Wednesday 18 May 2011

Socialising and More Astro-Geeking!

Halaien everyone,

How good am I posting again so soon after my previous post? This past week has been pretty busy, mainly because I have been a socialite...who knew? I finally made it to the Opera House to watch a play last week, Shakespeare nonetheless! Unfortunately we were in the "basement", not in the fancy and extravagant convert hall; myself and a few others did, however, manage to talk our way into the concert hall foyer to enjoy the view of the Harbour Bridge by pleading to the Opera House manager - being international does sometimes work in ones favour. On Saturday it was the leaving do of a fellow PhD student, so many drinks were obviously consumed and I got to experience 3 new bars/pubs including one "trendy" bar which made me feel like I'm getting too old for that sort of thing; at 24 that's not a great feeling. Still, I had a good time and it was nice to get out and socialise.

Now for the astro-geeking part...On Sunday night/Monday morning, I once again awoke at 4am to go and check out the planetary alignment and attempt once more to take a star-trail photo. I can't remember if I mentioned in my previous post, but my last attempt at star-trails in Sydney culminated in essentially a photo of pure-white thanks to a combination of upper-level cloud, and Sydney light pollution; after an hour and 15 minutes, I was not happy about that. Being the optimist I am (!) I thought I would give it one more go, and the result isn't half bad. My trail was limited to 30 minutes thanks to the sun rising, but the movement is still clearly visible, as you can see below. The other photo is again of the planetary alignment which has shifted a fair amount since last week. After watching the sun rise, it was time to head to uni; I'm such a dedicated student...






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