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ne-nsw-stargrazing-festival · 4 years

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Bored in lock down at home?

Yep, we are locked down to. Our StarGrazing event sensibly postponed till next year 2021. Probably around 16 to 18 April.

In the mean time, can we help you out a little, with the ‘stuck at home’ syndrome.

If you have thought about it, but not done it yet, perhaps now is the time to try a little astro-photography. The way to learn is just give it a go.

The moon is a great way to begin. Visible at some time from your balcony, unit window or backyard. Capture it silhouetted by tree branches, or in full moon brightness. Add some photo manipulation software, and perhaps you can combine photos of a low light earthly scene with a different zoom photo of a clear full moon. Astrophotography can be creative, artistic, evocative, blending of images, not just recording a scene in factual scientific details.

Lachlan, one of our very young StarGrazing enthusiasts sent me two of his pics of the moon this last week. I am posting the one I like the most. Simple, Dark, Moody.

One of the good things about astronomy is it is (mostly) family friendly. Things for kids and adults, different intellectual levels. And it is educational. Gets young minds thinking. How big? How fast? Cool. So to help you find something to distract the kids for awhile, or give your mind a little something different to think about, below are a range of utube and vimeo links you may want to explore.

I know technically any of you can just go do a net search. But what do you search for? What sort of thing is new, interesting in Astronomy and space? That is where we can help by giving you some video links, with a bit of a guide, to get you going. A sort of short cut guide to current evolving space and astronomy topics. (Or at least some of them!)

Share with the kids, make it home work, chat over dinner with what they thought and think. Inspires young minds, and old.

Lets begin with a full tour of the universe to put your mind a little more in the picture of all that is out there. Journey to the Edge of the universe. Narrated by Alec Baldwin. Lasts for 1.5 hours, so put the older kids in front of it and take a break. Kettle on ... oh work yes ... more emails to attend.. coffee first.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P17h_JwzMuU

Rockets: Humans recently succeed in the “reusable rocket”. (Thanks Elon and Space X). Cheaper, we can do more, go more, put more probes and astronomy stuff into space. The last scene here is like one straight out of science fiction movie. But it is real, on Earth, year 2018.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0FZIwabctw

The above is an amazing achievement. This video goes with it. The mistakes along the way. Failing in tasks is part of learning how to achieve something new. A key part of every endeavour. (You may be in that cycle right now! Take heart!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvim4rsNHkQ

Rocket size comparison. (For the kids mostly.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJ380rPYE4Q

How to land the space shuttle (and how young people can be passionately inspired by space stuff.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb4prVsXkZU

At one of our past StarGrazing events, we watched the international space station pass over us. Here is a long (1 hour) detailed tour of the International Space Station. (In zero gravity, there is no “up or down”.) A robot makes a very brief appearance in a zip up bag. This is an international collaboration while wars and pandemics go on below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvTmdIhYnes

Humanities next step - setting up a permanent base on the moon. The challenges... space radiation, need for shelter, need for water for humans and to make fuel. Solution.... find a cave. Set up your moon base in there protected from space radiation. Yes, there appear to be caves on the moon. Like Hawaii, the moon has ancient flows of lava, called lava tubes. The difference is, and it is a good difference for us human explorers, the moon has 1/5 the gravity of Earth. So where as the cooled lava tubes in Hawaii are up to 10m high, on the moon they are up to 100m tall and wide. Huge. Sometimes somewhere along a part of a lava tube, a meteorite strike or something, the roof of the lava tube has caved in, so you get a deep dark hole that looks slightly different in lunar photos to a deep dark shadowed crater. Hence the search is on to find a lava tube moon cave, in a good place to set up a permanent human moon base. Within decades there will be cave men and women again. On the moon!

(Note: It was school kids exploring moon photos on the web that discovered the first moon cave. A major breakthrough opening up this whole solution to the “professionals”. Before then, no one had noticed these rare things. All assumed to be the normal run of the mill craters in deep shadow. )

https://vimeo.com/250518650

Here is a question. This planet has been through several catastrophes with mass extinctions. As we humans evolve, we are endangering this planet by our sheer numbers. Is our emergence as a ‘planetary dominant species’ naturally what planets do over time. To eventually evolve a species with a capacity to either destroy itself, .... or act to defend that planet from mass extinction space risks? Depending on that species collective intelligence and behaviour, it may be the source of another self extinction and mass extinction, or if it can manage itself responsibly go on to be an asset to that planets overall survival. Could this be a part of a ‘natural selection’ process for life on planets through out the universe? If so there is a challenge, and a more positive thought for our species!

The kind of event that killed of the dinosaurs can happen again at any time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEIjKjIgCA0

You probably did not know it, but NASA and ESA have missions planned to try some techniques on asteroid deflection to see how they can work. (Yeah!) Set for launch 2021, with an asteroid strike attempt 2022.

I think their careful selection of a target so that they can observe changes after impact from Earth based telescopes is so simple yet such a really clever solution. I would have just chosen any asteroid.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9fxIxH8LqM

Just so you now in recent years, humans have formed a ‘planetary defence unit’ officially. With a budget. It is no longer science fiction.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNSYuY6N1Rs

Humanity exploring our local solar system. Human camera’s going everywhere on probes.

Did you know you can explore the surface of Mars, using Google Earth, downloadable for free here. https://www.google.com/earth/download/gep/agree.html?hl=en-GB

Thanks to some NASA missions to Mars, there were a few years where humans had a more complete and finer resolution photographic map of Mars, then we did for our own home planet Earth.

You can explore this mass of imagery using Google Earth from home. This is an old video from 2009 as a starter for you. Shows you what to click on to look at Mars imagery in Google Earth. I do not think things have changed much since 2009.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjcCF6cIlPw

Prefer an on the ground level view of Mars. Try this next video. This is the surface of another planet. Cool. So much the same, yet different. ( May be its all secretly filmed in outback Australia, like man never really went to the moon, it was filmed in outback Arizona .. te he. )

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weCG_yODtvM

The next Mars rover (is that no 4?) is due to launch soon for Mars. (Google search and Wikipedia is your friend to find out more.) Possibly now is a great time to introduce this next mission to the kids, and have them follow it as a hobby project over the next few years. Plan your own ‘watch the launch’ and ‘watch the landing’ parties.

Above we talked about asteroids. OK, would humans have close up pictures of the surface of an asteroid yet? Yep. A loose rubble pile type of asteroid, just held together by gravity. So if your curious if it looks like some past Armageddon movie scene, find out. Thanks Japan.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHvDO_fzZLs&list=PLpGTA7wMEDFjzlSiNurKy6TyDRmPWMlLd

Lets go further out. How about a video of, not just the surface of another planet, but the moon of another planet. Its 2020, can do. Here is the surface of Titan, a moon of Saturn. No oil crises on Titan. Rivers of hydrocarbon. Awesome. Hard to believe this is real.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9L471ct7YDo

As for other planets, here is a solar system tour of images ..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uF14sGoymW0

This next video is for the geeks amongst you. A long lecture, but not too technical. (1.25 hours and not for kids really). There is talk of another, yet undiscovered, “Planet 9″ in our solar system. 10 to 20 times the mass of Earth. No 9 with Pluto demoted from being a “planet”. The evidence from modelling seems pretty sound.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMCwezegPNg

Other planets around other stars ..

