Dubbo Observatory in Dubbo, New South Wales, Australia | Museum

Dubbo Observatory

Locality: Dubbo, New South Wales, Australia

Phone: +61 488 425 940

Address: 17L Camp Rd 2830 Dubbo, NSW, Australia

Website: http://www.dubboobservatory.com/

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25.01.2022 Meteors from Halleys Comet May 7. The Eta Aquarids meteor shower will peak on May 7 after 3am but also visible a few days either side. A moonless night and dark skies should ensure a good viewing this year as it is best viewed from the Southern Hemisphere. ... The meteors are bits of dust and dusty debris left over from Halleys comets which passes by once every 76 years. Earth will pass throught the comets orbit where the trail of dust is left behind and we observe this as shooting stars as the dust enters the atmosphere and burns up on entry. For a good view, get up between 3am and dawn, look east, and best outside of the city light pollution. A small amount of light pollution can easily hinder your view.

25.01.2022 August is one of the best months to come and visit Dubbo Observatory with the Milky Way Centre directly overhead with a couple of Gas Giant Planets thrown in as well, Jupiter & Saturn with its rings. This photo was taken at Dubbo Observatory earlier in the month showing the galactic bulge using a DSLR camera with a standard lens. The Central West of NSW is one of the best places to view the Milky Way as the galactic centre only passes overhead on this latitude on the Earth... along with our Dark Skies and this is why many observatories are located in this area as well as around the World on this latitude. August is the month where you see more stars than any other month. Its also great for astrophotography. Bring your DSLR camera to one of our astrophotography sessions and take photos of The Milky Way and many nebulae through our telescopes; Lagoon, Trifid, Swan, Eagle, Prawn, Dumbbell, Ring, and Eta Carina. many clusters as well, Omega Centauri, 47 Tucanae, Jewel Box, Butterfly, and Ptolemys Cluster. And galaxies too; Sombrero and Centaurus A. Or come to our Telescope Viewing Session or Exclusive Session and view them through the telescopes.

24.01.2022 Planetary Alignment this week. The planets dominate the night sky this week with an alignment of all planets excluding the planet Mars. If you are in Dubbo on the 25th of October come and out and view the planets as we have an Open Night (Free Entry) weather permitting....Continue reading

24.01.2022 The picture was published on the Daily Telegraph https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au//af3b2109f316c3a76976596

24.01.2022 Hope this will be ok , when we are all needing a little humour at this difficult time , but Space kind of related,,,

22.01.2022 Hi We have the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft captured at Dubbo Observatory on its fly by on Sept 22 2017 on 3 images a few minutes apart, 60 seconds duration. Launched 12 months ago it has come back near the Earth to get a gravity assist and slingshot to meet the potential hazardous asteroid Bennu. There it will take a sample and return it to Earth. ... The 4th image was taken at our sister observatory at Coonabarabran (Warrumbungle Observatory) the following night showing it streaking across the sky. This is a 20 second exposure. Asteroids have pristine material from the formation of the solar system and this mission will further our understanding. Bennu also has a chance of hitting the Earth in the late 22nd century and so the information will give vital information on the asteroids makeup.

21.01.2022 Strange Light In The Sky Tonight over Dubbo. I get plenty of visitors coming they have seen strange lights in the sky, but I look every night with this telescope viewing job for years and never seen anything. But tonight there was a strange bright cloud high in the western sky above Venus at about 6:15pm. It looked like a cloud on its own split into 3. Of course I left my camera at home. Then my phone went crazy with calls coming from all over the state of people seeing the same thing. It was the stage 3 burn of the NASA Parker Solar Probe which was launced earlier today from Cape Canaveral. Its on its way to the Sun to explore the Suns atmosphere.

20.01.2022 Comet Swan (C\2020 F8 Swan) over Dubbo Observatory this morning at 5am. If you have a dark sky, look low on the horizon to the east and you may just get a glimpse and even better with binoculars. Its just to the right of the circlet of stars that makes up the constellation Pisces. Join us online to view more celestial objects live online at our LIVE Stargazing and telescope shows every clear night from our observatories at Dubbo and Warrumbungle, Coonabarabran at 8pm. Since... you cannot come to us to experience our dark skies due to COVID 19, we will bring it to you and help you escape from your home isolation. Cost is $15 and join us via ZOOM from your computer. We will show you images of the sky with our cameras. Show you the planets, the Moon, galaxies, nebulae, star clusters, and more for 60 - 90 mins through our telescopes live and explain the universe and night sky to you and answer all your questions. Email you a photo we take during the session as well, for example The Eta Carina Nebula below. More details and bookings http://www.dubboobservatory.com

20.01.2022 This is our newest photograph taken through our new 17 inch telescope. This is the Tarantula Nebula, a star forming region in our neighbouring galaxy, The Large Magellanic Cloud a mere 170,000 light years away. The Tarantula is visible through our telescope through Summer and Autumn. Bring your own canon or nikon slr camera and take a similar image through our telescope or hire our telescope and camera system online and take you own images for download.

