Astronomy in Australia

The tour starts at 2.00pm on Friday 12 April, at the Brassey Hotel, Canberra.

The tour ends at 12.00pm on Thursday 18 April, arriving at Dubbo Airport for return flights home.

Following introductions at the charming Brassey Hotel in Canberra, we make our way to Geoscience Australia. Here we have the opportunity to explore an extensive collection of meteorites and a Moon rock collected on Apollo 17. Incredibly this is the only piece of the Moon you can touch in the Southern Hemisphere! Afterwards, we head to Mt Stromlo Observatory – headquarters of the ANU Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics – which is celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2024. Here we learn more about the history of Mount Stromlo and participate in a unique behind-the-scenes tour covering Professor Brian Schmidt’s Nobel Prize, the 250kg meteorite and the Advanced Instrumentation and Technology Centre, home to the National Space Testing Facility. Following the tour, we enjoy some stargazing time using the Mt Stromlo outreach telescopes. Overnight Canberra (D)

This morning we travel to Honeysuckle Creek Tracking Station, one of the first NASA tracking stations in Australia. Playing an important role in world history, this Station received and relayed footage of the first 8 minutes and 26 seconds of the Apollo 11 Moon landing! Afterwards, we visit NASA’s Tidbinbilla Tracking Station, one of only three facilities around the world NASA uses to contact their deep space missions, including Voyager 1 – the first spacecraft to cross into interstellar space. It also hosts the old radio receiver that was previously located at Honeysuckle Creek. A highlight of our day is a talk by Gamilaroi astronomer Peter Swanton, who explains how Aboriginal Australians have a deep understanding and connection to the stars, and a burning desire to preserve our dark skies. Overnight Canberra (B)

Departing Canberra this morning we head for historic Parkes. On the way, we enjoy a quick stop to see the hidden space infrastructure of the SpaceX Starlink ground station at Boorowa, often called a Gateway. This deceptively humble-looking facility allows people in regional areas to connect to a low orbit satellite-based internet system. En route to Parkes we also visit the POW camp and cemetery at Cowra, before enjoying a guided tour and lunch at the stunning Japanese Gardens. Arriving in Parkes later in the afternoon, we head to the iconic and world-famous Parkes Observatory, otherwise known as “The Dish”. Here take a behind-the-scenes tour with Operations Scientist John Sarkissian, going deep inside The Dish to see the technology that allows the CSIRO to explore the Universe. While we won’t be able to play cricket here, we will enjoy dinner in town this evening. Overnight Parkes (B, L, D)

We depart Parkes this morning, with our first stop in Dubbo. From here we begin what is known at the ‘World’s Largest Virtual Solar System Drive’ to Siding Spring Observatory, commencing with Pluto at the Dubbo Visitor Centre. The planets are displayed on huge billboards along the five main roads that lead to Coonabarabran, with the size of the planets and the distance between each billboard scaled relative to Siding Spring’s dome, which represents the Sun. Venturing along the Newell Highway, we come to Gilgandra (the location of Neptune), stopping to explore the Cooee Historical Museum. Arriving at Coonabarabran, we make our way to Siding Spring Observatory – Australia’s premier observatory located on the edge of the Warrumbungle National Park. We venture inside the facility, home to over 40 telescopes, and visit the largest optical telescope in Australia! We have the exclusive opportunity to be astronomers for a night using the ANU 2.3m telescope, which the astronomers engage to measure and chase new explosions in the night sky. After a night of magical stargazing (up to midnight), we retire to the official astronomers’ accommodation at ANU’s Siding Spring Lodge. Overnight Coonabarabran (B, D)

This morning we enjoy a leisurely walk through the striking volcanic landscape of the Warrumbungle National Park, Australia’s first Dark Sky Park. This certification by the International Dark-Sky Association (IDA) recognises the exceptional quality of the park’s nocturnal environment to see our Universes with uncommon clarity and has made it a magnet for professional and amateur astronomers alike. We also visit a number of other telescopes on the mountains, such as the Las Cumbres Observatory and the iTelescope facilities – telescopes belonging to a global network that constantly studies our solar system. While the outback’s wide-open spaces may appear infinite from today’s adventures, tonight we see what true infinity looks like as we use the 2.3 telescope to explore the crystal clear starry skies of Warrumbungle. After our exploration, we retreat back to the astronomers’ lodge for a good night’s rest in what is officially recognized as one of the darkest places in the world. Overnight Coonabarabran (B, L, D)

This morning we enjoy a short drive to the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA), located at the Paul Wild Observatory near the town of Narrabri. Like Parkes, this major international observatory is operated by CSIRO’s Astronomy and Space Science division. Exploring the ATCA, we find an array of five 22-metre ‘antennas’ for collecting radio waves from space. The antennas sit on a track, so that they can be moved into different arrangements and work together using a technique called ‘interferometry’, giving the telescope an ability to see very fine detail. The ATCA is used to study things like energetic electrons spiralling around massive black holes, rapidly rotating ‘dead’ stars, and the glow left behind by the Big Bang from 13 billion years ago! Returning to Siding Spring Lodge, we have time to freshen up before dinner and an evening of more star gazing. Overnight Coonabarabran (B, L, D)

The tour concludes after breakfast today. We then make our way to the Dubbo Airport where we say our goodbyes. (B)