Over the last decade new instruments are discovering 100′s of planets around other stars, and even using maths to work out what the conditions may be like on them. It is looking like many other solar systems are not at all similar to our own. Our solar system, and hence the circumstances that have led complex life and us to evolve on this planet may be rare. Two videos.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5I_FOEh47RY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mVRc80vhhQ

Any planet earth like planets - rocky, with water, in the temperature goldilocks zone? Yes. Check out the Trappist System. Its not far from us either. ..!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnKFaAS30X8

How will we know more about the character of other extra-solar planets around other stars. Ones like Earth? To really know if there are planets with life supporting environments like Earth, one way is to gain the spectrum of light from a star that has just glanced and passes through the atmosphere of that planet of interest. In so doing, the kinds of molecules in that atmosphere, oxygen, nitrogen, and organic life molecules like methane and other complex molecules each absorb and take out specific frequencies of that stars sunlight. This provides a finger print of “absorptions” that can enable us to read what gases are in that planets atmosphere. This amount of light is so incredibly small that it is just beyond our current best Earth based telescopes and their exquisitely sensitive detectors. A key hope of being able to observe such light is with the next space telescope after the Hubble Telescope. The $10 billion dollar (including wages and run time into the next 10 years) James Webb Telescope. This due for launch next year, around this time. March 2021. Here are some videos.

About it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VqG3Jazrfs

With most space missions, including the James Webb telescope, require long time lines from conception to final outcomes. Their team members have to bet their entire working careers on the project going through to success, with the risk that if the rocket blows up, it is decades of life work gone in a few seconds. For the love of knowledge, ..”To go where no one has gone before..” (Chuckle, but kind of true.) The James Webb telescope project is no different. It began back 30+ years ago, 1989. Here is the story from then to now, and on into the future, all going well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXiU1YxWyzY

NASA and ESA gets all (or most) of the public mind attention. Australia has fostered and hosted an equally significant project. (Including my old work place, cool ..) The Square Kilometer Array SKA. This is an international collaborative project. The radio astronomy equivalent of the CERN Hadron Collider. Did you know it is currently in the process of being built. It is being assembled in both Western Australia and Southern Africa. The telescope hardware will span across two continents!

This radio telescope system will look out deep into the universe in radio waves. Without the pretty pictures in the visible light our eyes see, this project attracts much less attention from the general public than Hubble and James Webb telescopes. Scientifically though, it is very exciting. Like the above telescopes, when this is fully operational, what it sees will make or break lots of current cosmological theories. When fully operational, it will create as much data in real time, as the entire world internet currently generates each second. Wow! Petabytes (look that up). This is a really major science endeavour. World class, world leading.

This project will also reach further than ever before, and one of its capacities will be detecting radio signals from other civilizations. The “We Are Not Alone” moment is most likely to come from this project in the next 20 years.

Go Aussie’s go! (Quiet achievers.) Project and construction is uniting people from across continents. And at less than half the cost of the James Webb. (Yeh - both are really valuable projects.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hog411ZSzEY

I have spent a couple of days looking through old and new video links to put this list together. There are so many good videos out there. These are chosen to cover a range of topics and starting points for you to follow up and explore further. Hopefully covering kids interests and adults in the mix.

Doing so has lifted my spirits. I think one of the values of astronomy and space in uncertain times, is that it helps to see others facing challenges, problem solving, working successfully, collectively, to get to new places. New in knowledge, new in exploration, new in endeavour and achievement, and new in human cooperation. Such is not an easy or simple thing to do.

I certainly needed the reminder and the lift.

Best wishes to you.

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ne-nsw-stargrazing-festival · 4 years

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StarGrazing 2020

Cancelled due to that virus thingi.

Plan for 2021 Easter Time.

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ne-nsw-stargrazing-festival · 5 years

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StarGrazing Event 2019.

Above - picture of the moon taken through the 6-8″ Newtonian with an iPad held up to the eyepiece by young amateur astronomer Lochlan.

This year’s ‘quiet’ lightly promoted event attracted about 25 people, adults and kids.

A key part of the evening was learning about the difference between planes and satellites just after sunset.

Satellite count at dusk was about 8 satellites, including: - a passing over of the International Space Station low on the southern horizon around 6:12 pm as it passed over Tasmania. Still just visible from northern NSW. - the Hubble Space Telescope passing high up into the northern sky about 6:23 pm.

Some pics of the event below:

1. Ongoing renovations at our field site.

2. Catering - “Rusty’s Hot Spuds + tea and coffee this night.

3. A couple of the telescopes later in the evening. 15-20 cm (6″ - 8″) Newtonian, Dobson Mount (left) and a 25 cm (10″) Meade Cassegrain on the right. Orion nebulae clearly visible with this sites dark skies on both.

4. Telescopes observing with Scorpio rising in the east, and Ben Lomond village street lights x5 in the distance. ( We did not arrange to turn the village street lights off this year. )

We will be looking at more events over the next year. You can email us at [email protected].

Note email address is stargrazing with an “r” after the “g”. Not stargazing - a word play on this being a rural grazing region.

At this event site we “graze” the deep night skies at 1370m.

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ne-nsw-stargrazing-festival · 6 years

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StarGrazing Event this year - 2019- Sat April 27th, 5 - 8 pm

Family STARGRAZING event this year at Ben Lomond Villlage Recreation Ground.

We are privileged to have world class dark skies at Ben Lomond. This recreation ground site at 1370m elevation offers easily accessible dark skies lost to large sections of the world’s population due to night sky light pollution from major cities and other human light sources.

The focus for this years ‘light edition event’ (ha ha), is to learn the difference between a passing plane and a satellite at dusk. We are keeping this event very simple this year.

WHAT TO BRING:

• Wear very warm clothing.

• Camp chair, or groundsheet, blanket & pillow.

• Torch, water bottle/thermos.

• Binoculars or telescope if you have one.

Rusty’s hot baked potatos available for purchase. (Yum)

If you are coming let us know how many of you at....

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/StarGrazing_attending

The Ben Lomond Recreation Ground (oval) remains available to amateur astronomers wanting to set up a telescope year round.

The Ben Lomond Recreation Ground is on the north side of the main north-south road through the village of Ben Lomond, on the west side of the old disused railway line.

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ne-nsw-stargrazing-festival · 6 years

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Last year 2018 - Sat 14th update.

Sat late night observing. Not the best for optical astronomy. Spectacular though. Nothing like Rusty’s baked potatoes + percolated coffee in good company in the middle of wild storm at the end of a long day.

Check the damage in the morning.

Forecast Sunday night is for mostly clear skies. Some astronomy talks on in the Hall from mid afternoon.

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ne-nsw-stargrazing-festival · 6 years

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StarGrazing Festival Previous Year 14 -17 April 2018

** For a pdf doc of the info pack below for the event April 14th to 17th, email the event organisers at [email protected] **

SAT 14th EVENT IS ON AND OPEN.

Today Saturday is going ahead. Breaks in clouds, BBQ is on, coffee, bread snags. Some telescopes arriving soon.

Skies likely to clear later tonight.

Talks in Hall.

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Some pics at 2:45 pm.

1. Sky is clearing.

2. Tea, coffee, pumpkin soup. BBQ Snags or Steak 5 pm.

3. Someone brought a telescope and asked how do I use it. Now they know.

(One Phd, and one committee member Astronomical Society of NSW in this picture.)

4. One Telescope for sale. Find Margaret and Haggle. Compact scope, slips in car. Easy to pick up.

5. Astronomers arriving, setting up tent and Telescope.

Saturday Talks.

• Measuring Space - What is a light year. (In the Hall.) 4 - 4:30 pm A couple of fast running kids under 10 years old might be needed to assist.

• Dark Sky Reserves - What they are, why they matter. (In the Hall.) 4:45 pm to 5:15 pm

• Events in Astronomy and Space in the last year. (In the Hall.) 5:30 pm - 6:15 pm. A light sample of events and developments over the last year for the general interest of the public.

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Conditions are expected to be clear for the 15th to 18th of April.

---------- Below here original information for the event.

The public day and evening Saturday, 14 April, 2018:

“Telescope Muster” - Ben Lomond Oval 12 noon onwards.

If you have a telescope, bring it.

If you know someone with a telescope, pass this on.

If you no longer want it, you can put a price on it and see if you can find a buyer to take it off your hands.

