Last night at the La Perouse Museum, the very enthusiastic and knowledgeable Education Manager from the Western Sydney University Penrith Observatory, Raelene Sommer, conducted a night of ‘star-gazing’.  Conditions varied throughout the evening but by 10pm there was good viewing of Sirius, Jewel Box (open star cluster Eta Carinae, star that’s about to go supernova), Alpha Centauri, 47 Tucanae(globular star cluster), and the The Great Orion Nebula .  The evening marked the 230th anniversary of the death of Father Receveur, who was the Chaplain on l’Astrolabe, as well being an ecologist, volcanologist, and assistant astronomer to Dagelet.

Thanks also to Professor Simeon Simoff, Dean of Computing, Engineering and Mathematics and Professor Information Technology for suggesting this evening; Professor Miroslav Filipovic, Director Western Sydney University Penrith Observatory and Dr Ain de Horta, Astronomer in Charge and particularly to Dave (pictured left) who wielded a mean laser pointer throughout.  Details about Penrith Observatory.

Previous astronomy related events at La Perouse include – link.