NT Dark Skies

NT Dark Skies

Hi Sky Watchers
The International Space Station is by far the biggest & brightest Man Made object in space (and getting bigger all the time)
The following table shows where and when the ISS will be visible from Nhulunbuy over the next week.
It has the naked eye visibility of a bright star at this Mag (magnitude)
Alt is the Degree's above the Horizon where the ISS is visible (0deg being the horizon & 90deg being straight up)
Az is the compass bearing you need to be facing when you are looking for it (IE: North, south, east or west)


Starts Maximum Altitude Ends
Date Mag Time Alt. Az. Time Alt. Az. Time Alt. Az.
02 Nov -0.8 19:28:22 10 SSW 19:31:17 70 SE 19:31:46 57 ENE

04 Nov -0.7 18:50:02 10 SW 18:52:59 76 WNW 18:55:56 10 NNE

Experience has show us that it is possible to make out structure, in the outline of the ISS when tracking it with a telescope.
However with a ground speed of 29,000 km/hr it is a challenging object to track with a telescope, even at low power!
Happy ISS hunting.

NT Dark Skies: NT Dark Skies

NT Dark Skies: NT Dark Skies
Hi Star Gazers
Friday night saw a group of about 20 Joey & Cub Scout's & their parents, coming to GAA's Dark Sky site to do some work towards their Astronomy Badge. (Photo Attached)
There was a great deal of interest from the kids, & despite the 80% cloud cover, we were able to show them the constellations of Scorpius (the Scorpion) & Sagittarius (the Archer).
We were also lucky enough to get a look through a gap in the clouds, at what is quite possibly the best binary star in the night sky.
With contrasting Sapphire blue & golden yellow stars, "Albireo" in the constellation of "Cygnus" (the swan) makes a fine sight.
For a few club members, the night was followed by a camp out at the scout hall, where a gap in the clouds on Saturday allowed a look at the sun through GAA's "Sunspotter" safe solar telescope.
As we progress towards the build up, we can expect more of these cloudy nights, so when it does clear up (as it did on Sat & Sun) take the chance to get out & have a look.

NT Dark Skies

NT Dark Skies

The final event for Science week by Gove Amateur Astronomers was held at Yirrkala on Thursday the 19th of August, at the invitation of Raymattja Marika. A viewing was conducted at the Yolngu special place "Nuwal" on the coast north of Yirrkala.

After arriving in a procession of 4x4's & pushbikes, 60+ Yolngu kids were given science week handouts, with many eager eyes then waiting for the telescope to be set up. A group of three buffaloes wandering onto the nearby grassy plain saw the kids racing off over the sand-dunes, whistling and shouting as they went. With so many vocal kids about there was no chance the buffaloes were going to be coming anywhere near us or our equipment!

A first look was had of the thin crescent moon as soon as we had the telescope on its mount. All then present were very enthusiastic to look at our nearest star "Alfa Centauri" as soon as the sky was dark enough to align our telescope. Jupiter, with its 4 visible moons (Io, Callisto, Ganymede & Europa), was an even bigger hit with a line 20 deep at the telescope (as you can see in the photo).

Handing out red glowsticks to the kids was eagerly accepted with the subsequent procession of spinning light sticks being quite a sight. As the night fully set in we began a laser guided tour of the bright constellations including Sagittarius (the Teapot), Scorpius, Lyra (the Harp), Aquila (the Eagle) & Cygnus (the Swan) to name but a few.

The reaction of the kids to the laser was one of overwhelming excitement and we had their avid attention for the full tour, till we ran out of constellations to show them! A few more deep sky treasures were seen through the telescope before it was time for home to bed for our newest young mob of eager star gazers.

Throughout the night Gaymala Yunupingu told the children Yolngu stories of the Wirrmu (moon), and ganyu (stars) whilst seated around the campfire. We look forward to more nights where we can share some stories and mythology, of the wonderful place that is our ever changing night sky with our Yolngu friends.