ESO’s Director General visits Australia

Posted on February 24, 2014 by astrotanya

This week, Australia welcomes Professor Tim de Zeeuw, Director General of the European Southern Observatory, who will visit various astronomy centres around the country to speak to research astronomers regarding ESO’s current research program and consider perspectives for the coming decades.

European Southern Observatory, Director General, Prof. Tim de Zeeuw

European Southern Observatory, Director General, Prof. Tim de Zeeuw. Credit: ESO

The visit will conclude with a free public lecture “Reaching new heights in astronomy: the European Southern Observatory” presented by Professor de Zeeuw and hosted by the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research and University of Western Australia.

As mentioned at the recent APS conference, Australia is now a member of ESO Science Outreach Network. Please consider joining up to receive ESO media releases and feel free to contact me if you have any related ESO activities or have mentioned ESO through your science communication.

Subscribe to ESO’s Press Room (journalists, communicators): http://www.eso.org/public/outreach/pressmedia/
Subscribe to ESO News (general public): http://www.eso.org/public/outreach/newsletters/esonews/

Public Lecture

Reaching new heights in astronomy: the European Southern Observatory
4.15pm, Friday 28 February 2014: University Club Auditorium, University of Western Australia

The Lagoon Nebula, as seen by the ESO Very Large Telescope (VLT). Credit: ESO

The Lagoon Nebula, as seen by the ESO Very Large Telescope (VLT). Credit: ESO

ESO telescopes have made some of the most significant astronomical discoveries of recent times, including the supermassive black hole at the centre of our galaxy, the most distant gamma-ray burst, the Earth-like planet Gliese 581c and the most distant galaxy ever seen by humans. Find out about ESO’s current suite of programs, the telescopes that make the discoveries possible and what’s on the horizon for one of the world’s premier astronomical institutions.
website: http://www.icrar.org/news/seminars/events2/eso-lecture
note: tea and coffee will be provided from 3:45pm

Research Colloquia Schedule

The European Southern Observatory (ESO): Present and Future
10AM, Monday, 24 February 2014: University of Sydney, Redfern Campus
2PM, Monday 24 February 2014: Anglo-Australian Observatory, Epping
2PM, Tuesday 25 February 2014: Swinburne University
3PM, Thursday 27 February 2014: Australian National University, Mt Stromlo Observatory
3.30PM, Friday 28 February 2014: International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research / University of Western Australia

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A visit to the Great Melbourne Telescope

Posted on February 20, 2014 by apsplanetarium

Last Sunday, a group of the APS members took a brief pre-conference tour of the Great Melbourne Telescope restoration project. The group was met by Dr. Richard Gillespie who gave a fascinating and insightful presentation on the history of the telescope. After his presentation, we visited the workshop to see the telescope, which is all still in parts, and inspect the restoration progress. On hand were Neville Quick,the Manager for Collection Storage and Logisitics, as well as Matilda Vaughan, the Curator for Engineering, to answer questions and provide further insight into the restoration process.

APS members inspecting the mirror from the GMT

APS members inspecting the mirror from the GMT

APS Members inspecting the telescope

APS Members inspecting the telescope

Wandering through the vast Museum Victoria collection stores, one cannot help but think of the final scene of Raiders of the Lost Ark. This was a fabulous opportunity to have an all too brief glimpse into some of the hidden treasures of the museum. The APS would like to thank Richard, Neville & Matilda, for making this opportunity available.

For more information on the telescope and the restoration, visit: http://greatmelbournetelescope.org.au/

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APS 2014 – Planetarians in the Sun

Posted on February 18, 2014 by warikl

APS 2014 group
Day two of the APS2014 and the conference is in full swing. After many hours spent inside the dome all the delegates bravely ventured out into the dazzling sunshine for this group photo. Apologies, to Tanya, who is not in the photograph. She was unfortunately was swept away by other duties.

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APS – Make an alien competition

Posted on February 17, 2014 by astrotanya

Members of APS have arrived in Melbourne and are enjoying getting together to share ideas and network.

