Nights get cold at this time of year, especially when sunny days yield to crystal clear and starry nights. Despite the cold, I ventured forth with perhaps 150 others this evening for a special event run by the University of New England and Northern Tablelands Astronomical Society (UNENTAS). They had a field full of telescopes (perhaps 6 or 7 all up) trained on different parts of the sky and invited all to take a peep at the brilliant celestial display available at this time of the year, especially when the moon was absent from the sky. Even with the naked eye it was possible to see hundreds of millions of stars in a band across the sky.
However, the telescopes revealed lots of other treasures unseen without Galileo's invention. As I meandered from one instrument to another I saw Saturn's rings, a gas cloud in Orion, the Tarantula nebula and the Jewel Box - a cluster of bright stars near the Southern Cross. They were all beautiful, though missing the colour present in images from the Hubble telescope with their long exposure. I was able to take one image with my camera, which is attached. Saturn's rings are evident, but unclear as they are virtually side on at the moment. Perhaps I should join UNENTAS to examine the night sky regularly.
AS
1 comment:
Perhaps our politicians should visit Armidale. Then they might see things more clearly!
See my previous comment.
Richard.
Post a Comment