River Murray Dark Sky Reserve in Cambrai, South Australia | Organisation
River Murray Dark Sky Reserve
Locality: Cambrai, South Australia
Address: 108 Bundilla Road 5353 Cambrai, SA, Australia
Website: http://www.rivermurraydarkskyreserve.org
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23.01.2022 Thank you to Professor Don Bursill for sending in a series of images we will feature over the next few weeks. "The Orion nebula. Its relatively close to our solar system at approximately 1400 light years away. The nebula is the brightest of this type of object that can be seen without the aid of a telescope. It is located near the "belt of Orion" the hunter - actually in the handle of his sword. Most of us know it better as the saucepan -and the nebula is the faint fuzzy... bit near the base of the saucepan handle. In the bright area of the image there are four white stars close together which is called the Trapezium. These and the other nearby bright white stars are relatively newly formed and are only about 1 million years old - very young for a star. To the left of the image is what is known as the running Man nebula. It’s a combination of reddish emissions from hydrogen gas that has been caused by the extreme energy from the nearby stars and reflections from dust and other gaseous material in that area." Hope you enjoy this little insight into the skies above.
21.01.2022 Number 6 in our series supplied by Professor Don Bursill Image of the extensive nebula system around Eta Carina a very large and extremely bright star. It has a luminosity greater than 5 million times that of our sun and a mass about 150 times that of the sun, located about 7500 light years away in the constellation of Carina. If you expand the image a bit you will see the star near the lower right hand corner of the triangular shaped bright portion of the image. You wil...l also see a shape that looks like the head of a man with sun glasses on, called the Homunculus Nebula (from Latin means little man), ejected from the star in 1841 (when it was seen on earth) at which time the star was the second brightest in the night sky. The whole image contains a complex array of stellar objects all of which originate or are seen as a result of emissions from Eta Carina. See more
19.01.2022 Congratulations to the River Murray International Dark Sky Reserve, which was officially recognised by the IDA exactly 12 months ago. Happy 1st Birthday! And thank you to everyone who made it possible.
18.01.2022 We have received the locations of the telescope pads through out the River Murray Dark Sky Reserve - some are in place, some signage still needs to be erected, others are coming. We will also have a map available soon - keep following us on Face Book!! The Big Bend pads and signage are complete!! Would love to see photos taken shared on this page.
17.01.2022 We are excited to be able to show a few of the new signage at the dedicated concrete telescope pads spread throughout the Dark Sky Reserve - a big thank you to Mid Murray Council for their support in obtaining the grants - funded through the Federal Governments Drought Communities Program. #midmurraycouncil #murrayriverlakesandcoorong #midmurraylandcare #IDA
16.01.2022 Number 7 in the series supplied by Professor Don Bursill to help us understand what is in the dark sky above. Another large bright nebula, however, it is 200 000 light years away in the Large Magelanic cloud which is the closest galaxy to the Milky Way. This nebula is a star forming area and one can see a lot of new bright blue stars as well as many older red stars, there is a small very bright red star right at the centre of the Tarantula, the tarantula nebula is so bright that if it was as close to us as the Orion nebula, it is believed it would cast shadows at night time
13.01.2022 Number 4 in our series of discovery from Professor Don Bursil This one is termed a planetary nebula although it has nothing to do with planets! The first astronomer to notice this sort of object saw it as a small fuzzy round spot like a distant planet might appear in the earliest telescopes. This one is called the Helix Nebula as the material around the outside of the almost circular part seems like looking down through a helix, to me it looks more like an eye in the sky. ... Located in the constellation Aquarius about 650 light years away, it is one of the closest and brightest of these planetary nebulae to the solar system. It was formed through an explosion that occurred within the star that is located right at the centre which ejected all that material around it. The star in the middle is likely to end up as a whiter dwarf at the end of its life span. Its energetic emissions cause the ejected material to fluoresce. See more
11.01.2022 Astronomy lecturer Paul Curnow, from the University of South Australia, with a painting of 'Milngiyawuy' (the Milky Way). The Milngiya River is the terrestrial ...version of the Milky Way. 'Milngiyawuy' as the Milky Way is also looked upon as the nesting place for the ancestral crocodiles Yingalpiya. This artwork was painted by Naminapu Maymuru-White at Yirrkala, north east Arnhem Land, Northern Territory in 2004. See more
09.01.2022 Tips and Tricks for when visiting the River Murray Dark Sky Reserve.... looking for accomodation? Camping? Caravanning? Free camping? Motels? Hotels? Holiday homes? BnB's? Mid Murray Council has a comprehensive list on their web site - https://www.mid-murray.sa.gov.au/experience/where-to-stay
08.01.2022 Number 5 in Professor Don Bursill's informative explanations of discovery into our dark sky. This is a galaxy that is located about 12 million light years from us here on earth. Its called NGC 253 but its nickname is the Silver Dollar Galaxy, one of the galaxies in the neighbourhood of the Milky Way. Andromeda Galaxy is the largest in what is regarded as the Local Group, almost double the size of the Milky Way which is the second largest in that Group. The Silver Dolla...r is the third largest. Dust clouds circulate around the galaxy in the spiral arms. Interesting to think that the light that caused this image to form in my camera system was more than 90% of its way to earth before humans descended from the trees.