If you want to use it but lack some knowledge, there should be others that you can ask questions and get you going.

If you use your telescope already, then consider staying with other amateur astronomers for the event running over the next few days.

Bring warm clothing, food and drink as you need for the afternoon.

Public Day Afternoon/Evening Program:

There are also amateur astronomers in the region coming with their telescopes to help us show the public the stars, planets, and other objects of interest on this evening.

There will be some casual roaming talks at the oval about different kinds of telescopes.

There will be some talks in the Ben Lomond War Memorial Hall orientated to the general public. The Hall is about 5 minutes walk from the oval. The evening talk will begin after 4 pm.

If you are attending this event as a member of the public, you will need to be able to walk, or if in a wheelchair, be pushed or travel at least 400 m. Public car parking will necessarily be restricted to the approaching roadsides in the village.

There will be a walk of about 150m from where you park to the Hall, then a further walk of about 100m from the Hall to the oval where the telescopes will be set up. Car parking at the Hall and oval can not be permitted as the car headlights when people leave is counter to the astronomy nature of the event.

There is a wheelchair accessible toilet at the Hall.

** Bring warm clothing.

** You need to bring a torch with red cellophane over the end so it shines only red light.

( You can buy red cellophane as gift wrap at your local newsagent. Use more than one rubber band to hold it on. )

Talks List - Public and Amateur Astronomy Talks.

Map below of village parking arrangements.

Due to the nature of this event, there is need for cars to be parked away from the oval.

The road past the Hall and past the oval will be closed restricted. There will be access for local residents, cars with telescopes, amateur astronomers, and drop off of disabled.

Map below of oval access and site arrangements.

For Amateur Astronomers. Sat 14th to Tues 17th April 2018.

The remainder of that night April 14th after 10 pm, and the following three days and nights have been reserved for just amateur astronomers. (And those they invite to stay with them.)

On the Sunday afternoon 15th of April, about 3:00 pm to 4:45 pm, the Hall and its audiovisual light projector will be available for talks of relevance to amateur astronomers.

Talks List - Public and Amateur Astronomy Talks.

There will be a BYO Astronomers Dinner Sunday afternoon beginning 5:30 pm. As we have not organised catering, it is a bring our own meal affair. Plates, cutlery, tea and coffee will be available at the Hall. Given people have diverse food needs, and we have a shoe string budget, we thought this the best way to go this year.

Tent or van camping is available at the oval for amateur astronomers. You will see for the site map we encourage those that have a car or van as part of their telescope set up, to use the western part of the oval, and those that just have a telescope to set up, use the eastern half of the oval. This makes for better flow with people, and those tent camping can remain closer to their telescopes.

There is a village BBQ and weather shed to cook meals adjacent to the oval.

There will be a portaloo and one permanent loo within walking distance of the oval.

There are no showering facilities are the oval. There are showers accessible at the Guyra truck stop 20 minutes drive away.

See map further below.

More Details …

Last year, our focus for the event was to seek assessment of our village, its assets, its location, and it's night sky conditions from the amateur astronomy community for consideration as a worthwhile place for an annual star party for north-east New South Wales. The overwhelming response from the amateur astronomers attending was yes definitely. Dark sky measurements at the oval topped the Bortle scale with readings greater than 22.

The broad format for the event is the same this year. To hold it at a time of new moon, this year the event occurs outside NSW school holidays. This is unusual. Usually the event will fall on the last weekend of the NSW public school holidays.

This is only our second year, so we are still testing various arrangements and formats while we also work within current constraints.

There are a few changes to the event this year.

Adding the Telescope Muster:

First, having established that we are going ahead with an annual star party, the next step is to connect with as many telescope owners and amateur astronomers as possible in the surrounding region. Hence this year we have added the “Telescope Muster" beginning Saturday noon. We are encouraging anyone who is an active amateur astronomer, or perhaps bought a telescope that is now collecting dust, to bring it to the Ben Lomond recreation ground oval on this afternoon. We have already promoted this on ABC radio a month ago, and we will be putting out the call on radio again where we can over the region. If this proves a success, we may continue it annually as an opportunity for swapping and selling of telescopes as part of this event.

Funding to run this event:

Unfortunately our village community has not yet resolved our annual allocation of funds, to which we would normally cover the up front costs for holding this event. We are once again holding the event on a shoestring. This financial situation is a flow on from the process of forced amalgamations in NSW. We are expecting to have this resolved by this next year’s event, 2019. This year, to help us cover costs, we will have a bucket for gold coin donations on the public night. Last year, the cost was about $2500 all up. We hope to run the event this year for less. There is a donation box in the weather shed next to the village BBQ should you want to make a contribution to help us run and build this event.

Village Street Lights:

We will not be turning off the village street lights this year. There are no streetlights at the Oval itself, but they do add some degree of scattered light all the same. Given we are holding this festival annually, we have some initiatives in the pipeline to enable us to more easily turn off the street lights near the oval just for this event. We also hope to change the type of lights used, and add better downward light shielding for lights not hear the oval. Given these circumstances, we will use this year as a test year for views on how much the street lights in the village have an impact. There are varying views so far. Some suggesting, not really worth worrying about. Others, yes, having the street lights off makes a difference. I have attempted some lights off vs later lights on photos of the village I can show on Sunday afternoon. We are keen to have them off for this event. Most in the village have no issue with this. The constraint this year was time to organise this, and cost.

Amateur Astronomy Talks at the Hall:

Sunday afternoon there is an opportunity for anyone to give a talk to fellow amateurs for 10 to 20 mins, or longer if required. A talk can be on your success with some astrophotography, or solving a telescope problem, or your review on a piece of astronomy gear. The talks can be quite casual. We will have a gong or bell for anyone that mumbles so completely that they can not be understood at all. Above that, and your fine to share something. Given you may only have an audience of 5 to 10 people, it is a good chance to practice a little public presentations skills. We do encourage people wanting to give a talk to put some thought and preparation into it. Longer talks of 30 minutes are for more experienced presenters that can demonstrate proper preparation.

Note that any use of the light projector for a talk in the Hall requires connecting to an hdmi cable. Resolution of the light projector in the hall is "average" by modern standards. It is not a full high resolution light projector.

Astronomers Dinner:

Last year, we held a catered dinner for amateur astronomers at the Hall. We thought this was a good idea, and we appreciated all the feedback we gained from those who came to the dinner. This year, we have not organised for the option of paid catered meals. We still are going to hold an "astronomers dinner" though, on Sunday early evening. It will be an entirely "bring your own food" dinner. This will follow the talks in the hall in the late afternoon. Of course it's optional, but it is a time to connect with some of the others attending in a way that's different to out on the oval. So plan ahead for what you can bring if your coming. We still hope to offer catered meals at the Hall for those that would like them as part of the event in future years.

Warm Spot at the Oval:

For those observing late into the night, we are looking at trialing a different solution for a "warm spot" at the oval. A place where astronomers can warm up, have some hot soup, or a cuppa during the night. One of our local residents will be setting up a gas camp oven and offering baked potatoes with sour cream and chives, and some brewed coffee at a reasonable price. We have applied for a grant to begin to renovate this shed structure at the oval with a view to making it a much better asset for amateur astronomers at this event, and also hire-able for astronomy groups over the rest of the year. Last year, we had the tea and coffee at the Hall eating area. We discovered that light from here does impact on the west side of the oval. Another reason for the change. We intend to put up some tarps to shield light from the weather shed next to the village BBQ. Keep the light down from there. Note there is camping near the BBQ just over the fence, with closer walk to the loo and BBQ.

Traffic Control at the oval:

This arises from feedback last year. Having people try and drive onto the oval in the dark and middle of the night with telescopes and gear all round the place clearly is a risk that will bring accident and loss sooner or later. Hence we have introduced a rule of no vehicles entering or leaving the oval during night time. So once your on the oval with a vehicle and its dark, you need to stay the night. The alternative is to park off the oval, and walk gear to the car if you need to pack up before dawn. If you unexpectedly need to go and get something, perhaps seek a lift with another astronomer with a car not on the oval.

