The Great Conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter, viewable in the night sky just once every 800 years, seen over the Flinders Ranges, 21st December 2020.
Great conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter
Astronomy at Arkaroola
Arkaroola offers an extraordinary astronomy experience with a remotely controlled observatory stacking high definition images within seconds. Doug Sprigg is at the helm of the SkyX Pro console of a breathtaking live tour of the southern sky, including views of galaxies, planetary nebulae, globular clusters and our nearby gas giants.
More on Arkaroola’s three observatories on the Arkaroola website.
SkyWatch in the Flinders Ranges
Dean Davidson’s Skywatch portable planetarium was thrilling children at Leigh Creek Area School and Marree Area School this week, followed by community astronomy night viewings. The famously dark skies of the Flinders Ranges availed excellent views of the Milky Way and the Dark Emu. Saturn and Jupiter were crowd-pleasers, as always.
Birds in Backyards Winter Survey 2019
Once you have registered your free Birdata account, read the instructions or watch the video. Download the Birdata app and take your smartphone or tablet outside with you and just record all the birds you seen in your space in 20 mins.
Jupiter’s diminishing Great Red Spot
The Great Red Spot of Jupiter is appearing to unravel. Where once the great storm could encompass three earths, it is now diminishing to the size of one earth. The Great Red Spot is shedding a succession of jet streams as long as 10,000km long, as captured by an amateur astronomer.
Jupiter is currently rising in the constellation Ophiuchus, easy to find by association with nearby Scorpius.
This nifty little calculator will tell you what time the Great Red Spot transits into visibility at your latitude / longtitude.
Astronomy night
April Astronomy night under the brilliant Flinders Ranges skies showcased a line up including the new moon, the Orion Nebula, some fabulous clusters, the Tarantula Nebula, globular cluster 47 Tucana, and a look at different types of star such as Betelgeuse and Sirius.
Bird Finder online
Millions of birds were spotted in around 70,000 bird counts this year in the Aussie Backyard Bird Count during National Bird Week. To help out backyard ornithologists, a useful Bird Finder page is hosted on the Birds in Backyards site.
Local mineral smelting workshop for kids
Step 1. Grind up mineral-rich rocks found in the area, including Hematite, Galena and earthy Malachite and Azurite.
Step 2. Smelting. To smelt iron oxide, charcoal was used to covert the oxygen into carbon dioxide, leaving iron. To smelt galena, lead sulphide, heat alone released the sulphur, leaving lead (seen below).
Geological Exhibit at Leigh Creek Library
After many months in the making, the new geological exhibit for the Leigh Creek Library is now on display.
The collection contains 99 rock and mineral specimens, primarily from the Flinders Ranges, Gammon Ranges and Strzelecki Track area, along with a handful of interesting samples from Broken Hill and WA.
A full catalogue of the collection is available for download below. The display can be viewed from 8:30 – 4:30 on weekdays, Friday evenings and Saturday mornings (closed until 1pm on weekdays during school holidays).
Download catalogue: LC.library.geology.catalogue
Astronomy Camps in the Flinders Ranges
The Astronomical Society of South Australia (ASSA) will be hosting astronomy camps for members in May and August under the brilliant Flinders Ranges night sky. If you are a budding astronomer in the Flinders, check out the ASSA website for membership details.