Bathurst Observatory

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Some of the new camera gear has arrived!!! Just waiting on a connector and then will put it through its paces. Although I have cut back on tours (so I can image and do research) I will still be offering some tours, though likely a bit more randomly than before. That said, I should be able to squeeze in a couple in school holidays.... Watch this space.
Unfortunately due to personal reasons and much discussion with my friends and family, I've had to make to decision to ease back on tours for perhaps the rest of the year. I will still be offering some special nights, but the regular weekends I will be having to allocate for catching up with a few observatory projects of my own. I will also be investing in some new equipment for the observatory to hopefully improve the images I take. For example.. Wait and see what the new equipment will do with the galaxy NGC 5128 I took recently with the old! But please stay following me as there will be more frequent images posted and stay tuned for special nights, particularly if you are an astronomy buff! Plus I'll keep you posted with what you can see in the sky!
My first larger telescope image of comet R3 Panstarrs on the evening of the 5th of May. I should be able to get better as it gets higher in the sky.
I had my first view of comet R3 Panstarrs in evening twilight on the 3rd of May. With all the cloud about, I hadn't expected to see it at all! But with a gap in cloud, I grabbed the camera and 50mm lens for a quick snap. Nice long tail! Can't wait to get the telescope on this one!. It will be slowly getting higher in the western evening skies over the coming weeks.
Thank you to all the people understanding that we were closed for private remembrance over the Anzac weekend in memory of a relative who died in war. I did take some time on my own in reflection in the observatory and took a quick image of the Moon.
After a battle with back issues last year and then this year a fair bit of cloud, I actually got a chance to try doing some imaging again. Not through the telescope, but camera on a tracking mount. This was more to refresh my skills. The target was the Large Magellanic Galaxy. This magnificent companion to our own Milky Way galaxy, is nicely placed high in the southern sky in evenings this time of the year.
There will be a lunar eclipse on the evening of the 3rd of March! All you need is your eyes and a comfy chair to enjoy it. (I guess clear skies help too). These times are NSW daylight savings times, so adjust for your region. You will see the moon start to enter Earth's shadow at 8:50pm low in the ENE. By 10:04 pm the moon will fully enter Earth's shadow and take on the orange/red hue. Mid eclipse occurs at 10:33pm in the NE and by 11:02 pm the Moon will start to leave Earth's shadow, leaving it by 12:17 am. Great to try your astrophotography skills and share with family. Please note that until further notice YAHOO and HOTMAIL accounts do not work and we can't reply to you!! sorry, trying to fix it this week.
For those with good binoculars, dark skies and telescopes, there is a nice comet current in our skies for a few more weeks. It can be located in the SW skies after sunset. Slowly getting higher and a bit more westwards over coming nights. It is comet C/2024 E1 Wierzchos. I hope to be able to image it in coming nights (hopefully without swarms of Starlink satellites!)
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