Telescope collect and leave times at the oval:

The other issue with people leaving in the night is car headlights as people pack up. Hence, for the public night, and astronomer nights, we have identified a specific car park spot just inside the main gate to the oval, but not on the oval, and added two specific times for people to leave: 10 pm to 11 pm, and 2 am to 3 am.

Telecommunications at the Oval:

There is both Telstra and Optus mobile phone and wireless internet access at the oval. The Telstra service is not nearly as reliable as the Optus service. Indeed some times very poor. The Optus tower has recently been upgraded to a G4 rural service. 18Mbs/50Mbs. If your with Telstra you might want to consider a pre-paid Optus sim for the weekend if you need lots of data access and your not “locked in” on contract.

Medical:

Should some medical event arise, there is a multifunction medical centre including after hours emergency in Guyra (about 20 mins drive), and a regional hospital and Emergency Unit at Armidale Hospital (55 mins drive).

Wet or overcast night:

If one of the amateur nights are cloudy, overcast or raining, we will use the Hall as an alternative venue. We can access videos of interest on astronomy off the internet, arrange to show pictures taken past by those attending, and add some more talks and discussions. One thing we can not do is control the weather (yet).

Camping Reminders:

There is camping at the oval. It gets cold, and camp wood fires are not allowed given this strongly impacts the astronomy seeing conditions. You will be at 1370m. Bring seriously warm gear - clothing, sleeping bag etc. Night ground temperatures get down to -8˚C on some nights, with -2 to -4˚C quite common at this time of year. For those that use their car as camp vehicle and telescope support, we would encourage you to set up on the west side of the oval as per the oval site map. That is on the side further away from the main entrance the public will use. This keeps the east side more clear for those pitching a tent, and wanting to set their telescope up nearby on the oval.

Coming Early:

If amateur astronomers want to come earlier, Fri, choose a prime camping spot, and perhaps get some observing in Friday night, feel free to come then. We will start setting up on Fri around the village, ready for Saturday. The Hall will not be open, but the village loo will be open. If you want to assist in our setting up, just ask what you can do. If the is something, we’ll let you know.

Overall, the event will be a fairly casual event this year. Please bring a contributing positive and resilient spirit to help us build this annual event.

Where to go for a meal:

Glencoe - Red Lion Pub. Sit down meals. Phone ahead. Not open Mon night. On New England Hwy. Ph 02 6733 3271

Guyra - Rafters Restaurant. Sit down meals. Not open Sun night or Mon. Book ahead (going to be busy). On New England Hwy. Ph 02 6779 1876

Guyra - Caltex Truck Stop: Sit down meals. Get there before 8:30 pm best. On New England Hwy. Ph 02 6779 1462

Glen Innes - lots, internet search.

Nearby accommodation:

Ben Lomond – “Silent Grove” Farm Stay: Contact: John & Dorothy Every. Ph 02 6733 2117 M: 0427 936 799

This farm stay business is less than 20 minutes drive from the oval site, to the north. May be booked out already. They also host campers for $10 a night, with the above-mentioned shower available. For this event I think you’re probably better pitching a tent at the Oval, and if need be traveling up for a shower.

Red Lion Pub: Ph 02 6733 3271

This is a pub at Glencoe, on the New England Hwy, about 20 minutes drive from the Ben Lomond village. They also offer sit down meals and liquid refreshments for adults. Family friendly in my experience. I have had friends stay there and they gave a good report. There are two ways to drive there from the village, one a dirt back road, the other a sealed road via the highway. There is less than two minutes difference so I would recommend the sealed road.

Shiralee Hotel: Ph 02 6779 1380

Guyra is the nearest town on the highway south from Ben Lomond Village. About 20 minutes drive from the oval site. There is a clash on this weekend with the University Of New England having its Graduation Ceremony, and a few other events. Almost all booked out in Guyra, Shiralee still has rooms as of Thurs 5 April. Worth a call. They are on the New England Highway.

Glen Innes township:

About 35 to 40 minutes drive north from Ben Lomond Village. Lots of options. Internet search.

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ne-nsw-stargrazing-festival · 7 years

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From here down you are looking at previous years events - not 2018. ___ StarGrazing Short Update #4

Sat 22 April 2017

Weather. Overcast, drizzle last night. This morning over the village 7:30 am - beautiful sunny, some high cloud. It simply keeps changing.

Earth Site, Total Cloud Water, for tonight 22 April 7 pm.

From Bureau of Meteorology this morning.

Camping at the Oval:

There has been a request for clearer directions of where is the tent camping site. This should help. Once you are here, it should make sense of appropriate places to camp or put a caravan. There will be local people supporting the event around over the day at the oval. So you can ask to check if you are choosing a reasonable spot.

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ne-nsw-stargrazing-festival · 7 years

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Update Fri night.

Conditions currently overcast, light drizzle.

Looking at modelling and forecasts, looks like Tues night is the best night.

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ne-nsw-stargrazing-festival · 7 years

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StarGrazing Attendees Info Pack 3:

20 April 2017

Positive preparation, all going ahead.

Other than iffy and uncertain whether, all is good. The oval and camping areas have been mown (twice). Two portaloos are in place, primarily for the public night, but also close and handy for late-night observing at the oval. Lots of other issues pretty much organised and sorted. A few last-minute issues to sort.

Below is a map of the Ben Lomond village and our management plans for the public night, Saturday 22nd of April. Hope it all works!

When you arrive:

We would like people to set up their telescopes on the main Oval. We are a little concerned we will have quite a few people turn up on Saturday night, and so the larger space of the oval keeps everything simple. There is plenty of area around the main Oval for camping.

Phone signal at the oval:

Previously, I have mentioned that the Optus phone signal, and wireless broadband signal, is strong throughout the oval and most of the village. I have been able to stream YouTube videos in the hall using a 4G Optus broadband modem with no difficulties.

I have since been able to check the Telstra signal at the Oval. It was a fairly consistent one bar and occasionally two bars for short periods over the full oval site. Probably slightly better on the northern side of the oval. I don't have a means to check level of broadband wireless signal.

T-shirts:

Personally, for those interested, I would like to see these happen. If this event goes ahead over coming years, you will all be founding members. Why not have a T-shirt or sloppy Joe for future bragging rights? However, it makes sense to take orders once your here given that we need your size and preference. We have not yet engaged with possible print places.

Accommodation:

Those who are not camping probably have your accommodation sorted. Just in case, I mentioned the farm stay “Silent Grove”. Since sending out info pack #2 I understand the whole cottage was booked by one family. However I have had indications since that they will no longer be becoming. So if you have not finalised accommodation, it might be worth a phone call to query the current status of that accommodation.

Some low level lights on the public night, why:

Good news. We have most of the LED village streetlights being turned off for the event. The lights at the local school appear to have been reduced.

Somewhat in contradiction, I want to advise in advance that we will be setting up some low level lighting just for the public night as guidance. The public night ends at 10 pm, and we can remove it then.

The reason for this is that we have no idea of how many people will turn up for the public night. We think there does need to be some demarcation of major walkways etc, even with people having cellophane covered hand torches.

To achieve low level orientation and guidance lighting, we will be trying a few solutions. From my past experience one issue I have wanted to seek some solution to is people stumbling into my telescope in the dark, and equally several people wanting to come have a look through my telescope but having no idea from which direction to approach. I have an experimental solution that may assist. Essentially some cotton rope soaked in green glow paint that can be arranged on the ground in an arc around your telescope as a fairly faint demarcation line that you can adjust as you wish easily. From experiment so far, the intense glow lasts less than 10 minutes, but a fainter level glow that I think will be quite sufficient for dark adjusted eyes does continue for a lot longer. It may not work, or be desirable, but I thought a solution along these lines worth an experiment.

