An Evening With The Stars - Before 5 crop

Macarthur Astronomical Society is an organisation of

amateur astronomers Amateur astronomy is a hobby where participants enjoy observing or imaging celestial objects in the sky using the unaided eye, binoculars, or telescopes. Even though scientific research may not be their primary goal, some amateur astronomer ...

, based in the Macarthur Region of outer South Western Sydney, NSW, Australia, including the local government areas of the City of Campbelltown, Camden Council,

Wollondilly Shire Wollondilly Shire is a periurban local government area adjacent to the south-western fringe of Sydney, parts of which fall into the Macarthur, Blue Mountains and Central Tablelands regions in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Wollo ...

, the City of Liverpool and surrounding districts.

Objectives and activities

The constitutionally adopted objectives of the Society are: (i) to foster the science of

Astronomy Astronomy () is a natural science that studies celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and evolution. Objects of interest include planets, moons, stars, nebulae, g ...

; (ii) to organise observational field nights for the purpose of carrying out

astronomical observation Observational astronomy is a division of astronomy that is concerned with recording data about the observable universe, in contrast with theoretical astronomy, which is mainly concerned with calculating the measurable implications of physical m ...

; (iii) to assist and give advice regarding astronomical instrumentation; and (iv) to participate in/co-operate with other scientific societies and groups with a similar scientific interest in astronomy. In keeping with these objectives, the Society's three core activities are: # The Macarthur Astronomy Forum. # Dark sky

astronomical Astronomy () is a natural science that studies celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and evolution. Objects of interest include planets, moons, stars, nebulae, galaxi ...

observing nights for members. These are held regularly at two locations: the Dudley Chesham Sports ground at The Oaks, owned by Wollondilly Council; and a property at Belanglo Forest, owned b
International House

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's ...

, for the purpose of telescopic observing and astro-imaging. # Public outreach events, which include visits to schools and other community organisations; and open nights for the general public, generally held at either the Campbelltown Rotary Observatory at

Western Sydney University Western Sydney University, formerly the University of Western Sydney, is an Australian multi-campus university in the Greater Western region of Sydney, Australia. The university in its current form was founded in 1989 as a federated network ...

or the Dudley Chesham Sports Ground, The Oaks.

Formation and management

Formed in 1996 in Ingleburn, NSW by Philip Ainsworth, Macarthur Astronomical Society Inc. is registered as an independent Incorporated Association by the NSW Office of Fair Trading. Its affairs are governed by its own constitution and managed by an elected seven member Management Committee. The Financial year commences on 1 March. As required by the Office of Fair Trading, the Secretary of the Society acts as Public Officer. The Society is approved by the NSW Commissioner of Police for the purpose of an exemption from obtaining a

laser pointer A laser pointer or laser pen is a small handheld device with a power source (usually a battery) and a laser diode emitting a very narrow coherent low-powered laser beam of visible light, intended to be used to highlight something of interest by ...

permit.

Macarthur Astronomy Forum

The monthly meetings of the Society provide a platform for professional astronomers and prominent amateur astronomers, on each third Monday (Jan.to Nov.). These meetings were renamed the Macarthur Astronomy Forum in 2011. Guest speakers have included Nobel Laureate Professor Brian Schmidt, Professor

Bryan Gaensler Bryan Malcolm Gaensler (born 1973) is an Australian astronomer based at the University of Toronto. He studies magnetars, supernova remnants, and magnetic fields. In 2014, he was appointed as Director of the Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Ast ...

, Australia's Astronomer at Large, Professor Fred Watson, Dr

Mark Phillips Captain Mark Anthony Peter Phillips (born 22 September 1948) is an English Olympic gold medal-winning horseman for Great Britain and the first husband of Anne, Princess Royal, with whom he has two children. He remains a leading figure in Briti ...

and NASA astronaut Greg Chamitoff.

Office holders

2011-11-21 Bryan Gaensler at Macarthur Astronomy Forum

List of Patrons

* 1996–2011 Dr. Ragbir Bhathal, ( University of Western Sydney). * 2009–2020 Professor Bryan Gaensler ( University of Toronto, Canada);

Young Australian of the Year The Australian of the Year is a national award conferred on an Australian citizen by the National Australia Day Council, a not-for-profit Australian Governmentowned social enterprise. Similar awards are also conferred at the State and Territ ...

1999; and former Director of the

ARC Centre of Excellence for All-sky Astrophysics ARC Centre of Excellence for All-Sky Astrophysics (or CAASTRO) was a collaboration of international astronomers dedicated to wide field astronomy. It was formally launched on 12 September 2011, at Sydney Observatory and ceased in 2018. Aims CAAS ...

CAASTRO
. * 2020-current Professor Geraint Lewis (

). Patrons are appointed by the Management Committee. Between 2009 and 2011 the Society had dual Patrons.

Presidents

* 1996–2000 Phillip Ainsworth * 2000–2007 Noel Sharpe * 2007–2011 John Rombi * 2011–2012 Trevor Rhodes * 2012–2015 Chris Malikoff * 2015–2019 Tony Law *2019-2020 Allan Hobbs * 2020- current John Rombi

Management Committee

The Committee is tasked with the total management of the affairs of the Society and aims to mix youth with experience. It meets monthly and consists of a President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer and three other Committee Members. Office bearers are elected by the membership at an Annual General Meeting, normally held in April each year. Whilst a ballot is provided for, the Society has traditionally never received more than one nomination per position, thus a ballot has never been held.

