THE DARK SIDE ASTRONOMY GROUP Front Row: Imperial Guard 1, Hunter Cullen, Sophie-Louise Mathieson, John Subba, Gloria Murray, Amber Chilman, Samuel Bell, Richard Bahrett, Hamish Kabel-Pluck, Mark Huth, Hannah Gordon, Blake Roesler, Heilyn Bonquin, Laura Mooney, Alexander Ryan, Imperial Guard 2 Second Row: Mr Ilsley, Jade Raph, Edward Archer, Monique Wisnewski, Evelyn Chen, Jacob Bahr, Molly Carter, Sarah Grove, Aymen Malik, Tiffany Woods, Jake Neylon, Jasmine Munro, Hannah Clarke, Zane Allabadlah, Jackson Ryan, Mrs Forsyth, Mr Burvill Third Row: Emperor Palpatine, Hannah Jacobs, Fi Allabadlah, James Asher, Aimee Munro, Josephine Coleman, Kate Finch, Bethany Walton, Gabrielle Lundie, Victoria Munro, Eliza Turton, Chloe Webley, Jasmine Harnden, Tessa Anderson, Jordan Savage, Riley Crichton, Kameka Claffey, Darth Vader Fourth Row: Kurtis McKean, Melanie McLachlan, Sarah Corbet, Kyle Raph, Robert Istodorescu, Shayne Andersen, Nicole Archer, Hamza Malik, Abhishek Jagtap, Rebecca Cryer, Jackson Balme, Sarah Hill, Finn Bishop, Isaac Pay, Rohan Cornick, Nicola Cain Back Row: Tayla Wormald, Stacey Wormald, Rachel van Luyn, Jessica Goodwin, Alexander Asher, Bradley Corbet, Caleb Farrugia, Darian Bergman, Malcolm Russell, Nariyoshi Miyata, Darren Sharma, Henry Jacobs, Jacob Jarman-Harrison, Lachlan McAlpine, Matthew Smart, Dylan Farrugia
THE DARK SIDE REPORT Mr David Ilsley The Dark Side Coordinator
The Dark Side is a group of Canterbury students interested in astronomy, and in some cases Star Wars. In 2013 we met every Friday after school in the Senior Library. Numbers at meetings ranged from 40 to 70, and well over 100 different students attended at some stage during the year. The meetings generally had two parts. In the first part we shared interesting news and announcements as well as planned for future events. The second part varied from week to week and involved either a Space Facts presentation in which members learnt about some aspect of astronomy, a competition or quiz game, a video, or individual Internet research and production of slideshows. In addition to the afternoon meetings, there were a number of evening and weekend events. In Term 2 we held a movie marathon and watched
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the entire Star Wars series over three weeks. In Term 3 we visited the Brisbane Planetarium to watch shows entitled Cosmic Collisions and Dynamic Earth. In Term 4 we held our annual Family Night in which members presented various slideshows, videos, information sessions, competitions, and dramatic performances to the assembled family members. Extracurricular badges, certificates and trophies were awarded. This was then followed by a sausage sizzle and some star gazing with the help of members of the South East Queensland Astronomical Society and their special telescopes. Among the awards presented at the Family Night were the Cosmic Shield for the Dark Side members with the most astronomical knowledge, which was awarded to Lachlan McAlpine and Kameka Claffey, and the Galactic Shield for the members with the best attendance records. This was awarded to Nicola Cain, Monique Wisnewski and Jacob Bahr, each with perfect attendance for the year. 2013 saw three new teachers turn to the Dark Side. Mr Graham Burvill and I were joined at the beginning of the year by Ms Alia Brown and then Mrs Donna-Marie Forsyth. I have been with the Dark Side since its inception in 2010, but I am taking leave in 2014 and Mrs Reina Mesina is taking my place. As a result of fund-raising activities undertaken over the years, there are sufficient funds in the Dark Side account to buy a sophisticated telescope with computerised equatorial power drive. This will be in addition to our collection of 14 smaller telescopes which have been acquired over the years. This telescope will automatically locate and follow objects of interest and will allow us to carry out some serious astro-photography. It is hoped that we take delivery of the new telescope in early 2014.