Space, the final frontier. Stargazing in Talbot!

If you want to feel incredibly small and insignificant, Jarrod, as I see it–you have two options. Go stargazing and contemplate the mind boggling extent of the universe, or compare your embarrassingly paltry Instagram likes to those of your 15 year old nephew. The former is definitely healthier and makes for less seething resentment at family catch ups. Last weekend we headed to Clunes and Talbot with grand plans to visit the Talbot Observatory only to be thwarted by sudden cloud cover.

Portrait of the author

I keep an almost obsessive eagle eye on the Bureau Of Meterology site all week and when it tells me that Friday night looms clear with an almost full moon, bestie Lisa and myself declare Spontaneous Four Hour Friday Night Road Trip, bundle into the very aptly named Holden ASTRA and leave the city in our dust to drive West.  Talbot is a two hour drive from Melbourne, (plus the mandatory half hour stop for roadtrip McDonalds en route). Getting out of town makes for better visibility when you’re looking up at stars, because bright lights in big cities = light pollution, which limits what you can see. The best night skies I’ve seen have been overseas, more or less in the middle of nowhere. Case in point (and I’ll credit my friend Duncan Law for these snaps!)–these beautiful pictures taken in the middle of the salt flats in Bolivia…

Starry, starry night

Exquisite

En route to Talbot, Lisa and I excitedly high five over what an amazing night we’ve picked for our astronomy excursion. The skies are clear and pink, and the moon looms enormous over grassy fields. Lisa papps a couple of landscapes as we zoom westward. We genuinely cannot believe our luck on the forecast front.

No filter required

See you soon, Mr Moon

Rookie Error!

We’re greeted at The Observatory by owner and Astronomer Robert, who ruefully notes that he’s “not sure how much we’ll be able to see tonight because the moon is so damn bright.”  I ask “is that a bad thing?” And I’m rewarded with an expression I usually associate with Apple Support staff when I’m asking questions about The Cloud. A barely suppressed sigh and a look in their eyes that says “I’m going to have to make this very, very, very basic, aren’t I?” As it turns out, the BEST nights to go are when it’s cloudless and the moon is dark, because stars are at their most visible, and you can also see the detail on the moon surface better. We immediately commence plotting our return trip.

Where the action happens.

The Observatory was built by Robert and he runs the facility. I ask him what led him to build it and he tells me he always had an interest in Astronomy and building an observatory seemed like “something to do.” Of course it did. I just love the way this blog introduces me to people who have a passion about something and follow it through like this. Whether it’s a man who likes llamas and just goes ahead and acquires a farm and a bunch of llamas to start a business doing llama treks, last week’s Bottle Museum, or this gentleman.

The Observatory is open Friday and Saturday nights all year and costs $10pp to enter for adults. Bookings normally aren’t required but it’s advisable to call up to check about cloud cover if you’re making the drive up especially. You can reach them on (03) 5463 2521.

We hover in the gift shop (aka the garage) a few minutes to see if anybody else will be joining us up top.  The shop sells complete telescope sets (anywhere between $900 and $1200), and an array of second hand books on astronomy. Wildly variable price points.

Light reading

Book stall at a fete aesthetic

Nobody else arrives so Lisa and I are going to have the scope all to ourselves! We head inside the Observatory and make our way up the steep, spiral staircase to the top.

Up we go!

Inside we are greeted with an assortment of outer space pictures, a photo montage of the construction of The Observatory and lots and lots of mosquitos. Hot tip: take some insect repellent if you are going in summer!

Space paraphernalia

From concept to completion

Action stations. Robert cranks open the Observatory Dome and trains the scope on Venus first up. She’s visible (? I just assume that planets are like ships and you refer to them in the female) through the scope as a glowing crescent. Alas despite attempts to hold my phone or camera over the eyepiece of the scope, I can’t get a successful shot to reflect what you see. But this will give you an idea of the set up anyway!

*hums appropriate Bananarama song

Jupiter and Saturn are only visible in the Winter months, so unfortunately we can’t sight them this evening. Robert takes us outside to look at some of the constellations with a laser pointer that’s so strong he has a certificate permitting its use b/c it’s actually technically a weapon. I admire his restraint, he doesn’t make a single “pew pew pew pew” noise when he uses it. What a professional.

We train the scope on the moon next–

I want to see me some craters!

Because it’s so bright this evening we can’t see the valleys and craters as clearly as you might, but he has pictures that he’s captured on a night where the moon is darker, the following picture was taken simply holding a camera over the telescope sight.

Ah-maz-ing

We also see the Nebula of Orian up there in The Saucepan which is absolutely stunning.

Before we know it, it’s 10pm and we’ve seen all we are likely to see this evening. We’re also all too aware that we have a two hour drive in the darkness on country roads to get back home, so we bid goodbye to Robert and vow to come back again in Winter on a dark moon night when the Milky Way promises to be especially kick ass visible.

The Talbot Observatory is an absolute undiscovered little gem and we wouldn’t hesitate to go back there again, but as always, I’ll throw it over to you. Star gazing in Talbot, Jarrod, would you go there?

Lisa taking one last peek