Latest version of the Cosmic Chatter - Tara Anglican School for Girls

Close Encounter with Astronomy
The past few weeks have been filled with a flurry of activity for the Space Odyssey Team,
both on the ground and in the sky. We successfully ran a stall at Tara’s Great Day Out,
displaying and allowing people to use our brand new Hydrogen Alpha Telescope. It was a hit
among the young and old alike.
Also, this year’s Close Encounter with Astronomy on May 26
has had a huge response. The event will feature a talk by
Professor Fred Watson AM who is Astronomer in Charge of
the Anglo Australia Telescope, a new planetarium from
Macquarie University and telescope viewing by SPOT and the
Astronomical Society of NSW (ASNSW). Bookings can be made
on the Tara website and we hope to see you there under clear
skies!
Meanwhile, up in the night sky, Venus has been highly visible
in the western twilight sky, but will begin to become difficult
to see as it moves closer to the Sun, where it will cross the
face of the Sun on June 6 in a rare transit. SPOT is teaming
with ASNSW in the aim of showing most Tara students the Transit of Venus, which won’t
occur again until 2117.
You may have noticed a spectacular “Super
Moon” on the May 6. The moon reached the
point in its orbit where it is the closest to the
earth, called perigee by astronomers. This
happened to correspond with a full Moon,
making the Moon as much as 14% bigger and
30% brighter than other full moons of 2012.
SPOT Members using a Dobsonian at Close Encounters
All of us here at SPOT are rugging up and getting ready for what will surely be a spectacular
Winter night sky.
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By Caitlin Williams (SPOT Member, Tara)