July is upon us, teaching is over, and exams have been reckoned, so Macquarie Astronomers are mostly off around the globe catching the (northern) summer conference season. Actually, most of us will stay local to start with, as we will be flying to Adelaide this weekend to take part on the Astronomical Society of Australia meeting in Adelaide. The planetarium order is going out, so in a couple of months we will have the most amazing tool for astro-fun and teaching. And of course, Alan Vaughan is preparing the programme for yet another great School of Astronomy in August. So I am looking forward to seeing you there!

Toner Stevenson, Manager of Sydney Observatory, will present a pictorial essay celebrating 100 years since the birth of one of Australia's most influential astronomers, NSW Government Astronomer and long-serving Director of Sydney Observatory, Harley Wood. Through the generosity of Ros Madden, Harley Wood's daughter, Toner has delved though photo albums, boxes of slides and other ephemera, learning about him as a lover of music, a traveler, an adventurer, a photographer, and a family man who made a life with his wife, Una, and children Ros and Chris at Sydney Observatory. This presentation was developed in collaboration with Dr Andrew Jacob and Dr Nick Lomb with assistance from Irma Havlicek. More...

Professor Clark is Director of the Department of Nuclear and Particle Physics at the University of Geneva, where he works with the LHC's ATLAS detector group. In this talk he will outline the Standard Model, currently our best physical theory of matter and forces, before delving into the unknown to share some of the mysteries that remain in particle physics where our science breaks down– and how colliding particles together at close to the speed of light inside the Large Hadron Collider may help us find the answers. More...

t has been suggested by some researchers that rock art in the Sydney region contains astronomical symbolism. While we do not know this for certain, the possibility is tantalising and is the topic of current research. Duane Hamacher, a Guide Lecturer at Sydney Observatory who is finishing a doctoral thesis on Aboriginal Astronomy, will lead a guided tour of rock art sites in Kuringai Chase National Park on Saturday, 9th July at the start of NAIDOC Week 2011. The tour will begin at Elvina Track car park then move to Platform 1, where you can see the now-famous ‘Emu in the sky’ engraving and a ceremonial stone arrangement.

The School comprises eight lectures by professional astronomers about their current fields of research over two days. Lunch, morning tea and afternoon tea will be provided. The program will also include observing if clear and possibly displays of astronomical books. Confirmed Speakers are Orsola De Marco (Macquarie), Mark Wardle (Macquarie), Tara Murphy (U. Sydney), George Hobbs (ATNF).

On clear nights, we offer a "starfinder" session to demonstrate how to identify bright stars, constellations and planets. This is followed by observing with the telescopes. Even with the light pollution of the city, we can easily see double and multiple stars, open and globular star clusters, and the brighter nebulae. The Moon and planets, when in suitable positions, are easily viewed with any of our instruments. On dark, moonless nights with good seeing, we may also observe the brightest galaxies. More...

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. More...

This month the constellations of Scorpius (the Scorpion) and Crux (the Southern Cross) are high in the sky. The Southern Crossis easily located using the two nearby pointer stars. The brighter of the pointers, Alpha Centauri, is the nearest star system tothe Sun. Near the end of the Scorpion's tail is the unofficial constellation of the Tea Pot. On 5 July, the Earth is at its greatestdistance from the Sun, a mere 152,091,221 km. Saturn is visible towards the north-west in the constellation of Virgo whileMercury is visible low in the north-west. The first quarter Moon can easily be seen towards the north on 8 July.