Frogmore Plays Host To The Blue Mountains Astronomical Club

The Frogmore Hall committee hosted Astro Camp last week. Seventeen years ago, The Blue Mountains Astronomical Club was founded by Alexander Massey.

What started as an informal group of friends has turned into something extremely special.

Alexander Massey and Jeff Pountney, presidents of the Wollongong Amateur Astronomy Club and The Blue Mountains Astronomical Club arrived in Frogmore on Friday, May 26 for the family-friendly event known as “Astro Camp”.

One of the main purposes of the event is to allow members and families to enjoy the privilege of dark skies that can only be found in rural areas.

After a year of hunting for the perfect spot to observe the sky, they found Frogmore.

Along with a perfect location and conditions, the town of Boorowa was also a key part of the event. With medical services, IGA and the Superb Bakery, the event was a resounding success.

Based at the Frogmore Hall, the organisation set up an array of telescopes to observe the night, indulge in photography and sketch what they saw and enjoy the universe with their friends.

Although they had technical difficulties and only one clear night, the trip was marked as a success.

Due to the perfect location of Frogmore and the beautiful community that surrounds it, there is a possibility for a return trip later this year.

Founder of the organisation, Alexander Massey raved about the Frogmore hospitality and the friendliness from the locals, who welcomed the group with open arms and gave them as much information about the location as possible.

“Local knowledge was invaluable here,” Mr Massey said.

“I mentioned what we needed and Bryce Corcoran was able to show me not only the hill beside the Hall but two other more elevated locations. These two other sites would have been better for astro, but they were too remote. It is all about compromise as best as possible.”

Amateur astronomer, Andrew Casely gave a presentation during the event explaining his work and how it was executed.

He explained the development of his new techniques to extract even more than that professional astronomers have previously achieved.

Not only was Mr Casely’s presentation informative, it was inspiring to see every difficulty he had to overcome to achieve his scientific feat.

IMAGE CREDIT: Jeff Pountney

IMAGE CREDIT: Alexander Massey

IMAGE: Big sky at Frogmore by Alexander Massey

IMAGE: Eta Carinae by Greg Nagy

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