19.01.2022 INSPIRED THOUGH THEY ARE, COONABARABRANS SKYWRITERS ARE DISADVANTAGED BY POOR INTERNET SERVICE Peter Starr, proprietor of both the Warrumbungle Observatory an...d the Dubbo Observatory, inspired us all at the Coonabarabran Skywriter Launch, with his deepsky photos and personal anecdotes about his childhood observations of the planets, and his passion for astronomy. Many of us gathered around the table also recalled skystories from our own childhoods, such as seeing the first sputnik and watching the first moon walk on TV. Others recalled the days when astronomers from all over the world stayed in Coonabarabran to do their research at Siding Spring Observatory. These days, of course, they operate the telescopes remotely and need never visit Coona, a great loss to this little town. And, its a mad irony too, as more than one of our skywriters observed, that people who live in a shire which hosts some of Australias most advanced optical telescopes, dont yet have reliable internet access, and, in some cases, dont have any access from their home or office at all. For these skywriters, their local librarys computers are a lifeline to the rest of the world, but my suggestion that skywriters hone their skills with a free creative writing MOOC, (Massive Open Online Courses), such as one of the courses offered by the University of Iowas International Writing Program, may not be an option. So what are our politicians doing about the still-poor internet and mobile phone access in the bush? Just dont get me started ....!! Coona skywriters at this event included Kaittyn Estens, Elizabeth Macintosh, Dorothy Morrissey, Geoff McDonald, Barbara Anne Young, Philip Munge, Christine Munge, Simon Pochley, Rod Aylett, and Antonia (who didnt want her photo on FB). All of these skywriters have some great, even profound skystories waiting to be told. Our thanks to our Coona hosts, librarians Leonie Heslop and Liz Cutts, for providing a very comfortable venue, tasty lunch, including some mouthwatering homebaked slices, and for the practical support they are giving our skywriters. Thanks to them, too, for their display of Skywriters Project posters in the librarys shop front window, which no passer-by could miss.

19.01.2022 Shows how ancient parts of the Australian Continent are with relics 2.2 Billion years old.

18.01.2022 http://www.astronomy.com//second-terrestrial-planet-found-

17.01.2022 Our newest photo taken at Dubbo Observatory. NGC 1365 also known as The Great Barred Spiral Galaxy lies 56 million light years away in the constellation Fornax. This is one object we target for you when you choose the astroextra option with your own SLR camera when you attend one of our night shows.

15.01.2022 The latest photo taken through our new 17" telescope. This is the Orion Nebula which is seen by the naked eye as a faint star in the handle of the saucepan. Bring your canon or nikon slr camera and take similar photos.

15.01.2022 Our newest image taken through our new 17" telescope this week at Dubbo Observatory. This is The Southern Pinwheel Galaxy, a spiral galaxy some 15 million light years distant in the constellation Hydra. This is rising in the east in the early evening this time of year. You can also take images by coming along with your canon or nikon SLR camera or access our telescope online utilising the astronomical CCD camera that was used to take this image.

14.01.2022 Betelguese is dimming. You may know this star as a bright red star just below the Saucepan in the night sky in the Summer months. It is a red supergiant star about half the size of the solar system and about to become a supernova at some point. Maybe tonight or in hundreds of years. It may have already happened and we are waiting for the light from the supernova to reach us. As it around 600 light years away we see it as it was about 600 years ago. When the light does get h...ere it will rival the Full Moon in brightness and be visible in the daytime sky for a month or two as well as the brightest star at night for a year or more. In this last month Betelguese is normally the 11th brightest star in the sky buit has now dimmed significantly very quickly and we are not sure why. It does not appear as that ruby red jewel next to the Saucepan anymore. Red superginats are unstable and do expand and contract and change brightness. But this change is out of character as far as measurements taken of the star in the last hundred years. Is this business as usual for this star or is something iminent like a supernova going to happen. Time will tell. Keep an eye on it each night On Jan 14th a burst of gravity waves was detected from an area in the sky where Betelguese is located. Probably unrelated but you never know. If a supernova does happen dont be alarmed it wont hurt us, just a bright light in the sky. .http://www.astronomerstelegram.org/

14.01.2022 Online LIVE Stargazing shows every clear night from our observatories at Dubbo and Warrumbungle, Coonabarabran at 8pm. Since you cannot come to us to experience our dark skies due to COVID 19, we will bring it to you and help you escape from your home isolation. Cost is $10 and join us via ZOOM from your computer.... We will show you images of the sky with our cameras. Show you the planets, the Moon, galaxies, nebulae, star clusters, and more for 60 - 90 mins through our telescopes live and explain the universe and night sky to you and answer all your questions. Email you a photo we take during the session as well, for example The Eta Carina Nebula below. More details and bookings http://www.dubboobservatory.com

14.01.2022 Super Moon soon followed by the Lunar Eclipse from Dubbo Observatory Jan 31

13.01.2022 Another bl___dy dust storm. I cant believe how many shows we have had to cancel due to dust storms and smoke haze this last couple of months At least we have our house unlike thousands of others this summer. Dust storms used to be rare, now a weekly event and sometimes more. Is this climate change? or just a 1 in a thousand year Summer. I think the former.