A highlight already, is the inaugral APS competition – inspired by the British Association of Planetariums conference.

Our President, Warik Lawrance, tasked teams to create their own alien.

With much hilarity, the winning entry as judged by the Scienceworks Education and Community Programs were Jon Nally and company!

Congrats to all involved.

Congratulations to our winners for a fantastic alien.

Congratulations to our winners for a fantastic alien.

An alien to live on Planetarium World.

The perfect alien to live on Planetarium World.

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Seamans mission in Melbourne

Posted on February 16, 2014 by Paul Bourke

Since the APS is in Melbourne over the next day or two I thought it was interesting to consider one of the other domes in Melbourne, the Seamans Mission. External photograph below

seaman

The interior is delightful, including the 4 second reverberation time in the space (it’s made of concrete with brick walls and solid wooden floor). About 12m diameter.  The history of the mission and the dome is fascinating, the dome for example has hooks in the ceiling from which ropes used to hang so they could do exercises while on land. Sailors still frequent the place, located on what must be one of the more valuable sites in Melbourne.

A interactive panorama can be found here (not my best work, only brought along a point and click camera)

http://paulbourke.net/dome/seamanmission/

Proposal in place for a performance in the space employing digital projection on the dome …. watch this space.

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Image

Hello All

Some information about the Adelaide Planetarium

Located within the University of South Australia at Mawson Lakes. The 45-seat auditorium has an 8-metre dome with the Zeiss ZKP-1 star projector. Included is a Mirror-Dome system currently operating at 1080×1920. The planetarium was built in 1972 originally to teach stellar surveying so it is located within the School of Natural and Built Environments Building-P. 

Currently we run a schedule, sessions on the 1st & 3rd Saturday of the month – 1pm Night Sky and movie such as  Tycho to the Moon or Wildest Weather in the Solar System. We always run a live night sky tour in all our sessions.  We are about to commence running The Earth Wins.

We also run short courses – New one for 2013 – Astronomy for Kids run by Martin Lewicki – very popular with 30 children attending – full house.

Other courses run through the year – All about Telescopes, The Night Sky, Constellations of the Zodiac and extended course Night Sky and Stars and Planets.

We annually run a Valentine’s Day event – 2 sessions – booked out with 92 people attending. 

Notable visitors were Andy Thomas visiting as part of the Summer Space Program this year. Curtis Wong, Microsoft software engineer team member who produced the World Wide Telescope.

Number of annual Visitors – 14,500

Our School Holiday Program – very popular with majority of sessions being booked out before the holidays begin.  In July started teaming up with SciWorld to provide science interactive activities for the public.  Great response to this, therefore, this has continued for each school holidays since.

During the course of the year we have  a steady stream of school, scout and social groups.

 We have recently received as a donation a Meade DS-16 (16-inch) telescope which we plan to implement as a part of our astronomy course activities and public viewing nights.

http://www.unisa.edu.au/planetarium/
adelaide.planetarium@unisa.edu.au
08 8302 3138

Posted on February 7, 2014 by martinlewicki | Leave a comment

APS 2014 – Grigoryan Brothers perform Natural Satellite

Posted on January 31, 2014 by astrotanya

As a special treat to open APS 2014, Slava and Leonard Grigoryan are back at the Melbourne Planetarium for an encore performance of the astronomy-inspired guitar duet Natural Satellite.

The event will be held at the Melbourne Planetarium at 8pm, Sunday 16th February.

Performed by the Grigoryan Brothers

Composed by Dr Stuart Greenbaum, Head of Composition at the University of Melbourne, the five part work takes inspiration from the various moons of our Solar System. Dr Tanya Hill, Senior Curator of Astronomy at Museum Victoria worked with Stuart, Slava and Leonard to create an immersive astronomical experience to accompany the guitar-duet.

Planetarium audiences will be treated to amazing close-up views of the moons of our Solar System, as they enjoy the stunning live music.

