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AIG

Newsletter 1                          August 1998

Friends Society Launches
Astronomy Interest Group!

Yes, the Museum Friends Society now has another affiliated interest group - that of Astronomy!

 telescope

Following the considerable interest generated by the Simulated Planetarium presentations started at the Museum earlier this year, the Friends Society recently purchased a magnificent 8-inch Celestron portable telescope. The telescope (which we bought for the VERY reasonable price of R7500, and is insured for its replacement value of R25 000) was located for us by Mr Case Rijsdijk in Cape Town, who is manager of this year's Friends With The Universe project (the same project that sponsored our R34 000 data projector).

As with the Bat Interest Group (BIG), membership to the Friends Society automatically makes you a member of the Astronomy Interest Group (AIG). So, bring along your deck chairs, pack in some refreshments and joins us for a pleasant evening under the stars!
Looking up
Our first outing was held at Marist Brothers College on Friday 28th August and it was a great success. Apart from seeing shooting stars and satellites with the naked eye - through the telescope we saw Uranus; we saw Jupiter and four of its moons; and we saw for ourselves that two of the prominent stars in the Southern Cross are in fact not single but double stars, orbiting each other in close proximity.

The moon of course was just too beautiful to describe! Presently the telescope magnifies it 267 times - which means you can clearly see individual craters and other fine details on its rugged surface.

Be sure not to miss upcoming viewing outings, some of which will be combined with Bat Interest Group outings and field trips. See Event Horizon overleaf for details.

We hope to see you under the stars soon!

Make Friends With The Universe.gif (3705 bytes)
Mario Di Maggio

stars
Event Horizon.gif (2728 bytes)

Enquiries about Astronomy Interest Group viewing outings:

Mario Di Maggio Tel: 3006228 (w)
Raymond Field Tel: 3094126 (w) / 4657188 (h)

 

 

Astronomy Interest Group
viewing outings
(at Marist Brothers College)*

Special Events

Sept
1998

First clear night of either:
Fri 18th or
Sat 19th or
Fri 25th or
Sat 26th at 19h00.

 

Sunday 13th, 20h00: "A Universe Of Colour"
FREE illustrated presentation by world renowned visiting astro-photographer Dr David Malin.
Shepstone 1 lecture theatre, University of Natal Durban (Francois Rd entrance) Tel: 2602349

Thursday 17th, 18h30: Simulated Planetarium presentation at the Museum in the JS Steel auditorium. Join the Bat Interest Group for this exciting tour of the Solar System with Mario Di Maggio.

Oct
1998

First clear night of either:
Fri 16th or
Sat 17th or
Fri 23rd or
Sat 24th at 19h00.

There should be good meteor (shooting star) viewing for several nights around the 21st October.
The Orionid meteors will be showing a maximum rate during the time of night from 02h00 to 04h00.

Nov
1998

First clear night of either:
Fri 13th or
Sat 14th or
Fri 20th or
Sat 21st at 19h00.

Excellent meteor (shooting star) viewing will occur for several nights around the 17th November.
The Leonid meteor shower is predicted to put on a spectacular show, with a maximum rate during the time of night from 03h00 to 04h00.

*Directions to Marist Brothers College: travel south along Ridge Road from Tollgate towards Entabeni Hospital. Just after the hospital turn right into Glenwood Drive, which is an L-shaped road. At the end of the road you will see Marist Brothers College in front of you. Turn right and then immediately left into the school car park. The 'star parties' are held in the swimming pool enclosure.