Talk

Rethinking the Amateur Homemade Dome

Neville Fraser

WSAAG

What constitutes the best physical environment for using and housing your telescope? Traditionally, this is a dome, but other housings are also commonly in use. Most of these alternatives lack the allure of a dome, however, with most amateur astronomers dreaming of having their own dome. Some succeed, either by purchasing expensive fibreglass assemblies or by going through the complex procedure of making a wooden or metal dome.

In this presentation I explore the history of the 'home dome' and the development of an alternative construction concept for making them, one which is easily scalable from 1.2m to over 3m, and achievable with simple wood- or metal-working tools.
I also look at a process for inexpensively automating this dome using three different computer controlled systems.

Finally, I will look at the viability of domes and their alternatives in different situations.

Halley’s Comet in 1910 - from a New Zealand perspective

John Drummond

RASNZ, University of Southern Queensland

This talk presents key observations of Comet 1P/Halley from New Zealand during its 1910 apparition. New Zealand filled an important longitudinal and latitudinal gap in coverage of this much anticipated comet. We investigate key people and their observations and photographs taken from New Zealand of 1P/Halley. How did these often unpublished observations compare with overseas accounts? In addition, we ask the question as to whether any New Zealanders saw the Great January Comet of 1910 (C/1910 A1) and got the two mixed up.

Interesting Insights from a Nova Hunting Program

Andrew Pearce

AAVSO, Variable Stars South

This presentation will describe a systematic nova hunting program that has been undertaken since 2021 using a simple DSLR camera from my backyard in Perth. The presentation will focus on the techniques used as well as discovery circumstances of the 5 galactic novae found so far. In addition, it will provide an insight into the professional astronomer interest in some of these discoveries and observations that have been made at other wavelengths and with space based and large terrestrial professional observatories as well as the effective collaboration with other amateur astronomers when initially confirming these discoveries.

(594913) 'Aylo'Chaxnim : A new asteroid inside the orbit of Venus

Warwick Kissling

RASNZ

In this talk I describe the discovery of the first known asteroid which orbits completely within the orbit of Venus. I also describe the challenges involved in simulating its motion for periods of up to 10 million years into the future. Using a 'simplified' solar system with only 5 planets to reduce computation time, we find the asteroid shows very unusual behaviour which suggests its present orbit inside Venus will likely not last for too long.

Amateur-Professional Collaboration in Radio Astronomy

John Sarkissian

CSIRO Parkes Telescope, CWAS

Through out history there have been many examples of Pro-Am collaboration in optical astronomy. However, there has been precious little in the radio astronomy field. This talk will describe examples of recent radio astronomy Pro-Am collaborations, and how this area of amateur involvement can be expanded. A number of simple, but vital, collaborative projects will be presented for discussion. In addition, the CSIRO Parkes Observatory's 12-meter antenna is being upgraded as an engineering and outreach instrument with the possibility of making it available for Pro-Am projects. The talk will conclude with how the upgraded antenna might be used for Pro-Am collaboration.

"Take 5s" for Poster Presenters

Various

The poster papers are an important part of every NACAA. This is a chance for their creators to give a short (less than five minute) pitch for their poster.

Welcome addresses

Christine Speers, and John Sarkissian

CWAS

This session begins with a welcome to NACAA XXIX. The speakers:

• Christine Speers, the convenor of NACAA XXIX, will welcome everyone to Parkes on behalf of the hosts, the Central West Astronomical Society.
• John Sarkissian, CWAS stalwart and Operations Scientist at the Parkes Radio Observatory, will introduce the Keynote Speaker, Anthony Wesley.

The Great American Eclipse

Dr Russell Cockman

ASV, IDA

In August 2017 Russell travelled to the USA to observe the total solar eclipse on August 21 over Douglas, Wyoming - a day that was record breaking and memorable on all levels of human experience.

In this talk he briefly describes how the day unfolded and the sheer thrill of standing again in the moon's shadow.

Heritage value of Melbourne Observatory

Dr Barry Clark

ASV

Williamstown Observatory (1853-1863) succeeded greatly in assisting the Colony of Victoria with timekeeping, telegraphy and surveying. Its reward in 1863 was Melbourne Observatory, which increased the benefits flowing to the colony. The widespread availability of precise time has recently been shown to have increased society’s acceptance of increasing punctuality and regimentation, a profound change.
The 1869 Great Melbourne Telescope was renowned as the world’s largest for much of the next three decades. In the 1880s, the Observatory was the first in the country to publish daily weather forecasts, but the second Government Astronomer disliked doing these and managed to have meteorology split off from the State observatories in 1907 to form the Bureau of Meteorology, a great success. In 1898, the Observatory employed six young women to measure star positions in photographs made for an international project. The project is now recognised as successful and women were empowered by being able to take on technical work generally.
The Observatory’s professional operations in ended in 1945 as an economy measure. The Astronomical Society of Victoria has kept the Observatory’s facilities operational in public and educational astronomy ever since. The State-level cultural heritage significance of the Observatory and its activities is assessed to guide heritage conservation and utilisation of the Observatory and in formulating a more comprehensive version of the Statement of Significance for the Melbourne Observatory entry in the Victorian Heritage Register.

From point of light to astrophysical model - the research reach of the modern amateur

Thomas J Richards, Colin S Bembrick

VSS, ASA

Modern software is enabling the amateur astronomer to make significant, publishable research results - not just piling up observations. This paper will present and discuss the research pipeline for eclipsing binary photometry. I will begin with a dot on an image, and show how its analysis leads to a comprehensive determination of the physical parameters of the binary - and even a 3D model.