Limited tickets have been made available for APS members attending APS 2014. Please register your interest via the google APS 2014 Conference Attendees sheet or contact Warik or Tanya directly.

Additional tickets can be purchased online via the Planetarium’s What’s On.

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Valentine’s Day: Romance with the Stars Dinner

Posted on January 24, 2014 by Aussie Starman

The Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetarium and the adjacent ‘Botanical – Café Functions Events’ are partners in a special ‘Valentine’s Day Romance with the Stars Dinner’ at 6:30pm on Friday, 14 February. Couples will arrive to a welcome drink and chocolates prior to a special live show in the Cosmic Skydome followed by a romantic dinner at Botanical. — Mark Rigby

Valentine_poster1

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Bendigo Planetarium Update

Posted on January 17, 2014 by bendigoplano

Greetings everyone!

The Bendigo Planetarium is situated inside the Discovery Science and Technology Centre and is a 7m dome using a mirrordome system. 

2013 saw us try a few different things in the planetarium. We started the year by screening ‘DARK – The Movie’, a short film looking at the search for dark matter which was partly funded by Scitech. The film tied in nicely with ‘Whodunit?’, a travelling murder mystery exhibition. In October we also began showing ‘The Earth Wins’, an environmental documentary produced by two locals and filmed entirely from the air. We also hosted a ‘No Lights, No Lycra’ dance event in the planetarium, as well as the Centre staging the Dr Who 50th anniversary celebrations, organised by the local library. We are planning to host more of these ‘non – traditional’ planetarium events over the next 12 months. 

We have also (finally!) purchased some lovely reclining camping chairs, to replace our somewhat upright red chairs.Five new beanbags are coming soon too, making a grand total of ten! This may reduce the capacity of the planetarium slightly, however, it will mean that those watching will be much more comfortable.

Hope to see you all in February!

Craig Kendal (Planetarium Coordinator)

Pic below: Staff member James testing out the new chairs.Image

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From Science Education to Science-Fiction and then some…

Posted on January 17, 2014 by Ballarat Municipal Observatory and Museum

Over the past 2 years, the Ballarat Observatory has been improving and updating its education and outreach programs, in addition, building up its events, to create awareness among the general public in regional Victoria.

A little over a year ago we updated our website and branding, to include engaging imagery and more in-depth information about what the Observatory offers.

Our new website

Our new website

Our themed school holiday programs with hands-on activities and the use of our 3D Astrotour theatre aim to teach kids some of the basics concepts in science and astronomy in particular, from the basics of light and optics, to exploration of the outer planets.

Despite being run solely by volunteers we have been open to the public 6 days a week and we have seen an increase in school and community groups.

The Observatory also played host to some well-known speakers – Prof. Jeremy Mould, Prof. Fred Watson, to name a few! We thank them both for taking the time to come down and enlighten us with their knowledge.

We have continued with our Starry Nights events and for the first time ever in Ballarat we have themed our Summer Starry Night – The Sci-Fi Event. Unlike a comic convention, this event is about promoting and educating the public about the relationship between science, science-ficiton and their role in society, with the emphasis being on science.

The Sci-Fi Event Poster

The Sci-Fi Event Poster

Maintenance works and painting of the historic buildings, has seen them come to life and in due time we hope to expand our facility to include more exhibits and new technology.

The 2013 International Foto Biennale was held in Ballarat and the Observatory was selected to exhibit works as part of the event. Members from the ASV and BAS, also included astrophotography works as part of the Celestial Kaleidoscope exhibit.

Aiming for the stars. Photo credit: Saeed Salimpour & Ted Doyle - BAS

Aiming for the stars. Photo credit: Saeed Salimpour & Ted Doyle – BAS

Given that light pollution is becoming an issue in growing cities like Ballarat, we have launched a light pollution survey (led by Judith Bailey) to monitor the changing levels of light pollution and its effects.

In the midst of all the activity, we found time to present a Poster at the AUSTRALIAN COLONIAL ASTRONOMY seminar as part of the Melbourne Observatory’s 150th Anniversary.

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