Public Night:

As for the visiting public in general, we have arranged the public evening such that those attending will come to the Hall first. This is so that we can make mention of important things before people walk down to the oval. For example, no laser pointers please. No torches without red cellophane coverings. (We will have extra red cellophane and rubber bands for those that have not done so.) A few other “housekeeping” things.

I plan to have a list of Astronomy groups and other resources on the chair for each person. Given this night is about promotion of Astronomy, both as an area of knowledge, and as an interest that one may want to get involved in, this is our chance to connect people to regional Astronomy groups.

The talk, half an hour is the aim, will include a few things on Astronomy. It will be kept very basic and simple. Then we will direct people down to the oval at 7:00 pm. If the sky conditions are overcast, the talk will be longer to ensure those that have turned up feel that their time was not wasted. If there is a big turnout, we may have to do two sessions.

As mentioned, the public part finishes at 10 pm. We think most people will leave after an hour or two. We do plan to gently encourage and enforce the 10 pm end of the public night. If you have some keen people that you are happy to stay longer with you, then it is up to you. As one of the amateur astronomers just let them know their staying on is OK with you, and with your sanction, ok also by us organisers even though we are encouraging others to leave. We think this is the best way to go.

After 10 pm, the rest of this night, and the next 3 nights, is over to amateur astronomy.

Setting up equatorial mounts:

Particularly for newcomers, this task can be problematic. How does one determine true rotational Earth North. I will set up some markers that I think may help with identifying true north. As for angle from horizontal - we are at 30˚ 01’. So essentially 30˚. A nice simple number, and a standard 30/60 degree set square can come in handy.

Observer supports, late cold nights:

First, reminder that there is no 240 v mains power access available on the oval. We will set up a 240v recharging spot for small items like phones, laptops, etc. We will choose the weather shed as the closest covered point to the oval with mains power.

We also have organised to set up a ‘warm spot’, chairs and tables, soup, tea and coffee, those kind of ‘take a break’ human things, down at the Hall. This is sufficiently far away from the oval that the lighting in the room will not impact on observing at the oval. It is about 2 minutes walk.

Given this is a “test event” this year, the way we have set things up can be changed with discussion. See what works best.

Sunday 1 pm Lunch:

We do want to encourage amateurs visiting interested in the notion of an annual event here to come for an early afternoon lunch on Sunday. We are organising a hot meal, or if you have food you prefer, feel free to bring that. As organisers we think getting those interested together to share a meal and talk, is the best way to get feedback on what people think of this location in general, thoughts on the potential of the site, possible changes, downsides. And also just enjoy a little socialising. We will have people from different astronomical groups, so it is also a chance to learn about other groups. This lunch will be at the Hall. If this is not your think, just miss it.

Cloud and chance of showers peaks high Sunday day.

Anzac Breakfast:

One thing we did over look. The community will be holding an Anzac service and morning tea at the Hall - the Hall being the Ben Lomond War Memorial Hall - on the morning of Tues 25th. So we will have to relocate the ‘warm spot’ tea and coffee etc the night before. You are welcome to come along to the community service and morning tea. Anzac day is diligently remembered each year in this community.

Talks:

So far no one has indicated they want to give a talk in the Hall as part of the amateur astronomy 3 days. That is fine. If that changes, we can work out a time one of the afternoons for those staying more than one night.

Photo contributions:

Since we do hope to turn this into an annual event for this region, if you see any good photo opportunities, do take photos and share them with us if you are willing.

Weather:

I have sent out earlier this evening a weather review to all that have filled out the online survey and left an email address.

In short, the weather is not set to be stable and clear like we usually have this time of year. It is I think best described as ‘iffy’. We have had steady presence of cloud most days, but at night it has often cleared for extended periods. We are not expecting a major rain event and 4 nights of overcast skies. There is no cold front due to come through. Forecast sights suggest a gentle air mass from SE Qld, which typically means warmer milder nights for this time of year. Sunday day is not looking good, nor is the public night looking reliable. The most probable scenario outside of Sunday day, is scattered cloud, sometimes clear for a few hours, possibly some periods of overcast conditions for a few hours. This is how it has been. I have been going out checking quite regularly.

If there is an overcast night, one of the merits of this site is the hall and the ability to use that time in other ways.

One of the sites I use is the NASA Earth site, and looking at Total Cloud Water. The modelling is updated about every 24 hours and seems generally pretty good. Below are pics for 10 pm, April 22, 23rd and 24th.

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ne-nsw-stargrazing-festival · 7 years

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StarGrazing Attendees Info Pack 2:

Fri 7 April 2017

For amateur astronomers planning to attend the StarGrazing event this year, 2017.

If you have not done it yet, do please full out our attendees survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/StargrazingFeedback_2017_1_Who_is_coming

We have been busy innovating and rethinking the event somewhat in view of changes to our funding. I could not send this out till we sorted those issues. Apologies for the delay.

In the mean time, I have taken on board a number of queries from those considering attending. I hope this info pack answers all current questions. Feel free to ask more.

Thank you for those who have taken the time to fill out the online attendance survey. Doing so has been very helpful our end to have some idea of the level of response and attendance we need to plan for.

We have about half a dozen firm attendees with telescopes planning to attend, with a good portion planning to camp and stay on for a few days.

Content below:

1. Event funding update.

2. Update on village street lighting – significant decision for us.

3. Program for the event – as it currently stands.

4. Camping - access to shower options.

5. Camping tips.

6. Paid accommodation options.

7. Mobile phone and broadband wireless Internet signal strength at site.

8. Issues we are still problem-solving.

9. Other surrounding area resources.

1. Event funding update:

There is good news and bad news.

First the not so good news! We made plans for this "test run” event this year with an understanding of a few thousand dollars funding to underpin the event. We assessed about $2500 to cover the $400 to disconnect the lights, local village hall hire, portaloos, shower block, signage, some light barriers, an event for the kids, and a range of other incidentals. Since this time, the quote for turning off the streetlights has risen to nearly $1400, and our funding has ended up staying zero. Awkward!

The good news! As mentioned in the original information pack, this small village community is keen to embrace hosting such an event annually. And so one by one local residents have responded by offering to fund various aspects, and give time to various work arounds, so we can go ahead. We have had to moderate our intentions in a few aspects, which I will go into shortly, but we think without compromise to this year's event overall as originally intended.

So all is Go!

In regards to future funding, (and at some risk of repetition) from recent meetings we hold fair confidence that our village community will continue to have the funding support that it has received in recent years. The basis and merits remain unchanged. This year being the exception and not due to the forced amalgamation of our council, but rather the unfortunate death of the council member during the year leading to an oversight with our funding. We will learn the final truth of how we will fair under the new amalgamated council when we see next years budget for the new council some time in the next several weeks.

Part of our confidence in offering to host this event annually is our annual allocation under our former Guyra council. Such would underwrite us hosting this event for a few years giving it time to grow to be strong enough to be self funding.

Most star parties cover their costs with a fee to participants. We do not want to go this way this year. We appreciate that you, amateur astronomers, are responding to our request to check out our skies and our facilities, and that many of you are coming quite some distance. There is already a personal cost to attend. We appreciate all of you in your willingness and effort to make possible our “test run” event this year, and your willingness to size up our location.

One thing we will need to drop in view of the funding situation is our offer for paid catering each day and night at the Hall for those who wanted this. It was one of our survey question options. Apologies for this change.

Given that the event is fairly small this year, and most of those coming have indicated they are bringing their own food, such was probably not going to be viable this year anyway. We still want to offer this in future years for a cover charge per meal. We will still have the barbecue, tea and coffee, et cetera and I'm sure we can cover anyone’s needs one way or another where such need arises. There are also places to eat out within 25 minutes drive.

