver Coin Galaxy (NGC253) is a barred galaxy in the Sculptor constellation roughly 67,000 light years in width. It was discovered by Caroline Herschel in 1783, whilst carrying out a comet search. It is one of the Sculptor group of galaxies, which is grouped around the south galactic pole (These galaxies are sometimes named "The South Polar Group"). The Sculptor group may be the next closest group of galaxies beyond our Local Group, located about 11.5 million light-years from Earth.

Often called a Starburst galaxy because it has a large number of stellar nurseries in which many hot young blue stars are being formed. This is due as a result of a collision with a dwarf galaxy approximately 200 million years ago. The process of star formation and subsequent explosion as supernovae occurs at an unusually high rate of star birth.

With an apparent magnitude of 7.2, it's the second easiest galaxy to see after Andromeda and not including the Milky Way's two satellite galaxies (The Large and Small Magellanic Clouds). With good viewing conditions, it can be seen with binoculars with a long axis ~2/3 of the full moon.

47 TUCANAE 47 Tucanae or NGC 104 is the second largest and second brightest globular cluster in Milky Way. The Globular cluster is 16,000 light years away from us and is located in Constellation Tucana (Named after the Tucan bird) and it's a naked eye 'star' and clearly visible in binoculars as a 'fuzzy blob'. Omega Centauri contains at least 1 - 2 million stars and the cluster has a diameter of roughly 120 light-years and the stars are roughly 10 billion years old. The average distance between the stars at the centre are around 10% of a light year or more than 100 times the diameter of our solar system. In February 2017, indirect evidence for a likely intermediatemass black hole in 47 Tucanae was announced.

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MERCURY Mercury will be low in our Western sky and starts out at the beginning of the month between the Constellations of Libra (The Scales) and Scorpius (The Scorpion) and will set at 20:33 pm (AWST). The planet will reach it's greatest elongation at 23.3 degrees east of the Sun in the dusk sky with the exact hour of greatest elongation occurs on the 6th of November at 14:15 pm (AWST). Mercury then begins to head back towards the Sun every evening until reaching inferior conjunction between the Sun and the Earth on the 27th of November at 17:00 pm (AWST).

VENUS Venus, the closest thing in our Solar System to hell and also Earth's twisted sister will reappear from the Sun's glare in the morning sky at the beginning of the month in the Virgo Constellation (The Virgin).

At the end of the month it'll rise at 02:58 am (AWST).

MARS Mars, Saturn and Neptune are at the moment high in the Western sky early in evening. Mars will move from the the Constellation of Capricornus (The Goat) into the Constellation of Aquarius (The Water Bearer) during the month of November and at the beginning of the month it'll set 01:58 am (AWST) and will set at 00:50 am (AWST) at the end of the month. Saturn will spend the month in the same constellation as in October, the Constellation of Sagittarius (The Centaur Chiron) and at the beginning of the month it'll set 22:56 am (AWST) and will set at 21:16 pm (AWST) at the end of the month. Neptune the last planet in our Solar System will spend the month of October in the Constellation of Aquarius (The Water Bearer) and at the beginning of the month it'll set 03:58 am (AWST) and will set at 01:03 am (AWST) at the end of the month

URANUS Uranus will be viewable in the early evening in the Pisces (The Fish) Constellation. At the start of October, the planet will set just before sunrise and by the end of the month it'll set at 03:06 am (AWST).

WHATS UP IN THE SKY

BY MATTÂ WOODS

NOVEMBER

LEONIDS METEOR SHOWER The Leonids Meteor Shower will be active around the 6th of November to the 30th of November, and the peak is expected to be on the 18th of November at 00:30 am (AWST) but you'll have to go out around 2:00 am and 3:00 am (AWST) as the radiant point of the Leonids is in the Leo Constellation and it rises in the early morning. In 2018, the Leonids are expected to produce around 10 meteors per hour and the Moon will be a First Quarter Moon that will set at 02:15 am (AWST), making 2018 a favourable year for the shower.

