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Dear Macquarie University Foundation for Astronomy Members,

It has been a fantastic month for the Astronomers at Macquarie with many of our research proposals being awarded funding. Of particular notice is the award of "Macquarie Research Centre" status for our Astronomy group (dubbed MARC), in collaboration with several external collaborators such as the Australian Astronomical Observatory, the Australian Telescope National Facility and Aboriginal Astronomy. Together we can do more than we could as individuals both in research and education.

Turning back to your Association activities, the observatory is closing for the year, after a reasonably successful semester with many families, scouts and school groups visiting our facility. We are still discussing the purchase of a larger planetarium with which we aim to resume school visit activities. We are also discussing opening the planetarium on campus on a regular basis. We will keep you appraised of on-going as well as new activities. As usual, thank you for your continued support and if you have any feedback on any of the activities, or suggestions in general, feel free to e-mail us.

Wishing you all a happy holiday season,
 
 
Orsola De Marco
 
Upcoming Events
Dec 13th, 6:30pm

From Supernova to Hypernova: Understanding the diversity of cosmic explosions

It has becoming increasingly clear in recent years that there is more to supernovae than just two explosion types. In this talk I will first review the present classification scheme and discuss the origin of some of the observed diversity. In the last few years several new classes of explosions have been identified; these include hypernovae, more energetic supernovae that often appear to be associated with long-duration gamma-ray bursts, and electron-capture supernovae. I will also show some recent results on modelling the triple-ring nebula surrounding SN 1987A, which strongly support the merger model for the progenitor system.

Every day, 8:15pm
Sydney Observatory - Public Observing Program

Sydney Observatory is open every night (session times vary) and day (10am to 5pm) except Christmas Day and Good Friday. The links at left have all the information you need to plan your visit. Charges apply to night and day telescope viewing sessions which include visits to the telescope domes, telescope viewing* and 3D space theatre experience – guided and explained by one of the Observatory's astronomy educators.

Astronomy News
Getting the Picture
Jets on the Sun
Comet Hartley 2 Flyby
Stephan's Quintet
A Massive Star in NGC 6357
A Dark Dune Field in Proctor Crater on Mars
Martian Moon Phobos from Mars Express
The Sky in December

 

2nd
  • Mercury at greatest elongation
3rd
  • Venus on its brighter point
6th
7th
  • Geminids Meteor Shower Begings
8th
10th
12th
  • Neptune 5° south of the Moon
14th
  • First Quarter Moon
  • Geminids Meteor Shower Peaks
17th
  • Geminids Meteor Shower Ends
21st
22nd
  • Solstice
28th
  • 15:19:00 Last Quarter Moon

 

Macquarie University Website - Department of Physics and Astronomy

© December, 2010 - Image Credit: NASA