Having decided this, we do want to host one catered meal for both local organisers and those attending as amateur astronomers. At this point we anticipate this will be about 10 to 15 people. It will be either a barbecue or a catered meal at the hall. We are planning it for Sunday about 1 PM. That is lunch time the first day after the public night. It will be an opportunity to come together and discuss any issues, merits, problems, and thoughts in regards to hosting an event here annually. Hopefully in a relaxed manner with plenty of time for everyone to share their observations and thoughts and discuss them. It would really help us for next year's event should that go ahead.

Hopefully we'll have had a clear night on the night before! Even if not, we think you will have had time to see the overall situation here and have a view on viability for an annual event. You can take your thoughts back to your respective groups. For those staying on a few days, it will also be an opportunity to organise talks in the Hall if there are those that would like to do this, and work out any other practicalities.

For the first public night, in view of the funding situation, we have decided to ask for donations from the public attending. This will help us offset some of the costs. Given the recent publicity on the ABC, we may have quite a turn out. So far, every person we have mentioned this event to locally is coming and bringing relatives. There are some coming up from the coast. The interest has been so strong that we some concern that if 100+ people turn up, do we have sufficient toilet facilities. To cover this, we will be hiring some port-a-loos, in addition to our existing loo at the oval, to ensure we cover this eventuality.

2. Update on village street lighting – significant decision for us.

The other big hurdle was the increase in cost of turning the village street lights off going from a few hundred dollars to nearly $1400.

We have considered not paying for the disconnection of the streetlights this year given the funding situation. However we feel this would impair the opportunity for a fair assessment of this locations night sky conditions. Given we are proposing holding an event here annually, we feel this an important priority.

We have learned that the electricity company will be invoicing us after the service has been provided, hence after the event. Trusting in the continuation of funding to our community, we think we can meet this cost out of next financial year's funding allocation.

We have also requested the lights be dimmed at the local school. We do not yet know the final answer to this.

3. Program for the event – as it currently stands.

Sat 22 April

(Arrival of amateur astronomers, setting up)

Part 1 - For young kids.

4:30 Fatty the Rat Rod.

5:30 BBQ bread and sausages, tea, coffee for public turning up.

Part 2 - Astronomy evening.

6:30 Intro at Hall for the public evening. Guidance for the public attending.

7:00 - 10 pm Public move down to oval to telescopes - public evening. (With your help).

Sun 23 - Tues 25 April

Sun 1:00 PM Planned hosted dinner for organisers and astronomers.

From there:

Evenings/night - observing.

Mornings - sleep in.

Afternoons - as decided.

Telescopes being brought as indicated so far:

• Skywatcher ED80 with HEQ5 GOTO mount, • Celestron 11”, • 10" dobsonian, • “8” Dobsonian, • 10" newtonian on an EQ6 and possibly Tak 4" on an EQ5, • 12" LX200 (pre gps), • 16" Dobsonian Telescope, • possibly a Celestron 14”.

4. Camping - access to showering options.

A few people have raised this question. One thing we don't yet have at the oval is a shower block. Something we would like to work towards changing if we host this event annually. At this point we have about 6 to 12 astronomers attending, about half wanting to camp.

We have a number of options.

A local farm stay “Silent Grove”, less than 15 minutes drive from the site and in addition to accommodation, has an accessible separate shower for people who camp there. The owners are more than happy for those camping at the oval for this event to access showering there.

20 minutes down the road on the highway is a truck stop that has public access showering. If I recall, separate male and female bathrooms with individual cubicles.

I think there may also be some local residents open to offering access to their bathrooms, but would rather meet people first.

Not completely perfect, but options available.

5. Camping tips.

Strongly recommend tents that zip and seal to keep out insects and other creepy crawlies. In some parts of this district, between September and March, generally at night, and after rain, we do get wandering spiders of the funnel-web variety. I am only aware of one such sighting at the Oval in the last 10 years. I have been checking the oval after recent heavy rain, none found. Still, we would rather minimise the chance of any visitor having one wander into their tent.

Very warm clothing. If you have ski gear, bring it. Thermals (pants and tops) highly recommended. I buy work boots a half size bigger so I can wear two pairs of thick hiking socks for winter.

6. Paid accommodation options.

Another common question. A couple of options.

Ben Lomond – “Silent Grove” Farm Stay:

The above-mentioned re showering farm stay business has a cottage that is normally hired out to a family. They have agreed to reserve the cottage for the period of this event, 22nd to 25th April, and offer each room on a $50 per night basis.

One room has a single queen sized bed, a second room has a similar queen or king size bed, and the third room has a single bed and a set of double bunks. There are also some fold out beds. This option would mean sharing some of the facilities with strangers, albeit other amateur astronomers. It is a self-contained cottage, so it has a kitchen, and living room area.

As for quality, it is a farm stay experience. I do know that a number of their guests return quite regularly.

This farm stay business is less than 15 minutes drive from the oval site, to the north. They are quite aware that you will be rocking up possibly in the early hours of the morning. If this is of interest to any of you, I suggest arriving mid-afternoon on the Saturday so you are familiar with the drive between there and the oval site. Sealed road for all but the last 50 metres or so. There are some great views along this road.

They also host campers for $10 a night, with the above-mentioned shower available. For this event I think you're probably better pitching a tent at the Oval, and if need be traveling up for a shower.

Contact: John & Dorothy Every.

Telephone: 02 6733 2117

Facsimile: 02 6733 2117

Mobile: 0427 936 799

Email: [email protected]

Website: http://www.silentgrovefarmstay-bandb.com.au/

Red Lion Pub:

This is a pub at Glencoe, on the New England Hwy, about 20 minutes drive from the Ben Lomond village. It has three rooms, none of which were currently booked when I checked on Thursday, 6 April. They also offer sit down meals and liquid refreshments for adults. Family friendly in my experience. I have had friends stay there and they gave a good report. There are two ways to drive there from the village, one a dirt back road, the other a sealed road via the highway. There is less than two minutes difference so I would recommend the sealed road.

If you're camping and just want to eat out this is an option. Their menu is on their website.

Phone: 02 6733 3271

Website: http://www.redliontavern.com.au/

Guyra Motor Inn:

Guyra is the nearest town on the highway south from Ben Lomond Village. About 20 minutes drive from the oval site. The Guyra Motor Inn includes family friendly restaurant and bar and is generally the more popular accommodation in Guyra. Room rates are on their website.

If you're camping, and just want to eat out, the restaurant is an option. There is also a seafood shop in the main street of Guyra, and a truck stop on the north side of Guyra.

Phone: 02 6779 1022

http://www.guyramotorinn.com.au/

The next biggest town is Glen Innes. It is to the north of Glencoe and Ben Lomond Village. There are several accommodation options there. This town is about 35 to 40 minutes drive from Ben Lomond Village. If you're looking that far, I suggest an Internet search.

7. Mobile phone and broadband wireless internet signal strength at oval site.

Another question asked by a few people. I have checked the overall site for phone reception with my mobile phone, which is with Optus. I get full signal strength bars over the site. Optus broadband wireless covers both 3G and 4G services with the tower about 5 km and in direct line with the oval site. 3G broadband service is around 6 Mb/s download, 1 Mb/s upload, 4G 50Mb/s download, 10 Mb/s upload. Note small “b” for bits, not the MB (Bytes) you see in your web browser. Divide by 10 for Bytes.

I have yet to track down a local with a Telstra phone to do the same. Generally, Telstra reception, both mobile phone and wireless broadband, is patchy. Reason is that the Telstra tower is on the other side of the eastern hills, and signal does not travel through several km’s of basalt very well.

8. Issues we are still problem-solving.

(i) Between the oval, and just adjacent to the weather shed, there is a flat grassed tennis court area of 30m x 30m area. We are thinking that it might work better for telescopes to be set up there for the first public night. Then for subsequent nights, move out to the oval for those that wish. Have a look when you get here. See what you think. It will be a lot closer to the BBQ area and weather shed, so this also may not be desirable.

