CENTRAL WEST ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY

Have you ever looked into the night sky and wondered about some of the things that you have seen up there?

Perhaps you have had a question about a constellation of stars, or a planet, or the changing phases of the Moon, or a comet, or “shooting star” or even a colourful aurora, but didn’t know who to ask for more information.

A great place to start is the Parkes-based Central West Astronomical Society (CWAS).

Th CWAS meets on the first Friday of every month with their next meeting scheduled for Friday, 7 November.

These “first-Friday-of-the-month” meetings also usually feature an informative and entertaining presenter.

The guest presenter at the next meeting of the Central West Astronomical Society will be Donna Burton, also known as Donna the Astronomer.

Donna has given presentations at several previous CWAS meetings and is a highly experienced and engaging speaker, having previously worked at the large Siding Springs optical telescope near Coonabarabran, as well as running the Milroy Observatory, also outside Coonabarabran, for many years.

Donna’s presentation on 7 November is titled, “Ladies of the Night: A History of Women in Astronomy from 2000 BC to the Present Day”.

The meeting will commence at 7.30pm in the Sunset Room, upstairs in the Parkes Services Club.

Members of the public are welcome to attend and there is no admission charge.

The CWAS was co-founded by Parkes residents John Sarkissian and Alex Abbey almost 25 years ago.

Back in late 2001, Alex had organised for a group of visiting Sydney high school students to look though John’s telescope.

As the students were filing past them to look into the night sky, the two life-long amateur astronomers (who both also work at Murriyang, the CSIRO Parkes Radio Telescope, famously known as The Dish) were discussing the lack of an amateur astronomical society in Parkes, and decided there and then to organise one.

In December, 2001 they organised a planning meeting with three other like-minded local amateur astronomers, Bishop Chris Toohey, Peter Cannon and Jim Buckley.

After interest from the Parkes Champion Post and several interviews on local television, the Central West Astronomical Society was born when it held its first public meeting on Friday, 1 February, 2002.

Since then, the CWAS has met on the first Friday of each month (except in January).

For most of the past nearly quarter of a century, the CWAS met in the Visitor Centre at The Dish.

However, with declining attendances after COVID, since the start of 2025, meetings have been moved to the Parkes Services Club to make them more accessible for Parkes residents.

Some of our original and early members are sadly no longer with us.

However, the CWAS has grown over the years and now has members not only across the Central West but also in Sydney and west to Hay and Griffith, as well as interstate and even has an honorary member in Canada.

The CWAS has grown in other ways as well.

Since 2004, the CWAS has hosted its annual AstroFest, attracting amateur and professional astronomers from across Australia and even from overseas.

A key feature of the AstroFest is the unveiling of the David Malin astrophotography awards each year and the display of the winning entries in the Visitor Centre at the Parkes Radio Telescope.

The awards are names after Dr David Malin, the competition’s judge for its first 20 years.

David was an astronomer at the large Siding Springs optical telescope near Coonabarabran in northern NSW for many years and was internationally regarded as one of the world’s foremost astrophotographers during his long career.

This accounts for the David Malin Awards attracting some of Australia’s most talented astrophotographers.

Dr Malin has now retired but a team of younger astrophotographers have now taken on the judging of the competition.

The CWAS has also established an excellent dark-sky observatory approximately 15 kilometres from Parkes, that allows viewing and photographing objects in fine dark skies away from Parkes’ bright town lights.

CWAS members also work closely with Parkes Radio Telescope staff to host “Friends of The Dish” days during school holidays where visitors are able to safely observe the Sun through special safety equipment and even see stars and planets through telescopes in broad daylight.

Members of the CWAS also organise Footpath Astronomy evenings in various towns throughout the Central West where members of the public can simply walk up to telescopes in the main street and experience looking at the Moon, stars, planets and other astronomical objects.

The Central West Astronomical Society also organises astronomy evenings at schools throughout the Central West when requested.

Finally, CWAS monthly meetings are also an excellent opportunity to ask questions about astronomy, get advice if considering purchasing a telescope or ask questions about getting the most out of their existing telescope.