Night Sky & Telescope Viewing Tour

The Night Sky & Telescope Tour is held most evenings.

The session is for people 4 years and above. Children under 4 years of age are not permitted to attend.

Clear cloudless & moonless nights are the best.

The session lasts for minimum 1 hour.

The time for tonight's shows are on the home page. For other dates, they are on the booking website.

The Night Sky & Telescope show includes

1: An Astronomy Presentation

2: Point out the Stars, Planets, and Constellations with a laser pointer.

3: Look through up to 9 telescopes (depending on numbers attending, we aim for 6 people per telescope) at the stars, planets, nebulae, and galaxies. Objects we view are chosen from the list at the bottom of this page. How much we see depends on how clear the sky is and how bright the Moon is.

Highlights for October are the planet Saturn and it's rings & the planet Jupiter, on moonless nights are The Milky Way and 47 Tucanae, a star cluster containing 1 million stars.

4: Answer your astronomy questions.

5: Take one photo of a colourful nebula with your compatible DSLR camera or bring your SD card that fits our Canon RA mirrorless camera. We also sell SD cards in our gift shop.

If it is overcast and we cant show you any objects through the telescopes, we just do our presentation in an extended version. If you have pre purchased a ticket we give you a $10 per ticket cash refund at the end of the show. Cannot be claimed before or after the end of the show.
If it is raining preventing us from setting up equipment, we cancel the session and issue a full refund.

Group size is maximum 50 people.

If you prefer a smaller group size, consider the Premium session which has a maximum limit of 6 people.

The show is outdoors so you need to dress appropriate to the weather conditions. It is very cold in the Autumn and Winter months so you need to rug up and we recommend you wear a beanie and scarf as well.

You need to be able to take 1 or 2 steps up a step ladder to view through the telescopes.

Note that start times can vary on certain nights (long weekends & School holidays, or special objects to view). The actual time is on the booking site.

Night Sky & Telescope Tour Evening Times.

October: 8pm, 9:30pm

November - January: 9pm

We usually do not open on Full Moon Nights.

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This is an outdoor activity so you must dress according to the weather conditions.

In the warmer months, apply insect repellent before you come or wear enclosed shoes, long sleeves and long pants in case any mosquitoes are about.

In the winter months, please wear lots of warm clothes, a beanie, and a scarf.

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We recommend you book on the day when you know you can definitely come. There is no refund if you cancel unless we can resell your ticket.

In school holidays you may want to book a day in advance at least as they can sell out.

Tickets are purchased online from iwannaticket ticketing agency.

There is a link on our bookings page.

You can purchase any unsold tickets for the Night Sky & Telescope Session at the door 15 minutes before start time.

Children under 4 years of age are not permitted to attend.

55 tickets are allocated for the Night Sky & Telescope Viewing Session.

Once the tickets are sold we cannot add extras.

If you prefer a session with less people, consider the Premium Session that has a max group size of 6.

You must arrive before start time, you won't be able to enter if you are late.

Door usually opens 15 mins before start time unless we are held up from a session before.

Select the bookings page to purchase tickets online.

If it is overcast & we cant show you any objects through the telescopes, we just do our extended version of the presentation. This costs $10 less per ticket. If you have pre-purchased a ticket we give you a $10 per ticket cash refund. This is to be claimed at the end of the session. It cannot be claimed before or after that time.

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If it is raining at start time or rain or threat of prevents us from setting up the telescopes we cancel the session and issue a full refund.

A decision whether to proceed or not is made at the scheduled start time as often it can be cloudy during the day only to clear in the evening.

In some cases we may call it off earlier. In these cases we will have a notice on the homepage of our website listed under " Status of Tonight's Show"

A text message is sent to the mobile phone number provided by the person who purchased the tickets if the show is cancelled. Do not leave a landline number when you book.

We recommend you only book a ticket if you are coming to Dubbo anyway for other reasons as it can be a long way to come to find out the session is not proceeding.

There is wheelchair access to the main building, a disabled toilet, the theatrette, and to the outside viewing platform where the outside telescopes are.
There is no wheelchair access to the observatory where the main 17"telescope is.
There is wheelchair access to the presentation and pointing out the stars and planets in the night sky with the laser pointer at the outside viewing platform.
There is an issue with looking through telescopes for customers confined to a wheel chair unless they can stand up briefly. The reason is
The height above ground level of the eyepiece of the telescope varies depending on how high above the horizon the star to view is located, If the star is overhead the eyepiece is at its lowest point and is more accessible. If the star is lower in the sky the eyepiece is much higher.. So it depends on how high the disabled customers eye is up from the ground and would be too low to view most objects through a telescope.
An alternative would be to hire a pair of our binoculars for that part of the tour.

