The members of CWAS made us very welcome and provided hot soup and a mouth-watering barbecue, which went down very well.
We were anxious to take this unique opportunity of using a remote dark sky site in the NSW countryside, 350 km West of Sydney. I had no room for a telescope on this trip but did take my ‘Skywatcher Star Adventurer’ equatorial camera mount – in the hope of obtaining some wide field Milky Way images.
Unfortunately the sky let us down, giving us only tantalising glimpses of the views which would have been available to us on a cloud-free night.
We intended to capture the International Space Station transit of the Moon at 6.43 pm but that opportunity was shrouded by clouds.
Later the clouds completely cleared for half an hour but they were only teasing us and most of the evening was 80-90% cloud cover.
The photos I took were rather disappointing but are presented here as a record of an otherwise very memorable evening spent with the friendly members of CWAS.
A cloudy arrival at the CWAS Observatory in Cookamidgera. The site is under development but already boasts a cabin with generated power, a portaloo and a concrete slab ready for a future roll off roof telescope housing.We lined our vehicles up and began unpacking our observing gear as the clouds looked even more ominous.We were treated to a rather unusual sunset which lasted no more than a minute or two.We were hoping to watch the International Space Station transit the Moon but whilst the Moon did make an appearance, it disappeared as the transit time approached.Of course, it reappeared again as it got darker but the opportunity to image the transit had already been lost.The stars came out as the Moon got lower but they were only teasing us with a glimpse of what might have been.The clouds cleared a little, to reveal a dark sky beyond, with Orion sinking in the West as a satellite passed through Canis Major.The Magellanic Clouds were outstanding but those clouds near the horizon were heading our way!The Milky way was looking absolutely glorious overhead and I thought I had time to take a few images before the clouds arrived – but alas…….The clear view of the Milky Way was swamped before I had the chance to record the spectacle – and within minutes the clearly contrasting view of our galaxy was gone and the opportunity was lost.There were gaps in the clouds and Jupiter remained prominent through the haze.Next to me, Dave was exciting the onlookers with his views of Jupiter, as red super-giant Antares shone brightly (centre). Alpha Centauri (Rigil Kentaurus) is the first magnitude star upper right.Another view of Jupiter, as it too became engulfed.The Moon was glowing behind the Western clouds.The Moon began to break through.An over-exposed crescent Moon was closing in on the horizon.The Moon was gone and the gaps in the clouds had dwindled. All that remained were a few twinkly stars in the Northerly direction. I think they were laughing at us.
The observatory consisted of an open field with fine horizon views in most directions. CWAS had installed a porta-cabin with generated power and gas fired barbecue. Earlier that day they had poured concrete slabs for their port-aloo and future observatory dome.
Sunset: image credit: John SarkissianThe barbecue: image credit: John SarkissianInside the observatory cabin: image credit: John Sarkissian.A frustrated but happy group picture of CWAS and MAS astronomers: image credit: John Sarkissian.
A wonderful night, despite the unwanted cloud cover. Thanks, CWAS, I hope we can do the trip again sometime in the future!
Cookamidgera Observatory lies about twelve kilometres to the South East of Parkes. (Google Earth)
The Observing site is situated in a remote spot adjacent to a small family cemetery Cookamidgera coordinates: -33° 11′ 29.87″ S 148° 18′ 4.33″ E. (Google Earth).
The Observing site is situated in a remote spot adjacent to a small family cemetery Cookamidgera coordinates: -33° 11′ 29.87″ S 148° 18′ 4.33″ E. (Google Earth).
Cosmic Focus 