Astronomy Night at the Mornington Peninsula Astronomical Society Observatory

On Friday the 13th the Cubs & Scouts travelled to the Mornington Peninsula Astronomical Society [MPAS] Observatory at The Briars in Mt Martha for a night of astronomy! The evening was catered specifically for Cubs and Scouts working on their Space and Astronomer badges. Upon arrival, due to the predicted cloud cover later in the evening, the cubs headed straight to the observatory where they were able to view Saturn through a 14" Meade telescope and the Moon through a 127mm refractor and an 8" reflector. There was also a 6" Maksutov which was first on the Jewelbox Cluster 6,500 light years away before cloud moved it and it was then redirected to Jupiter. Outside a huge 8" planetary refractor nicknamed

“Big Blue” was looking at Jupiter and its moons. We then headed inside for a wonderfully thorough and informative presentation by Dr Peter Skilton aimed at the needs of the Space and Astronomer Badges. The audience were even lucky enough to hold and inspect a 5.3kg meteor fragment - composed of Iron, Nickel and Cobalt - from the Campo del Cielo fall in Argentina approx 4500 years ago! Thanks to Akela for organizing everything, all the Leaders and parents who accompanied our pack and troop on the night and of course many thanks to MPAS for hosting such a fantastic event and more specifically its volunteers; Simon, Nerida, Piper, Jamie, David, Mark and Fred for being on hand to ensure the correct use of the equipment and to answer any questions the cubs/scouts had.