Night Sky and Telescope Viewing

This session operates on most nights weather permitting.

The session goes for a minimum of 1 hour.

It is suitable for ages 5 years and above. Children under 5 years are not permitted sorry.

Max group size is 50 people.

The show is outdoors. Please dress according to the weather conditions.

You need to be able to stand to be able to view through a telescope. There may be a step or two to take up a step ladder on occasions.

The Session includes:

1: An informative astronomy presentation under the stars.

2: Point out the available Stars, Planets, Satellites, & Constellations.

3: View the Stars, Star Clusters, & Galaxies through telescopes. If the Moon or any planets are visible, we show you those as well.

4: Show a live image projected on the observatory building of a galaxy or nebula, or other deep sky object if the object.

5: How to navigate using the stars.

6: Answer your astronomy questions.

7: If you bring a Canon, Nikon, Sony DSLR camera with a removeable lens, we can take a photo of a colourful nebula on Moonless nights. On bright moon nights we photograph the Moon. You must know your camera settings. For more details read further below.

We show you as many objects as we can in the hour.

What can be observed through the telescopes depends on the time of night, time of year, how bright the sky is due to the Moon, & the amount of cloud cover. Note that planets are not always visible all year round.

There will be at least 1 telescope available for every 6 people to avoid long queues.

The best nights are clear nights. The less cloud cover there is, the more objects we can see through the telescopes.

On nights around Full Moon, the sky is too bright to view the galaxies and some nebulae. We will show you live images of these with our telescopes.

Cloudy & Rainy Nights:

If we cannot show you anything through a telescope due to cloud cover, we do our extended astronomy presentation instead and issue you a 50% refund excluding the booking fee.

If it is raining or storms threatening at start time we cancel the session and issue a full refund

We recommend you book on the day when you know what the weather is doing. On school holidays or long weekends the shows can sell out so best to book a few days in advance.

Prices:

Prices for tickets purchased online.

Adults: $30 + booking fee.

Child under 16 years: $20 + booking fee.

Children under 5 years are not permitted.

A surcharge applies on public holidays and on shows after 10pm.

Any unsold tickets are sold at the door. These are $5 extra per ticket.

Times & Dates:

Times may vary, exact time confirmed on the booking page.

March 8:30pm

March 25th: 8:30pm is sold out, a second show is available at 10pm

Not available on March 27th.

April: 7pm

Not available on the 1st of April

Easter long weekend: 6:45pm, 8:15pm.

What to Wear:

Please wear enclosed shoes. No shoes with flashing lights please as they affect the viewing experience.

We are outdoors so dress to the weather conditions.

In the warmer months we can get some mosquitoes at dusk. Please apply insect repellant before you arrive on any uncovered areas.

In the colder months it can be very cold. A beanie, scarf and gloves can really make a difference.

Bookings:

There are 50 tickets available in a session. You are normally ok just to book on the day, except for Saturdays and school holidays where you may need to book a day or two in advance. You may wish to book further in advance for Easter and Oct long weekends as well as the days after xmas.

Tickets are purchased from the iwannaticket booking agency.

There is a link on the bookings page. Tickets are available online up to an hour before start time.

Any unsold tickets are sold at the door 15 mins before start time at $5 extra per ticket.

Once a ticket is purchased, it cannot be moved to another session. Choose your session date and time carefully.

Please only book when you know you definitely can come.

Be aware that the show is cancelled if it is raining or storms are threatening at start time. A decision is made at start time. Only book if you are staying nearby as it is a long way to come to find out the show is cancelled due to bad weather.

Cancellation by the Customer:

More than 7 days notice is required to receive a refund. The booking fee is non-refundable.

If less than 7 days notice is given, a refund is only given if we can resell your ticket. The booking fee is non-refundable.

If you do not turn up to the show on time or not show up at all, there is no refund or credit given.

To cancel, please email [email protected] Do not email the booking agency as it may take a few days for them to respond and will be too late.

Cancellation by the Observatory:

If we cancel the show a full refund is issued.

The show can be cancelled for the following reasons;

Raining, Storms nearby, High winds, Power outage, sick tour guide, etc.

A decision is usually made at start time. If we make a decision beforehand our website will be updated and we will send a text message to the Australian mobile number entered on the booking form.

Astrophotography:

If you bring a Canon, Nikon, Sony DSLR Camera that has a removeable lens, we can take a photo of a colourful nebula on moonless nights if it is a clear night.

We attach your camera with our adapter to fix to the telescope.

We can also take mirrorless canon and sony cameras that have a removeable lens.

Alternatively, if you bring a standard size SD card we can use our camera.

We sell standard size SD cards as well. You can have 2 photos taken if you purchase one of our SD cards.

You will need to know your camera settings before you come. e.g. manual setting, ISO, exposure time, live view, live view can be magnified, a photo can be taken with the lens removed. If you don’t know your settings we may not be able to take a photo for you as I do not know all camera models.

The live view must be able to be magnified otherwise the photo taken will be out of focus. Try this before you come as there will be no time to work this out.

Wheelchair Access:

There is wheelchair access to the main building and the outside telescope areas.

There is no wheelchair access to the observatory where the largest telescope is.

You will only be able to view through a telescope if you can briefly stand.

If you are confined to the wheelchair and can’t view through the telescopes, you can use a pair of binoculars we have and we can show you objects to view. This would be a similar view you would see through our smallest telescope.

We have a toilet that is accessible.