BIG PUBLIC INTEREST IN OBSERVATORY

Wanganui Chronicle, 5 September 1946, Page 4

BIG PUBLIC INTEREST IN OBSERVATORY

(By "Sky Pilot.") Last night the Wanganui Observatory was crowded with interested visitors anxious to see the moon. Throughout the night the crowd came, so that over 100 persons passed through the Observatory. The moon was particularly beautiful and its landscape very clear. Venus was also observed. On moonlight, nights the moon naturally is the great centre of attraction and the chief object of study apart, from the planets. Stars, nebulae and clusters are the studies for the dark nights when the moon is absent." To-night the terminator will have moved considerably. making it. possible to view Copernicus, the western wal ’ of which rises 12,000 ft. above the plain. This crater stands alone and is a fine sight and remarkable for its radiating ridges. Tycho will also be a good sight to-night. It is 17,000 ft. deep inside the crater. In the north the promontory of Implace rises also to 12,000 ft and is th- beginning of the most beautiful bay cn the moon called Sinus Iriclum, or the Bay of Rainbows. The Observatory-will'be open again to-night at 6.45 for observation of Venus, Jupiter and the moon.