The Leonid meteors strike the Earth at 71 km/s, and produces many fireballs. The source of the Leonids is Comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle and they’re prone to provide amazing outbursts once every 33 years. We're now past the midway point from the 1998 - 1999 outburst years and the next predicted 'Leonid meteor storm' is set for 2032 - 2033.

The great Leonid Storm of 1833 has been cited as a contributing factor to the religious fundamentalist movements of the 1830s in the United States.

Residents of the United States eastern seaboard awoke on the morning on November 13th, 1833 to a stunning sight, as meteors seemed to fill the sky like snowflakes in a winter storm. Churches filled up, as many believed the Judgment Day had dawned.

TARANTULA NEBULA The Tarantula Nebula is an Emission Nebula which isn't even located in our galaxy, but in one of our galaxies satellite galaxies, the Large Magellanic Cloud. The Nebula is some 160,000 light-years away from our Solar System and is 300 light-years across. This Nebula is an extremely luminous object, Its luminosity is so great that if it were as close to Earth as the Orion Nebula, the Tarantula Nebula would cast shadows and take up 60% of the horizon. It's is the most active starburst region known in the Local Group of galaxies, this is because the nebula resides on the leading edge of the Large Magellanic Cloud where ram pressure is stripping, and the compression of the interstellar medium likely resulting from this, is at a maximum.

ALPHA MONOCEROTID METEOR SHOWER The Alpha Monocerotid Meteor Shower will be active over a 10-day period from the 15th of November to the 25th of November with the expected peak being on the 21st of November at 01:00 am (AWST). The shower can vary in its hourly rate of 10 meteors per hour, with short outbursts briefly topping 400 per hour. In 2018, the Alpha Monocerotids is expected to produce a maximum hourly rate of 5 meteors per hour. The radiant of the Alpha Monocerotids is in the constellation of Monoceros and the Moon will be near Full at the peak of the Alpha Monocerotids, making 2017 a favourable year for this shower.

The Alpha Monocerotid meteors strike the Earth at a moderate-to-fast velocity of 65 km/s, and produce many fireballs. The source of the Alpha Monocerotid meteors is an unknown long period comet and Meteor shower analyst Mikiya Sato notes that weakly enhanced rates for the Alpha Monocerotids may occur starting in 2017 through 2020. In previous years, the Alpha Monocerotids has produced short outbursts numbering in the hundreds per hour, as last occurred in 1995.

Another strong outburst from the Alpha Monocerotid meteors rivalling the 1995 storm is expected in 2043.

ANDROMEDA GALAXY The Andromeda Galaxy (M31) is a spiral galaxy approximately 2.5 million light-years from Earth, and the nearest major galaxy to the Milky Way. Its name stems from the area of the sky in which it appears, the constellation of Andromeda.

Observations made by the Spitzer Space Telescope in 2006 revealed that the Galaxy contained approximately one trillion stars which is more than twice the number of our Milky Way Galaxy which is estimated to have between 200 to 400 billion stars.

The Andromeda Galaxy spans approximately 220 000 light-years and is the largest galaxy in our Local Group.

The Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies will eventually collide in ~4.5 billion years and will merge to form a giant elliptical galaxy or a large disc galaxy.

SILVER COIN GALAXY The Sculptor or the Silver Coin Galaxy (NGC253) is a barred galaxy in the Sculptor constellation roughly 67,000 light years in width. It was discovered by Caroline Herschel in 1783, whilst carrying out a comet search. It is one of the Sculptor group of galaxies, which is grouped around the south galactic pole (These galaxies are sometimes named "The South Polar Group"). The Sculptor group may be the next closest group of galaxies beyond our Local Group, located about 11.5 million light-years from Earth.

Often called a Starburst galaxy because it has a large number of stellar nurseries in which many hot young blue stars are being formed. This is due as a result of a collision with a dwarf galaxy approximately 200 million years ago. The process of star formation and subsequent explosion as supernovae occurs at an unusually high rate of star birth.

With an apparent magnitude of 7.2, it's the second easiest galaxy to see after Andromeda and not including the Milky Way's two satellite galaxies (The Large and Small Magellanic Clouds). With good viewing conditions, it can be seen with binoculars with a long axis ~2/3 of the full moon.