12.01.2022 One of the meteors next to the Milky Way in the Eta Aquarids meteor shower last night at Dubbo with planets Jupiter, Saturn, and Mars visible as well.

10.01.2022 Well did anyone see that in the sky an hour ago. A large white cloud spraying from apoint of light, drifting across the northern sky for a few minutes. My first thought was that someone has launched a rocket and must be high in the atmosphere from the look of the cloud. Picked it up in the telescope but could not grab a camera quick enough. Never seen anything like it before. Perhaps it could be the Indian rocket launch to the Moon

08.01.2022 Online LIVE Night Sky & Telescope shows every clear night from our observatories at Dubbo and Warrumbungle, Coonabarabran. Since you cannot come to us to experience our dark skies we will bring it to you and help you escape from your home isolation. Cost is $15 and join us via ZOOM. ... We will show you galaxies, nebulae, star clusters, and more for 90 mins through our telescopes live and explain the universe and night sky to you and answer all your questions. Email you a photo we take during the session as well More details http://www.dubboobservatory.com/night-sky-telescope-viewing

04.01.2022 Milky Way over my observatory at Coonabarabran tonight

04.01.2022 Observations of another cataclysmic variable star last night, ASASSN-17aa in superoutburst. This is a newly discovered WZ Sge type cataclysmic variable star. These star go into out burst once every 40 years or so. ... Cataclysmic variable stars are close binary star systems consisting of a compact white dwarf star (Earth size but the mass of the Sun) with a red dwarf star in orbit around it (Mass less than a tenth of the Sun). Most stars eventually become a white dwarf star at the end of their lives and is the fate of our own Sun in 5 billion years. The stars are so close that the white dwarf pulls gas off the red dwarf star which spirals in to form an accretion disk around the white dwarf star. This gas eventually piles onto the surface of the white dwarf star. Periodically the acretion disk becomes unstable and the system increase in brightness 40 times. This is called an outburst. This may occur every 3 months or so lsting for a couple of days. Over time, the red dwarf loses mass and the rate of gas flowing onto the accretion disk is very slow and outbursts are very rare and may occur once every 40 years as a superoutburst. They last much longer than a typical outburst and can last for several weeks, dimming slighly each night until a point when it wont be observed for another 40 years or so. These "old" cataclysmic variables are called WZ Sge type. This star , ASASSN-17aa is of this type and this is the first time it has ever been observed. The chart below shows observations over a 5 hour period with the brightness of the star rising and falling periodically once every 79 minutes and 22 seconds. This is the orbital period of the accretion disk around the white dwarf. The humps are caused perhaps by a wobble in the acretion disk, similar to how a spinning top wobbles when it spins, or perhaps the acretion disk is warped in shape. Eventaully the red dwarf will lose so much gas that it to will become a compact white dwarf star but of very low mass.

03.01.2022 Lunar Eclipse July 28 There will be a lunar elipse in the early hours of July 28 before sunrise low in the western sky. A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon moves into the shadow cast by the Earth. When the Moon is a total eclipse it appears a blood red colour which is caused by light from the Sun leaking through the Earths atmosphere which scatters blue light leaving the red portion of light projected on the Moon. The intensity of red varies depending on how dirty the atmo...sphere is at the time. The last one was on January 31st and totality lasted an hour and 16minutes. See picture. This one is longer at an hour and 34 minutes however Dubbo will only see part of it before it lost in the twighlight and subsequent sunrise. Eclipse times for Dubbo are as follows Penumbral eclipse starts 3:28am Altitude 42 deg Umbral eclipse starts 4:24pm Altitude 31 deg Total eclipse 5:40am Altitude 17 deg Twighlight starts to interfere at 5:40am Eclipsed Moon starts to set in the west at 6:57am Sunrise 7am Total Eclipse ends 7:14am Below horizon Make the most of this lunar eclipse as it will be the last until May 2021

02.01.2022 We observed the Elon Musks Tesla Roadster cruising over Dubbo last night. for those who can read Dutch, it made the news there. Cpildnt make out the number plate though. Need a bigger telescope. https://www.scientias.nl/astronomen-zien-tesla-elon-musk-v/

02.01.2022 Our latest observations at Dubbo Observatory show cataclysmic variable star back in outburst and has increased in brightness 40 times. This is just like you woke up this morning and the Sun was 40 times brighter! The chart shows the brightness of the star from midnight last night till dawn. The 2 drops in brightness are eclipses. ... The star is a binary star system consisting of a compact white dwarf star (size of the Earth) and a red dwarf star in very close orbit. So close in fact the stars orbit every 1 hour and 47 minutes. The gravity of the white dwarf is pulling gas off the red dwarf which spirals in to form an acretion disk before matter piles onto the surface of the white dwarf star. The deep eclipses are caused by the red dwarf eclipsing both the white dwarf and acretion disk. In the outburst, the disk becomes unstable and brightens considerably as observed last night. Eventually enough material will pile onto the surface of the white dwar star to cause a bright Nova!