A long time ago in a galaxy not at all far away…

By Dirk Goës The March 2026 meeting was our first online Zoom meeting for the year. We welcomed all existing and new members and acknowledged First Nations peoples. 26 people attended the meeting including 24 members and two visitors. SCS President Dr Toner Stevenson gave an overview of the results of our member survey. The survey found that our members enjoy a mix of learning about amateur astronomy techniques as well as learning about what professional astronomers are

Observing the Sun with the Skywatcher’s solar telescope

Click here to see our full program for 2026.

Photo by Ann Cairns This wonderful photo of the Moon about to occult Saturn was taken by SCS committee member Ann Cairns. Ann took the photo on the eastern grassy area of Sydney Observatory using a mobile phone camera held up to the eyepiece of a 4” (10 cm) Skywatcher refractor telescope in 2018. The photo demonstrates that getting started in astrophotography can be as simple as holding your smart phone up to a telescope eyepiece. The photo is also a good follow up to Dr A

When will T Corona Borealis go nova? The Blaze Star, corrected for the southern hemisphere! (Credit: Adapted from The Farmers’ Almanac ). By Dirk Goës The Blaze Star, whose scientific name is T Corona Borealis (T CrB), is a star which experiences a thermonuclear explosion on its surface about every 80 years. The last explosion occurred in 1946 and according to observations and measurements made by astronomers in the last few years it is set to explode any day now. This kind

A historic photo of the Anglo Australian Telescope. The dome is 50 metres high and 36 metres in diameter ( Credit : David Malin, Australian Astronomical Observatory) By Dirk Goës On the 8th of July 2025 at the Annual Scientific Meeting (ASM) of the Astronomical Society of Australia (ASA) Associate Professor Christian Wolf, the new director of Siding Spring Observatory (SSO) outlined the future for the venerable Anglo Australian Telescope (AAT). The AAT along with its exquis

The cover of the new Australian Astronomy Decadal Plan. Cover artwork: Seven Sisters, Noeleen Hamlett, Wajarri Yamaji ( Credit : science.org.au ). By Dirk Goës On the 9 th of July 2025 at the annual scientific meeting of the Astronomical Society of Australia (ASA) the Australian Academy of Science launched the Astronomy Decadal Plan 2026-2035. It was developed by Australia’s professional astronomers over the last two years through a series of workshops, roadshows and surv

The evolution of interacting binary stars

Stars that pull each other apart, merge, and explode A still from an animation simulating a thermonuclear explosion occurring on the surface of a white dwarf star (right) while still pulling in gas from its companion red giant star (left) in binary star system T Corona Borealis ( Credit : NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab). By Dirk Goës A binary star system is one where two stars are gravitationally bound together and orbit each other in either circu

Königsberg Observatory (left) where Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel made the first successful distance measurement to a star other than the Sun ( Credit : Wikipedia). The Gaia satellite (right) which has determined the distance to millions of stars to high degree of accuracy ( Credit : ESA/ATG medialab; background: ESO/S. Brunier). By Dirk Goës BSc(CompSc) UOW, MSc(Astronomy) Swinburne The observation phase of the European Space Agencies (ESA) groundbreaking Gaia mission ended on

A short explanation An image from a video visualisation of the expanding and accelerating universe ( Credit : NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab). By Dirk Goës BSc(CompSc) UOW, MSc(Astronomy) Swinburne About me: I have been a member of the Sydney City Skywatchers for two years. I am a member of the committee and am responsible for maintaining and improving the Skywatchers website. I recently graduated with a Master of Science (Astronomy) from Swinburn