Johannesburg ASSA’s Autumn Star Party

Does the Jo'burg Centre of ASSA have a very active membership? You bet! Our two most recent events, namely the Autumn Star Party on May 11th and the inauguration of Scope-X the following week is proof that this society is going places.

More than 40 visitors supported the Autumn Star Party. Thank heavens for clear skies as there were 15 telescopes in full swing at the gathering. Highveld bush fires this time of the year are a hazard for sky watchers and many visitors commented on the resultant poor seeing and visibility. By sunset, one noticed the effect created by this haze extending to as much as 30 degrees above the horizon.

It was a real treat to see all five planets aligned in the early evening sky. Mercury was extremely low in the west followed by a rapidly descending Saturn into the smoky haze. Mars is currently tiny in the telescope at only 4 arc seconds in diameter and Venus is blindingly bright but bland at magnitude -4 and at 86% phase. This phase will gradually reduce in coming weeks when Venus will become a little more astronomically enticing. Our majestic Jupiter more than made up for the poor telescopic show of the four preceding planets with a grand showing of its cloudy disc and moons, Little Io gave us a transit egress to marvel over, much to the delight of our star party visitors.

Early evening saw the opening of Dave Gordon’s new observatory. The roof was rolled off the main structure "officially" shortly after 18:00. Silence, then a strange rumbling noise as the roof began to roll, followed by some anxious creaking and finally, a loud pop … the sound of a champagne cork and … relieved applause.

Shortly after, fires were lit and hungry star gazers settled into some fine food, wine and wide angle lenses. It was interesting to note the variety of telescopes in operation, from a 12 inch Schmidt Cassegrain to a 6 inch Chinese-built refractor. There were home-made scopes aplenty with the 8 inch Dobsonians being well represented.

As the evening progressed, seeing conditions deteriorated further. The evening sky actually became lighter as smoke particles in the low atmosphere reflected the light from Pretoria, Midrand, Fourways and of course the main city. Consequently, our party was restricted to the viewing some of the brighter "Hollywood Objects". Omega Centaurus (NGC 5139) the Jewel Box (NGC 4755), Sombrero Galaxy (M104), M16 (the butterfly cluster), M17 in Scorpius… to name a few.

The event was a great success and another will be planned for later this year. It goes without saying though that the success of any society or gathering of people with a common interest in a subject is wholly dependent on the enthusiasm of its membership. Particularly in the case of an astronomy society, it is the members who must give direction to that society.

Your society’s committee has strived to boost membership with recent events such as Hobby-X and Scope-X. Our membership has increased beyond our initial expectations and this means many new faces to our meetings, both beginner and experienced within astronomy. Now more than ever, we need to listen to the needs of our members.

Many of us have been pleasantly surprised to realise that there is a tremendous level of activity of amateur astronomy within our suburbs (my eyes were opened to the large numbers of enthusiasts within Johannesburg experimenting with CCD and taking superb astro-images). We never see this activity because so many of our members have, for one reason or another, withdrawn from monthly meetings and much of our organised activity.

Your committee is in place to organise YOUR events, talks, demonstrations, beginner classes, advanced classes, slide shows … anything you want from your society. But you need to let us know what we can organise for you. A quiet membership means your committee arranges activities based on what they think you want.

Why not tell us what you want. For example, if you would like to drive a few kilometres out of the city with a few other members to observe and learn the sky, learn how to find the south celestial pole, learn how to star hop, learn how to read star maps, etc, you need to tell us.

I leave you with my email address in the hope that you will consider your needs for you to grow your hobby and then let me know so I can take these suggestions back to your committee for real action and implementation.

Here’s to a society that’s really looking up!

Dave Gordon.
dave@turboread.com

 Some pictures taken at the opening of the Blue Hills Observatory