Trinity College Astronomy Camp - October 2006

On Thursday we wondered if we should cancel this Astronomy camp. The weather report had indicated the possibility of isolated thunder storms so when the evening came and we had clear skies we knew we were going to take full advantage of it. This camp was held at Trinity and we were going to take as many images as we could through the school telescope

First we had the Hale school junior science club come through to use our telescope. Parents were amazed at our facility and students were soon taking their own images of the Moon, nebulae and galaxies. By about 9pm they were looking decidedly sleepy and soon afterwards they drew their program to an end. Now the Astronomy club had the scope all to ourselves.

Unfortunately we had chosen the same night as the trots had decided to run the Telstra rally farewell. So we began by looking south, well away from the lights. At 11pm just to make things worse they put on a big firework display, so we just stopped and enjoyed the show.

After that the serious work began. Everyone was given a time slot based on the bets time to image their selected target. Some slept a little; others played X-box but most worked on the telescope or their images. By 4:30 am we could see the beginning of dawn in the east, so we worked to the west and wandered outside to enjoy a beautiful start to the day. By 5:30 am we knew that night time astronomy was over, but then we covered the main scope and used the solar hydrogen-alpha Coronado scope to look at prominences on the Sun.

By 9:30 am we packed up and went home for breakfast and a sleep. It had been a great night for astronomy after all.

Click on the photograph to enlarge it.

The Transit of Mercury as Observed by Trinity Telescope