We plan to show you objects from the following list.

The number we see depends on how clear the sky is. If its perfectly clear we can show around 12 objects. If there is some cloud around it will be less, but we will do our best.

What we show will depend on the location of the Moon which can hinder the visibility of galaxies and nebulae. Partial cloud cover may put some objects out of view.

Darkest Nights 11th to 29th

Planets: Saturn, Jupiter

Comets: nil

Moon:

Visible in the night show: 1st - 10th, 30th, 31st

New Moon ....25th

First Qtr .........3rd

Full Moon......9th

Nebulae: (moonless sessions only) Lagoon Nebula, Swan Nebula

Globular Clusters: (moonless nights only) 47 Tucanae, Omega Centauri

Open Clusters: Butterfly Cluster, Ptolemy's Cluster, NGC 6231.

Binary Stars: Albireo

Galaxies: (Moonless nights) Sculptor Galaxy

Planetary Nebulae: (Moonless Nights) Ring Nebula, Dumbbell Nebula

Constellations: Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces, Lyra, Cygnus, Delphinus, Corona Australis.

Indigenous Constellations: The Emu, Canoe, Eagle.

Asterisms: Hook, Teapot, Circlet

Astrophotograph with your compatible DSLR camera: Lagoon Nebula. On bright Moon nights we image the Moon.

We plan to show you approx 12 objects from the following list.

What we show will depend on the location of the Moon which can hinder the visibility of galaxies and nebulae. Partial cloud cover may put some objects out of view.

Darkest Nights 13th to the 29th.

Planets: Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune

Comets: nil

Moon:

New Moon ....25th

First Qtr .........3rd

Full Moon......9th

Visible during the show 1st - 12th

Nebulae: (moonless nights)

Lagoon Nebula, Swan Nebula, Tarantula Nebula

Globular Clusters: (Moonless Nights) 47 Tucanae.

Open Clusters: Butterfly Cluster, Ptolemy's Cluster, NGC 6231

Binary Stars: Beta Tucanae, Gamma Delphini

Galaxies: (Moonless nights) Silvercoin Galaxy, Large and Small Magellanic Clouds

Planetary Nebulae: (Moonless Sessions) Dumbbell Nebula

Constellations: Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces, Corona Australis, Cygnus, Delphinus, Pegasus.

Indigenous Constellations:

Asterisms: Circlet, Square of Pegasus, Southern Crown, Teapot.

Astrophotograph with your compatible DSLR Camera. Lagoon Nebula on moonless nights, otherwise The Moon.

Mercury

2022 - August

Venus

2023 - June

Mars

2022 - December

2023 - January - February

Jupiter:

2022 - Oct - Dec

Saturn:

2022 - Sept - Nov

Conjunctions:

Mar 3rd, 6am Saturn & Mercury

Mar 16, 6am Venus & Mars

Mar 22, 6am Jupiter & Mercury

Mar 28, 6am Saturn & Venus

Apr 5, 6am Saturn & Mars

May 1st, 6am Jupiter & Venus

May 29, 6am Jupiter & Mars

Lunar Eclipses

8th Nov 2022

14 Mar 2025

7 Sept 2025

3 Mar 2026

21 Dec 2028

Solar Eclipses

Partial Eclipse on Apr 20 2023 at 3:30pm to 4:20pm

Total Eclipse on 22 July 2028

Transit of Mercury

13 Nov 2032

Transit of Venus

10 Dec 2117

Peter@dubboobservatory.com

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Scroll below for the following information

Night Sky & Telescope Tour

Times and Dates

Tickets

Prices

Cancellations, changes, refund policy

Overcast and rainy nights

Wheelchair access

Objects Visible october 8pm

Objects visible October Session 2 school Hols, 9:30pm

Best time to view the planets, Eclipses, and Transits

Dubbo Observatory

17L Camp Rd, Dubbo, NSW, 2830

Enquiries: 0488 425 940

Email: peter@dubboobservatory.com