BAS Observer March 2018

4 BAS OBSERVER Club activities by Peter Allison, BAS President Maleny astronomy The future of amateur astronomy on the Sunshine Coast is looking very good thanks to the excellent work of Ken Wishaw and BAS members in the region. Brisbane northside BAS members are encouraged to make active use of this already excellent site. BAS runs regular public viewing and educational nights each month at the Maleny site, and members are encouraged to add their ’scope and community support to these events. Each New Moon weekend the site also hosts BAS member-only dark-sky evenings, and members are encouraged to attend these events as well as the public nights. On pages 6 to 8 of this edition you will find some photos from the January and February observing evenings at the Maleny site. The more active we are on the Maleny Golf Club site the better it will be for amateur astronomy and BAS members in the long term. The golf club is extremely keen to foster amateur astronomy as part of their new clubhouse development and community engagement programme. So . . . BAS members, load your ’scope into the car and head for Maleny. The skies are dark and the welcome warm. New BAS T-shirts available We have updated our BAS T-shirts to a much more comfortable fabric. If you own one of the older black-and-yellow BAS T-shirts you will understand just how uncomfortably hot the 100% synthetic fabric can be during daylight hours or muggy nights. Yuck! But after an extended search of branded merchandise suppliers we have found a vastly more comfortable cotton-mix T-shirt. The new shirts are grey with the BAS name and logo in black – very stealthy for sneaking up on faint galaxies and nebulae. Our initial order has now been delivered and T-shirts, in a range of sizes, will be available for purchase at our monthly meetings for $43.00 each. First in, best dressed. Permanent interclub dark-sky site The potential for a permanent dark-sky site that all South-East Queensland amateur astronomy clubs could utilise has been tossed around for many years, and it has bubbled to the surface again. It is far too early to be raising any hopes; however, the Southern Downs Regional Council is currently investigating sites that might be suitable. So, the search is on for Crown- or Council-owned land that may be made available to amateur astronomy on a nominal lease basis. If suitable sites are found, there will need to be an extended discussion and planning phase incorporating all South-East Queensland amateur astronomy groups. Progress is likely to be slow, but BAS members will be informed and consulted at every stage of the journey. Let’s see if this time around, we can turn a thought-bubble into an actual facility. World Science Festival BAS will be very active again at this year’s World Science Festival in the Brisbane region. On the evening of Thursday, 22ndMarch, BAS members are encouraged to volunteer their time and telescopes to attend a public telescope observing night at the Ipswich Rail Museum. There is the potential for over a thousand people to attend this evening. Queensland Museum will be conducting a public lecture (bookings required) in the early evening, and then, from around 8.00 p.m., the gates will be opened to the general public for a telescope observing session. The museum organisers are expecting large crowds, so we are looking for as many BAS members as possible to volunteer for the evening. If you can assist, please email me as soon as possible: president@bas.asn.au