Welcome to the Astronomical Society of South Australia

In the last few decades, amateur astronomers have been contributing to the scientific study of asteroids. By measuring the shape and diameter of "space rocks", astronomers learn more about these smaller members of the Solar System. In particular, the use of occultation events, where an asteroid passes in front of a star, is an important observation technique. Predicting such events yourself is also now possible. Robert Purvinskis will explain how, live from Germany!

In this online presentation, we look at the most basic piece of equipment that most astronomers have. The telescope for some is their first foray into astronomy. We will look at different types of telescopes and discover some of the mysteries of optics. This may help those who are wondering what type of scope to buy as a beginners instrument.

Comet discovery is one area in which amateur astronomers can still make important contributions to science. In recent decades such an endeavour is harder for the amateur because of the every increasing sophistication of professional surveys, but nonetheless gaps still exist that the amateur astronomer can exploit. By utilising fast optical systems and relatively inexpensive cameras amateurs can still be successful, even in suburban skies, provided you look in areas of the sky not covered by professional surveys. This session will be a chronology of Terry Lovejoy's comet finds, with a description of the different methods and equipment he used to find them.