On 15 August four Year 7 students had an astronomical night where we got to have a look at the rings around Saturn, Mercury, Mars, the Southern cross, the jewel box cluster, comets and the constellation Scorpio. We saw some photos of the sun and moons’s surfaces, we learnt about the Aboriginal constellations and how to find North, South, East and West using the Southern Cross and the pointer stars, Alpha Centauri and Beta Centauri.
The different phases of the moon, new moon – when no moon is visible, waxing crescent – when less than half of the moon is visible, first quarter – when half of the moon is visible, waxing gibbous – when more than half of the moon is visible, full moon – when all of the moon is visible, waning gibbous – when more than half of the moon is visible, third quarter – when half of the moon is visible, and the waning crescent – when less than half of the moon is visible. Waning means the moon is “shrinking” and waxing means the moon is “growing”.
Overall we had an amazing night, the Geelong Astronomical Society were very friendly and happy to talk with us about anything and were giving us a lot of tips on how to see the comets, planets and stars better.
Alysha and Isla, Year 7 White