(ii) The cold weather has arrived! As an amateur astronomer, putting up with cold for some good clear dark night skies is part of what I am prepared to do to enjoy what I do. That's not quite the same though as enjoying feeling cold for hours on end. Given our location and the distinct chill of autumn evenings, ground temperatures close to or below 0°, we think it makes a huge difference to the enjoyment of observing if there is a dedicated warm spot with some source of radiant heat to warm up every now and then.

We have two options currently. The first is a restaurant style gas heater that we could run in the external access eating area of the hall. The problem is that this is a somewhat further walk from the oval at night.

The other option is a small potbelly wood stove that could be set up at the weather shed adjacent also to the loo, tea and coffee, 240 V charging point, and in line of sight to the oval. The concern is, how much might this interfere with observing conditions? It is something we could experiment with.

(iii) A deceased estate 6” reflector with Dobsonian mount has been donated to the event. It needs a good clean up. We are thinking it might make for a workshop session on the components of a telescope of this sort, and how to clean things safely. For the newly interested, nothing like seeing a telescope pulled apart to see how it works!

(iv) The eternal issue. Cloudy weather. We are currently having one of the cloudiest wettest autumns for some years. However, the time we have chosen, even in wet years, is a strong dry period, so at this point we are not yet too concerned. Seems like the conditions are clearing, albeit a little later than usual, consistent with this pattern. I expect we will be posting updates closer to the event.

(v) Don’t forget if there is some aspect of your astronomy you think would be of interest to others, consider offering a talk. It can be for 5 mins or 30. Email is good.

(vi) T-shirts – 50% indicate yes. I like the idea given your all likely in my view to become “founding members”. Work in progress.

9. Other surrounding area resources.

There are major centres, hardware stores, and fix it places within an hours drive in Armidale, Glen Innes and Inverell.

Guyra, 20 minutes down the road has:

A hardware store open business hours and for a few hours on a Sunday morning.

A small hospital unit, 24 hours for emergencies, and a GP practice open business hours.

Chemist is open business hours.

Bakery/pie shop, IGA supermarket, and smaller supermarket place, and other shops in Guyra’s main street.

Car repair shops and an NRMA Depo if you have car problems.

There are bikes for hire in Guyra if you want some exercise.

There is also exercise equipment at our site oval and in Guyra.

On the eastern side of the New England Hwy there are lagoons that act as bird reserves for bird watchers.

There are a number of National Parks if you want to add to your trip.

Coffs Harbour about 2.5 to 3 hours due east if you want some stop over at the coast.

All worth mentioning I think.

For yourself or others:

Email: [email protected]

Survey for new potential attendees: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/StargrazingFeedback_2017_1_Who_is_coming

Tumblr for progressive updates (incl this doc) - hey your here right now!! If your sharing to others via email, well the web address (copy and paste, is) : https://ne-nsw-stargrazing-festival.tumblr.com/

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ne-nsw-stargrazing-festival · 7 years

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StarGrazing Astronomy Annual Event Proposal and Invitation

To Amateur Astronomers All - SE Qld, NE NSW. __________________________________________________________________

The short quick version:

Our village is proposing hosting a NE NSW StarGrazing Festival - Annually.

Test run, evaluation this year, Ben Lomond Village, NSW, April 22 to 25, 2017.

We are seeking interested and supportive members from the astronomical community to visit in this time to check out our site, conditions, the proposal, give feedback, suggestions, recommendations.

If you consider attending to help us in this exercise, please fill out the questionnaire so we know approx numbers etc.

The questionnaire is at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/StargrazingFeedback_2017_1_Who_is_coming

The detailed version:

We think north-eastern New South Wales needs an annual gathering point for amateur astronomers. Essentially, a star party. And we think we have the best place to host it. What follows is the full story of how we have come to this proposal. It will leave you with a fairly informed picture of this rural village, the seriousness of our commitment and intentions, and what is proposed. Soon in separate information, we will provide additional information on accommodation options, food, costs, what we can provide this year, as things become clear.

An idea and invitation.

We would like yourself, or some of your other members, to consider visiting us between 22nd to 25th April this year. Check out our observing conditions and our local assets, with a view to us hosting such an event annually for this region.

The location is Ben Lomond village. [ 30 ̊ 01’ S, 151 ̊ 39’ E. ]

Ben Lomond is a small rural village nestled at the top of the Great Dividing Range on the Northern Tablelands of NSW. At an elevation of 1370 m, the village and local oval is a little higher than the Siding Springs Observatory site. 15% or so of the atmosphere is below. Even though it is only about two hours drive from the NSW - Queensland border, the village typically gets a few falls of snow each winter. You may well have heard of our village on the news. How much difference this makes for viewing conditions, is well.... we are hoping you can help us form a view.

We can not claim we have the best darkest night skies of any place in Australia. If you are seeking rare near perfect dark atmospheric conditions for deep long exposure photography, Central Australia, middle of the Indian Ocean, and Antarctica would be better. Our skies, due to our location, are pretty good though. A lot better than in cities or even near rural towns.

In counter balance to some compromise in top observing conditions, we think we have a unique combination of assets in the one place to make us an excellent venue overall for hosting an annual astronomy festival or star party.

First, there are not very many rural villages left like ours, and even fewer that don't have a major road or highway running through the middle of them.

Our village is situated such that we have a range of hills sheltering us on our east side from the New England Highway, which itself is about 10 km to the east of us. Our location not far from a major inland highway means we are easy to get to from Sydney, the Hunter Valley, Clarence Valley, Southern mid west Queensland, Brisbane and Southeast Queensland (all within 8 hours), while still with fair buffer from highway headlights. We are less than three hours drive inland from Coffs Harbour on the mid-north coast. That is far enough to be away from coastal urban light pollution. We also have a regional airport down the road less than an hour away, and a Sydney rail-bus link bus stop 15 minutes down the road. Meanwhile with a little research (actually quite a bit see map below) we note we are located centrally to a wide range of astronomy groups.

In this regard, we seem to have a pretty unique combination of deep rural skies, easy accessibility, and central location to most astronomy groups in this part of the world.

There is more though that leads us to be putting up our hand up and reaching out to the amateur astronomical community to consider our proposal.

Dark skies can be found elsewhere, but usually not with access to other practical amenities “ready to go” for holding a star party. It is easy to overlook how important these are on a practical level in enjoying an event.

Ben Lomond village has been a proactive rural community that's worked hard over the last few decades to improve and develop its local village assets. Nothing like multimillion dollar venues of course, but sound practical usable assets.

Consequently, we have all in one place; a wide country oval with excellent sky coverage, with adjacent tent camping and campervan space. Adjacent to the oval, a restored weather shed, barbecue facilities, and public loo. (Note, no public shower facility yet.) We then have a village hall within five minutes walk from the oval. The village hall hosts a commercial style kitchen (they host weddings here), an enclosed dining area, and a light projector and audio visual system, and more loos. I should mention at this point that our local CWA provide some pretty down to earth and excellent country cooking when they cater.

We think it is the combination of night sky conditions, and amenities, that stands this location out as a venue for a regional annual star party for this region. Not only do we have an excellent flat observing area with good night sky conditions, but also a venue for food, eating, socialising, wet weather, and facilities for talks, forums, and lectures, all ready to go. It took us awhile to recognise just how unique this is.

Upon investigation, we have support from our electricity provider and the village community to turn off the dozen streetlights in the village for as many nights as we would like. (For a connection and disconnection fee.) We also have support from the village community it would seem to work cooperatively with such an event in terms of any external lights they may have. We have less than 30 residents here.

We have looked at the annual astronomy calendar of events (and our weather) and set our star party date for last weekend of the Easter School Holidays, and the 3 or 4 nights following. There are some good reasons for this choice.

