Goodbye Planetarium

Tonight Natalie and some friends invited us along to the Canberra Planetarium and Observatory, which is closing this weekend :(

Although first off, we had dinner at a Turkish place in Dickson that was selling Lezzo.. which amused all of us..

Lezzo
And then on to the Planetarium

Canberra Planetarium exterior
This is the star projector

Planetarium projector
We saw the "Southern Skies" show, which was interesting enough, but really focussed on just the Southern Cross and a few things around it.

After the show he turned the dome lights on, so we could see through it - very cool!

Planetarium interior
Planetarium interior
Then we ummed and ahhed about going to the observatory.  The main telescope they use is actually the same as Michael's (a C-14).  But the dude said they also have a bigger one they use.  So we decided to go get a drink and come back for the 9:30 session (as it wasn't even dark yet at 8:30). 

So we went in and had a look at Mars, Betelgeuse, the Trapezium of Orion and the moon.  All good and all, but no different to seeing them through Michael's telescope.  Then he took us into the bigger telescope to show us Rigel, but because it was so high in the sky we couldn't use the ladder, and so ended up just using the "finder scope".  So that was all a little disappointing.  Oh well.

IK-6 Telescope
Afterwards we debated the man in the moon, and other possible interpretations of the dark patches..

Almost full moon
Definitely a fun night, and we both approve of Andrew.. :)