ACAMAR Acamar is a double star that is 161 light years away from us located in the Eridanus (The River) Constellation. Acamar is from the Arabic meaning "The end of the river" which is also the meaning for Achernar and relates to the extended constellation of Eridanus, the river. Achernar is not visible in the northern Mediterranean and hence the much more northern but fainter Acamar was given this term. In modern times with the redrawing of constellation boundaries, the Eridanus was extended further south to end at the brighter Achernar which is now 'the end of the river'.

The double star separation is ~8 arcseconds and an orbital period of 569 days. The primary star is mag +3.2 and the second +4.3. The primary star is ~2.6 times the mass and ~96 times brighter than the sun with a surface temperature of ~8 200 K. The secondary star is ~2.4 times the mass and ~36 times the brightness of the sun with a surface temperature of ~9 200 K.

47 TUCANAE 47 Tucanae or NGC 104 is the second largest and second brightest globular cluster in Milky Way. The Globular cluster is 16,000 light years away from us and is located in Constellation Tucana (Named after the Tucan bird) and it's a naked eye 'star' and clearly visible in binoculars as a 'fuzzy blob'. Omega Centauri contains at least 1 - 2 million stars and the cluster has a diameter of roughly 120 light-years and the stars are roughly 10 billion years old. The average distance between the stars at the centre are around 10% of a light year or more than 100 times the diameter of our solar system. In February 2017, indirect evidence for a likely intermediatemass black hole in 47 Tucanae was announced.

MERCURY Mercury will reappear from the Sun's glare in the morning sky at the beginning of the month between the Constellations of Libra (The Scales) and Scorpius (The Scorpion). The planet will reach its greatest elongation at 21.3 degrees west of the Sun in the dawn sky with the exact hour of greatest elongation occurs on the 15th of December at 19:00 pm (AWST). Mercury then begins to head back towards the Sun every evening until reaching superior conjunction on the 30th of January 2019 at 11:00 am (AWST).

VENUS Venus, the closest thing in our Solar System to hell and also Earth's twisted sister continues to rise in the morning sky, at the beginning of the month the planet is still in the Virgo Constellation (The Virgin) and it'll rises at 02:56 am (AWST). At the end of the month, it'll rise at 02:18 am (AWST) and will be in the Constellations of Libra.

MARS Mars, Saturn and Neptune are in the Western sky early in evening. Mars will move from the Constellation of Aquarius (The Water Bearer) into the Constellation of Pisces (The Fish) during the month of December and at the beginning of the month it'll set 00:48 am (AWST) and will set at 23:40 pm (AWST) at the end of the month. Saturn will spend the month in the Constellation of Sagittarius (The Centaur Chiron) and at the beginning of the month it'll set at 21:12 am (AWST). Towards the middle of the month, Saturn will be lost to the Sun’s glare. Neptune the last planet in our Solar System will spend the month of October in the Constellation of Aquarius (The Water Bearer) and at the beginning of the month it'll set 00:59 am (AWST) and will set at 22:59 pm (AWST) at the end of the month

URANUS Uranus will be viewable in the early evening in the Pisces (The Fish) Constellation. At the start of October, the planet will set at 3:02 am and by the end of the month it'll set at 01:02 am (AWST).

WHATS UP IN THE SKY

BY MATTÂ WOODS

DECEMBER

GEMINIDS METEOR SHOWER The Geminids are THE meteor shower to see in the southern hemisphere and on the night of the 14th and 15th of December they'll reach their peak. The shower is active for a two week period from the 4th of December to the 17th of December and with the First Quarter Moon setting at 00:15 am, you'll get to see anywhere from 30 to 60 meteors per hour in dark locations around Perth. If your travelling, in location around the equator where the Gemini constellation is high in the sky you'll see 70 to 120 meteors per hour. The meteor shower appears to come from the Gemini constellation with the streaks being caused by tiny dust particulars and meteors hitting our atmosphere at tremendous speed and burning up due to the friction.

