Observations

Sky Guide

January 2021 Southern Sky Guide

December 31, 2020

Andrew Jacob
What’s in the sky this January? Constellations Constellations represent groupings of stars that have been given a name. For millennia they have been used as a tool to share significant cultural stories.

The Solstice and Persian Culture

December 18, 2020

Powerhouse
Guest post by Tina Baradaran, an astronomer and educator at the Sydney Observatory.  Have you been wondering why the days are getting longer during this time of the year? Every year when the Sun reaches its most southerly position, the summer solstice occurs in the southern hemisphere and the winter solstice in the northern hemisphere.
Sky Guide

December 2020 Southern Sky Guide

December 1, 2020

Geoff Wyatt
What’s in the sky this December? Constellations Constellations represent groups of stars that have been given a name and more recently a border. For millennia they have been used as a tool to share significant cultural stories.
Sky Guide

November 2020 Southern Sky Guide

November 1, 2020

Melissa Hulbert
  What’s in the sky this November? Constellations Constellations are groups of stars that form a picture. These pictures were given names and for millennia have been used as a tool for navigation and to share significant cultural stories.
A blue sphere depicting the constellations of the September Night Sky Sky Guide

October 2020 Southern Sky Guide

October 1, 2020

Andrew Jacob
  What’s in the sky this October? Don't forget that Daylight Saving Time starts at 2am on October 4th in NSW, ACT, Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia. Put your clocks forward one hour.

A Conversation with our Astronomy Ambassador, Karlie Noon

September 18, 2020

Catherine Polcz
Gamilaraay astrophysicist Karlie Noon is passionate about Indigenous astronomy and was the first Indigenous woman to obtain degrees in both physics and mathematics from the University of Newcastle in 2016.
Sky Guide

September 2020 Southern Sky Guide

September 1, 2020

Geoff Wyatt
What's in the sky this September? Constellations Constellations represent groups of stars that have been given a name and more recently a border. For millennia they have been used as a tool to share significant cultural stories.
A woman wearing goggles performs a science experiment

Onboard the ISS with Flight Controller Andrea Boyd

August 15, 2020

Catherine Polcz
In honour of National Science Week, we spent some time with the brilliant Australian engineer Andrea Boyd. Since 2012 Andrea has lived in Belgium and Germany, working at the European Space Agency's (ESA) European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, where she is a flight controller for the International Space Station (ISS).
August 2020 Sky Chart Sky Guide

August 2020 Southern Sky Guide

August 1, 2020

Melissa Hulbert
What’s in the sky this August? Constellations Constellations represent groupings of stars that have been given a name. For millennia they have been used as a tool for navigation and to share significant cultural stories.
A red planet with a white polar ice cap against a black background.

Mars Mission 2020 with Astrobiologist Bonnie Teece

July 23, 2020

Powerhouse
https://youtu.be/A4u2f-Pffsk Guest post by Bonnie Teece Bonnie is an astrobiologist and PhD candidate at UNSW Sydney. Her publishing record includes research on how organic material preserved in hot springs might help us search for organics on Mars and how the same types of techniques aboard Perseverance can be applied to help find ancient life.

The Eye of the Observer

July 16, 2020

Toner Stevenson
Guest post by Toner Stevenson Dr Toner Stevenson is an Honorary Affiliate at the School of Philosophical and Historical Inquiry at The University of Sydney. This blog post is about how the women employed for the first major international astronomy project, called the Astrographic Catalogue, saw themselves, and were seen by others.