Many of our mostly Perth-residing POVG volunteers always enjoy the chance to head to regional areas in WA where some of the darkest night skies in the world are. So naturally when Hyden Primary School asked us to come out in August to show them the night sky through telescopes, volunteer coordinator Matt Woods and volunteer John Ford packed the van and headed to the wheat belt town of Hyden.
After a warming sausage sizzle, Matt gave everyone a talk on our solar system, with the bright planets providing a perfect backdrop. Then, despite a few patchy non-Magellanic clouds, the many students and parents that turned up were treated to great views of Venus, Mars, Saturn and Jupiter, taking advantage of this lucky line-up of planets. Later, some of the keener attendees who braved the cold were shown some deep-sky targets including the globular cluster 47 Tucanae, the Ring planetary nebula and the galaxy Centaurus A.
POVG volunteers enjoy presenting night sky tours to lots of different people in lots of different places throughout WA: the darker the better! If you would like some POVG volunteers to attend your event, get in contact with us.