06.01.2022 Continuing our tour of discovery with images supplied by Professor Don Bursill. "A nearby neighbour of the Orion Nebula is the Horsehead Nebula. Also featured in this image is the Flame Nebula - each named for obvious reasons. The Horsehead is really just a dark cloud of dust and rocky debris - probably from a previous star that reached the end of its life and exploded - sending its material out into the cosmos. The red glow is hydrogen gas emissions again - this time the h...ydrogen is being energised by the nearby star to the upper right of the image. That star is emitting strong radiation in the X ray part of the spectrum as well as in the Ultraviolet. The material that makes up the Horsehead is much closer to us than the red emission that makes it visible. It just happens to be in the line of fire. The brightest star in the image, located just above the Flame Nebula, is Alnitak - named by a very early Arabian astronomer. It's the star in the bottom right hand corner of the saucepan, not that far away from the Orion Nebula.
04.01.2022 Calling our talented Astro-photographers... Want to help put our Reserve in the international stage? Why not enter your best River Murray International Dark Sky Reserve .pictures in this competition? https://www.darksky.org/capturethedark/
04.01.2022 Number 3 in in the series of images supplied by Professor Don Bursill "This is an image of the Lagoon Nebula (the larger object to the left) and the Trifid Nebula to the lower right. The Lagoon Nebula is about 4,000 light years away, in the constellation of Sagittarius. It’s a very large interstellar cloud that comprises hydrogen emission areas and dark dust channels. There are also smallish dark black objects that are called Bok Globules evident. They are very dense, sma...ll (in astronomical terms) accumulations of material that may in time start a new star to form as it condenses further and attracts more material by gravity.. You can see lots of stars in this image. The white stars are mostly in the region between us and the nebulae. The small red stars are mostly in the far background near the centre of our galaxy - the Milky Way. These red stars are old and nearing the end of their lives. They are being drawn towards the black hole that exists at the centre of the galaxy and will likely be sucked in eventually. The Lagoon Nebula is about 55 Light years long and 20 light years wide. The light blue cloud near the Trifid is a 'reflection nebula'. It is just particulate matter that is reflecting light from a nearby bright star. This image was taken in early September last year when Sagittarius was more or less overhead at about 10 pm."
04.01.2022 Tips and Tricks for Visiting The River Murray dark Sky reserve. Planning a visit? Tip one - check the cloud cover and the moon size and rise/set times! The weather in the Murraylands can be very different to Adelaide - we get a lot less rain therefore a lot less cloud cover - check out a web site such as Willy weather or BOM SA - or for a detailed cloud prediction - www.skippysky.com.au. Willy weather also has a moon rise set times as well - very useful planning tool.
03.01.2022 Tips and Tricks for visiting The River Murray Dark Sky Reserve - Arrive early. There is plenty to see and do on the way to the reserve, all depending on where you are coming from. Many towns have museums, most have a pub or cafe - and plenty of local knowledge of the best vantage points - ask a local! https://www.mid-murray.sa.gov.au/experi/information-centres
02.01.2022 Time to dust off that telescope! Mars is super close to earth at the moment, you might have already noticed it up there over the weekend? IF we get a glimps...e of clear skies over the next few nights and the kids can stay up til dark take them outside to take a look. Every 26 months Earth catches up with Mars on the same side of their orbits around the Sun. This brings them especially close to each other. Even a telescope as small a 9cm aperture will show dusky markings on the planet's surface including a small white shrinking south pole ice cap. (thanks for the info Adelaide Planetarium) Pretty cool image from Astronomy Daily