Awards

On 9 December 2014, MAS won the University of Western Sydney (renamed Western Sydney University in 2015) '
Excellence in Partnership Award
''. The University awards this to recognize the many and highly valued contributions of the University's community partners. The accompanyin
citation
reads: ''"The Macarthur Astronomical Society has, in partnership with the Campbelltown Rotary Observatory, conducted astronomy talks and activities to bring the latest advances in physics, astrophysics and high technology to the community. This enables the community to participate in debates about science in an informed manner with experts and politicians."''

Youth in Astronomy

The Society instituted an annual Students Night in 2015, to encourage school children fro
Prairewood High School
to study the science of astronomy and report their research findings to the Society's Macarthur Astronomy Forum in December each year. During 2018, a Student Mentoring Programme was introduced to assist year 7 – 11 students at Broughton Anglican College to complete a scientific astronomical investigation as part of their science courses.

Publications and exhibitions

Journal

The Society's journal "Prime Focus" was published monthly, for the benefit of members, between 1996 and 2012. Initially the publication was a printed edition but since 2009 it was distributed electronically. In 2011, the first colour editions were published and printed copies became available again. The journal ceased in October 2012 but resumed for a brief period in 2020.

Publications

The Society has published two DVDs, "magnitude" and "magnitude II", both containing the best astro-images taken by its members.

Authors

The Society has the following authors of astronomy books within its ranks. * Robert Bee (member): author of
Heavens Above - A Binocular Guide to the Southern Skies
an
"Star Hopping To The Messiers"
* Chris Malikoff (member)

* Professor Bryan Gaensler (Patron): author of
Extreme Cosmos
. * Dr. Ragbir Bhathal (Hon. Member): author of several books, including: "Under the Southern Cross: A Brief History of Astronomy in Australia"; "Australian Astronomers: Achievements at the Frontiers of Astronomy"; "Australian Backyard Astronomy" and " Mt. Stromlo Observatory - From Bush Observatory to the

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...

". * Prof Geraint Lewis (Patron) : author (with Dr Luke Barnes) of "A Fortunate Universe" and "The Cosmic Revolutionary's Handbook".

Exhibitions

The Society has held major public exhibitions displaying the astro-photographic work of its members: *magnitude in October 2010. at the

Campbelltown Arts Centre Campbelltown Arts Centre (C-A-C or CAC) is a multidisciplinary contemporary arts centre located in Campbelltown, New South Wales, south west of Sydney, Australia. It is a cultural facility of Campbelltown City Council, assisted by other governm ...

. * magnitude II in July 2012 at the

. * magnitude III in February 2014 at University of Western Sydney. * Photographers of the Month in June and July 2018 at Camden Library, Narellan, NSW.

Observatory

In 2011, the Society set up a sub-committee to seek a suitable site - remote from city lighting, yet within easy reach of Campbelltown/Camden - at which to locate its first astronomical observatory. In 2012, a suitable site was identified in the Dharawal National Park and the Society is pursuing opportunities to secure use of the site. The location was until recently the site of the North Cliff coal mine, operated by

BHP Billiton BHP Group Limited (formerly known as BHP Billiton) is an Australian multinational mining, metals, natural gas petroleum public company that is headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The Broken Hill Proprietary Company was founded ...

. Whilst anticipating some opposition to placing an observatory in a national park, the Society was inspired by the Australian Astronomical Observatory in the

Warrumbungles National Park Warrumbungle National Park is a heritage listed national park located in the Orana region of New South Wales, Australia. The national park is located approximately northwest of Sydney and contained within . The park attracts approximately ...

and the concept has received much local support. If successful, the observatory would have been used for astronomical research, public outreach, astro-imaging and members private observing. Whilst the proposal was welcomed in the community and supported by the mine lease-holder, it did not gain the necessary government support.

Volunteer computing

The Society organises a

volunteer computing Volunteer computing is a type of distributed computing in which people donate their computers' unused resources to a research-oriented project, and sometimes in exchange for credit points. The fundamental idea behind it is that a modern desktop co ...

team for the purpose of carrying out scientific research using the Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing (BOINC) Project Management middleware platform, which allows users to contribute to a range of scientific computing projects at the same time. Volunteer computing is often also referred to as Citizen science,

Distributed computing A distributed system is a system whose components are located on different networked computers, which communicate and coordinate their actions by passing messages to one another from any system. Distributed computing is a field of computer sci ...

or Grid computing. The team is currently working as volunteers on projects for

theSkyNet ''theSkyNet'' was a research project that used volunteer Internet-connected computers to carry out research in astronomy. It was an initiative of the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR), a joint venture of Curtin University ...

, SETI@home,

Einstein@home Einstein@Home is a volunteer computing project that searches for signals from spinning neutron stars in data from gravitational-wave detectors, from large radio telescopes, and from a gamma-ray telescope. Neutron stars are detected by their pulse ...

, asteroids@home,

LHC@home LHC@home is a volunteer computing project researching particle physics that uses the Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing (BOINC) platform. The project's computing power is utilized by physicists at CERN in support of the Large ...

and other BOINC projects.

References

External links

Official Website

Official Facebook page

Official Twitter page
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