When looking at Gemini try to look about 30 to 45 degrees left or right of the constellation. This is because the meteors aren't necessarily coming from the Gemini constellation, but if you trace the meteor streaks that occur back to their radiant point it's the Gemini constellation.

The Geminids which were first discovered in 1862 and occur because The Earth is travelling through the left-over material from the tail of the asteroid 3200 Phaethon, this asteroid is considered a rock comet which is an asteroid the shares some of the characteristics with a comet including a tail or surface jets. The Gemini Constellation after which the meteor shower is named after appears in our sky around 22:00 pm so it's best to go out and watch for them after midnight when Gemini is a higher in the sky as the shower gets better throughout the night.

On the night of the 14th and 15th of December, Perth Observatory will be open from 10:30 pm to 2:00 am so you can come up and experience the Southern Hemisphere's best meteor shower of the year. You can book on the Geminids Meteor Shower page and on the night you rug up, bring your camera and outdoor chairs or even a bean bag and enjoy watching the last few seconds of hundreds of meteor's lives before it meets its fiery end in our amazing southern sky.

COMET

46P/WIRTANEN

Throughout the month of December Comet 46P/Wirtanen should be visible through binoculars and if we're lucky it could turn out to be a naked eye comet. On the 16th of December, the comet will pass by Earth at a distance of 11,680,000 km and reaching an estimated magnitude of 3 to 7.5.

This will make this pass the brightest predicted, and the brightest close approach for the next 20 years.

46P/Wirtanen was discovered photographically on the 17th of January 1948, by the astronomer Carl A. Wirtanen who discovered it in a glass plate he took at the Observatory. Because of the limited number of initial observations, it took more than a year to realise that 46P/Wirtanen was a short-period comet. The comet's current orbital period is 5.4 years and it has a diameter of 1.2 kilometres. It was the original target for investigation by the European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft but ESA wasn't able to meet the launch window which led to Rosetta being sent to the comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko instead.

DECEMBER SOLSTICE The December Solstice occurs the 22st of December at 06:23 am (AWST), marking the beginning of astronomical summer for the southern, and the start of winter for the northern hemisphere. This is an exact moment when the Sun's declination equals 23.5 degrees south as seen from the Earth. The line of latitude where the Sun passes directly overhead during the December solstice is known as the Tropic of Capricorn, although in modern times, the Sun is in the astronomical constellation of Sagittarius in midDecember. Thanks to precession.

In the 21st century, the December solstice will fall on the 21st and the 22nd of December until 2043, and will start occasionally falling on the 20th of December in 2080.

The December solstice means the southern rotational pole of the Earth is tipped towards the Sun, and will now begin its long apparent journey northward again until June. The wobble of Earth's axis known as the Precession of the Equinoxes takes about 26,000 years to complete one 'wobble.'

Live out an average 72-year life span, and the equinoctial points will have moved one degree (about twice the diameter of a Full Moon).

SILVER COIN GALAXY The Sculptor or the Silver Coin Galaxy (NGC253) is a barred galaxy in the Sculptor constellation roughly 67,000 light years in width. It was discovered by Caroline Herschel in 1783, whilst carrying out a comet search. It is one of the Sculptor group of galaxies, which is grouped around the south galactic pole (These galaxies are sometimes named "The South Polar Group"). The Sculptor group may be the next closest group of galaxies beyond our Local Group, located about 11.5 million light-years from Earth.

Often called a Starburst galaxy because it has a large number of stellar nurseries in which many hot young blue stars are being formed. This is due as a result of a collision with a dwarf galaxy approximately 200 million years ago. The process of star formation and subsequent explosion as supernovae occurs at an unusually high rate of star birth.

With an apparent magnitude of 7.2, it's the second easiest galaxy to see after Andromeda and not including the Milky Way's two satellite galaxies (The Large and Small Magellanic Clouds). With good viewing conditions, it can be seen with binoculars with a long axis ~2/3 of the full moon.

