Members Event Diary
🟡 For essential information about our observing session protocols, please first read our Field Night page and then go to either our Wooglemai page or our Stargard page for site details.
🟡 For Details of our next Public Stargazing night, please visit our Public Night page.
| DATE | EVENT | DETAILS | PUBLIC |
| Saturday 10th June | Stargard at The Oaks | Members private observing. SS 4.53 pm MR 23.32 | No |
| Saturday 17th June | Stargard at The Oaks | Members New Moon Evening. SS 4.53 pm NM | No |
| Monday 19th June | Macarthur Astronomy Forum Online | Guest Speaker: Dr Brad Tucker (ANU) 7.30 pm for a 7.30 pm start | No |
| Saturday 24th June | Beginners Night at The Oaks | Telescopes for Beginners SS 4.54 pm MS 10.19 pm | No |
| Saturday 15th July | Stargard at The Oaks | Members private observing. SS 5.04 pm NM | No |
| Monday 17th July | Macarthur Astronomy Forum Online | Guest Speaker: TBA 7.30 pm for a 7.30 pm start | No |
| 22nd July | Wooglemai At Oakdale | New Moon All Nighter SS 5.08 pm MS 9.08 pm | No |
| Saturday 22nd July | Stargard at The Oaks | Members private observing. SS 5.08 pm MS 9.08 pm | No |
🟠Vaccination Policy: “Members attending MAS to be vaccinated and must not attend if they exhibit covid or flu symptoms. Members to maintain responsible distancing. Masks are optional”.
🟠 Coming? We need to know who is planning to attend. Members are requested to contact John Rombi to reserve a place before travelling to an observing session.
Upcoming Guest Speaker
Dr Brad Tucker (ANU)
Monday 19th June
Space Telescopes, Exploding Stars, and Dark Energy.
Most stars end their lives in brilliant explosions known as supernova. These massive bursts briefly outshine all the light from the galaxy wherein they occur.
The past 20 years have been a “boom” period for supernovae with vast amounts of time and effort being invested in these objects. Not only are they important for understanding the life of stars, but they can be used use as cosmological probes to study what the Universe is made of and how it is growing.
This use has shown that the Universe is accelerating in its expansion, the subject of the 2011 Nobel Prize, and is being caused by dark energy which will cause the end of the Universe. I will show how our understanding of these objects has been revolutionised using new techniques including the Kepler Space Telescope and Hubble, and now with TESS and JWST and what this means for the Universe.
Macarthur Astronomy Forum.
Commencing at 7.15 pm for a 7.30 pm start. Online for members only.
Science Week
We have received invitations to two public outreach events during this year’s Science Week.
These include an evening event for 100 school students and a daytime event at the Australian Botanic Gardens Science Day Fair at Mt Annan and will need members to bring their telescopes. More details to follow.
Next Beginners Night
The next beginners night for members will be held on Saturday 24th June. Please follow this link for booking information.
General Notices
Membership
Dave Manning is our Membership Officer. Please contact Dave for all new membership enquiries: membership@macastro.org.au or go to our new membership page.
Annual General Meeting 2023
The committee elected is:
President: John Rombi.
Vice-President: Noel Sharpe; Treasurer: Andy Milton; Secretary: Roger Powell.
Committee Members: Phillip Kidd; Greg Bradford.
The 2023 Annual Report and Minutes of the 2023 AGM are both available > HERE <
Logging On
Members require an e-mail address to log on to the advanced facilities of this website. Where households share the same e-mail address, only one username is possible. If you experience any problems logging on, please contact webmaster@macastro.org.au
E-mail is our primary means of direct communication with all our members, so don’t forget to tell us if your e-mail address changes: membership@macastro.org.au.
Postal Address.
Membership cards are posted annually to the last postal address which you have provided to us, so please contact us with your new details at membership@macastro.org.au.
Observing
Members intending to attend our observing nights must read our Field Night page and Stargard or Wooglemai pages. Sessions are normally scheduled for Saturdays, because we recognise the needs of members who may have weekday jobs to go to. In the event of a doubtful weather forecast, members should check both here and our social media pages.
If you or a family member are showing any symptoms of covid, influenza or the common cold etc. please do not attend any of our events.