April is in our dry time of the year. Like most places, there can still be unseasonal rain events and clouds. While it does get chilly at night at this time of the year (we will likely have had our first frosts) it is not the dead of winter with overnight ground temperatures dropping below -6°C to -12 ̊C. Further, the way Easter and the school holidays are set to the full moon, this last weekend of the school holidays will always be such that the moon will not rise until after midnight at the earliest.

As for a program, we intend the first night, Saturday night (this year the 22nd of April) to be a public open night. A night to promote astronomy as a science, and as a hobby to young people, and indeed everyone. Being the end of the school holidays it will be something for families to do before the kids go back to school.

Then following the public night, a further three or four nights is reserved and dedicated to amateur astronomy. That is, lights remain off for observing (night time), hall available for talks workshops chat (afternoons), practical support like catering and food for those who wish it. Essentially, the village puts itself into "host mode" for amateur astronomy.

For the public Saturday night, we would like also to encourage anyone with a telescope in other centres on the Northern Tablelands to offer some stargazing to the public at their rural town or village oval as well. In this way we would hope to extend the public night across the Northern Tablelands as an annual event each year promoting astronomy. We do appreciate our access to dark night skies and the wonder they bring, so we are quite passionate about promoting the enjoyment of what is there for all to enjoy.

Amateur astronomers as a group of people are diverse. In developing this event, we would like to pay some focus to the social side as a festival. For example, some keen astronomers have family with partner and or kids. In such instances interest in astronomy may be embraced by the whole family, or “tolerated”. For those single, its great to connect with others with a common intellectual interest. Being centrally located on the Northern Tablelands, there is the option of dropping off ones family astronomer for a few days, while the rest tour other sites in the region, national parks, horse riding, gem prospecting, etc. Alternatively, if all are on board, make it a cheap family camping holiday, with access to local country roads for bike riding, and time in a rural quiet location. Hence we would be looking at afternoon activities added on that do not conflict with the astronomy. So it seems the bonfire and fireworks are out.

So here you have our current vision. We think it is doable.

We think it is not only an excellent opportunity for our village community to have an event we can come together for, but an excellent opportunity for the amateur astronomical community in this region of Australia to take up and benefit from.

What sort of community are we? How long have we been thinking about this?

How did we come to this?

To be clear, we are not writing this letter of invitation to you as a kind of one off thought bubble. This is not a letter where in we just hope some of you will turn up, bring telescopes and make it happen. We have been working on the viability of this idea for about 3 years now. All has been very carefully considered, and in offering ourselves as hosts for such an annual event, we are doing so with a mindset for the long haul into the future.

In gauging if it is worth your while supporting this particular proposal, I think it helps to know our history and momentum as a village community that leads us to be suggesting we host such an event.

We did not start developing our village over 20 years ago with such an event in mind. Rather then it was simply about our survival. Most small rural villages have disappeared over the latter half of the last century. Maintaining a sense of community in rural areas is very important, and so several people in this community decided that we did not want to go the way of so many other communities. Consequently our local Land Care Group also became our local progress association. First some trees were planted in the village, someone started mowing some of the roadside verges to tidy things up, and things grew from there.

Over the last decade, as a small organised rural community we have developed a very good relationship with our local council. Indeed, they were so impressed they offered an annual allocation of $10,000 for us to keep work on improving our community and continuing in large part to manage ourselves. We are right at the remote boundary of three local government areas, so it makes sense to support us to meet most of our own needs. Saves council money.

We have since built quite a reputation of being a progressive, competent, accountable with funding, inventive community. Hence, we have had our local council fully behind us in this star party, astronomy festival initiative. With a phone call and an appointment for example, we have enjoyed ‘walk in’ access to our local council to sit down with our General Manager, Council Engineer, Planning Officer, Councillors, Mayor, whoever is relevant, to discuss any issue or problem and develop possible solutions. That is a pretty good relationship to have with hosting such an event.

So when did the Star Party idea come about?

That happened only about 3 years ago. It helps to know that your writer here has had a lifelong interest in astronomy. Built my first telescope with support from others in my late teens, have a general science background, and spent time as a young person at CSIRO Division of Radio Physics where in I can boast that I have actually ridden “The Dish” to the ground like in the movies.

I mentioned the idea of hosting a star party in one of our community meetings, and was surprised to see with how much enthusiasm the idea was taken up. While it was initially a casual thought suggestion, since that time, I and the rest of us involved here have come to see that this really is a very good idea. One that we think can work both for this rural village community, and equally for the amateur astronomy community in this region - if there is an interest to take the offer up.

Provided our location, skies, and assets prove workable, the astronomical community gets an organised rural community that looks forward to hosting them every year. That has to be worth something.

Even looking ahead, the village is landlocked so it is not about to grow significantly, so the environment here for such an event should be good for decades to come.

It all just lines up.

All the same, things always move on, so it is an opportunity that needs to be taken up in some measure fairly promptly or it may be lost.

All is not perfect (per usual).

Unfortunately the local winery up the road burnt down. The Red Lion Pub and Motel remains 15 mins drive away for an evening sit down meal and a social drink. So not all is lost.

This year, our local rural Council was forcibly amalgamated into a larger regional City Council. We are uncertain as to our annual $10,000 allocation to our community. We are in progress as I write to determine what that situation may be. We were hoping to offer catering, some afternoon child friendly activities on the public day afternoon, and other things. We may yet gain some funding but the uncertainty has left us limited at this point of what we can offer. These uncertainties delayed our progress in writing to groups as we had originally intended.

(Update: 23.03.17 No funding this year due to unfortunate circumstances, however next 5 years being considered, part of which can be used to develop this event.)

We are going ahead regardless, looking for other sources today.

So where to from here?

Despite this setback, none of these uncertainties remove that we are, from all our reviews, an excellent place to host an annual star party for north-eastern New South Wales, and possibly for those interested in SE Queensland. We think this region needs one. An annual gathering point to share the interest, and promote astronomy. Also simply provide a different dark night sky location for several nights for those stuck in more urban areas. If an event were established we note we are also well situated to bringing interstate astronomy groups and their members together for some trading (or competition) of skills, knowledge, second hand astronomy gear, etc.

This year we are taking it quietly. We are not trying to overly promote the event. Rather we invite and seek members of your group to assess our value as venue for a star party for our region. Check out our village, venues, and sky conditions. We seek your feedback, thoughts, and suggestions of how we can make this work with a view to a more promoted event next year, April, 2018.

We seek your arrival here in time for the Sat night, 22nd April. That is the public night. If we have sufficient interest and telescopes (we have two so far we think) it will be a chance to do a little promotion to gauge public interest for such an event.

If you want to stay a few nights after to do so some astronomy, we would be delighted. We have booked the Hall and the village oval for 4 nights with the local groups responsible for managing these facilities.

At this stage, given we have no idea what sort of response we may get, if you have thoughts of attending we would ask you to fill out the online questionnaire at the top and bottom of this post.

This questionnaire will give us an idea of how many people might be coming, if we will have enough astronomers with telescopes to warrant promotion of the public night. We also ask for a contact email address so that we can update you on what is happening. We will need to organise ourselves according to the level of response. At this point, if we attract a dozen amateurs, some with telescopes, we will be delighted. Naturally if you bring a telescope we are hoping that you will offer time to share objects of interest with those that come to the Sat night as public night.

So there you have the situation and opportunity. We hope you will discuss this opportunity with others in your local astronomy circles.

For a name, we have adopted StarGrazing Festival, or NE NSW StarGrazing Festival, depending on the context. Agriculturally we are grazing country. A rather obvious play on words.

Please consider. Ben Lomond Village StarGrazing team. Email: [email protected]

On Line Survey for those considering attending:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/StargrazingFeedback_2017_1_Who_is_coming

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