47 TUCANAE 47 Tucanae or NGC 104 is the second largest and second brightest globular cluster in Milky Way. The Globular cluster is 16,000 light years away from us and is located in Constellation Tucana (Named after the Tucan bird) and it's a naked eye 'star' and clearly visible in binoculars as a 'fuzzy blob'. Omega Centauri contains at least 1 - 2 million stars and the cluster has a diameter of roughly 120 light-years and the stars are roughly 10 billion years old. The average distance between the stars at the centre are around 10% of a light year or more than 100 times the diameter of our solar system. In February 2017, indirect evidence for a likely intermediatemass black hole in 47 Tucanae was announced.

THE PLEIADES The Pleiades star cluster, also known as Messier 45, the Seven Sisters and in Japan as Subaru, is a very young Open Star Cluster. The cluster contains hundreds of stars, of which only a handful are commonly visible to the unaided eye. The stars in the Pleiades formed together in a nebula around 100 million years ago and are 425 light-years away from our Solar System. In our skies, the Pleiades appear to the left of the Taurus Constellation and they are best viewed through binoculars or a widefield Telescope.

TARANTULA NEBULA The Tarantula Nebula is an Emission Nebula which isn't even located in our galaxy, but in one of our galaxies satellite galaxies, the Large Magellanic Cloud. The Nebula is some 160,000 light-years away from our Solar System and is 300 light-years across. This Nebula is an extremely luminous object, Its luminosity is so great that if it were as close to Earth as the Orion Nebula, the Tarantula Nebula would cast shadows and take up 60% of the horizon. It's is the most active starburst region known in the Local Group of galaxies, this is because the nebula resides on the leading edge of the Large Magellanic Cloud where ram pressure is stripping, and the compression of the interstellar medium likely resulting from this, is at a maximum.

ORION NEBULA The Orion Nebula is a diffuse nebula situated north of Orion’s Belt (In the southern hemisphere) in the constellation of Orion. It is one of the brightest nebulae in our skies and is visible to the naked eye.

Messier 42 as it’s also called, is located at a distance of 1,344 light-years away from our Solar System and is estimated to be 24 light-years across. The nebula has revealed much about the process of how stars and planetary systems are formed from collapsing clouds of gas and dust.

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ALIEN PRETZELS FROM BUTTERWITHASIDEOFBREAD.COM INGREDIENTS

INSTRUCTIONS

1 mini pretzels

Place 3/4 cup white chocolate chips in a glass bowl along with 1/2 tsp coconut oil.

1 cup white chocolate chips or candy melts

Microwave on high for 1 minute. Let sit in the microwave for an additional minute. Stir

1/2 tsp coconut oil (or shortening)*

gently, then return to the microwave for 15 seconds, if needed.

green & orange food coloring round chocolate candies (Sixlets work

Divide chocolate and add green coloring to one of the bowls and stir gently.

well!)

Dip each pretzel into the bowl of chocolate, gently tapping the edge of the bowl to

3 TBSP semi-sweet chocolate chips

release excess chocolate. This process is so much easier when you use a dipping tool! Lay the covered pretzel down on a piece of wax paper. Use a small knife to clear the chocolate from the bottom hole of the pretzel, which will be the Alien mouth.

Place the semi sweet chocolate in a small baggie. Microwave for 40 seconds, or until melted. Cut the corner of the bag and pipe chocolate into the top 2 pretzel holes, filling in the alien eyes. Place round candies on top of chocolate. Repeat this process with the remaining white chocolate chips. You can leave them white and use this chocolate to fill in the eyes of the green alien pretzels, or you can separate it and color some chocolate orange to decorate the eyes. Let completed pretzels cool to set.

Repeat the process until you have the desired amount of alien pretzels, re-heating up the chocolate as necessary. Store in an airtight container to save.

From The Hubble Telescope

THE LAGOON NEBULA

MOORG REGOR :EGAMI

The Perth Observatory 337 Walnut Road Bickley Western Australia PO Box 179 Kalamunda WA 6926 Phone: (08) 9293 8255 Fax: (08) 9293 8138 info@perthobservatory.com.au www.perthobservatory.com.au Office Times: 10am to 4:30pm Mon - Fri (exclude public holidays), and open for scheduled tours