Astronomers’ gathering has night sky gazing locals star-struck

The Geraldton community was out in force with eyes to the stars as one of the largest gatherings of astronomers in WA kicked off in town. CSIRO’s invited the community out to Geraldton foreshore to take part in some sidewalk astronomy on Monday evening, bringing a range of telescopes and experts to the beach to help locals admire the rings of Saturn and the glow of Venus and more. The event took place with the support of the Mid West Development Commission as part of CSIRO’s Radio School, which has some of the country’s best and brightest astronomers in town discussing their ongoing research behind a backdrop of pristine night skies. Local astro tourism operator Ken Lawson also offered up some of his telescopes and expertise for the event. CSIRO’s space and astronomy unit education manger Rob Hollow said there were few better places to host an event like this, with clear skies and dark nights showing a bounty of stars for the community. “Astronomy is one of those intrinsically interesting things,” he said. “This is just a great chance to share some of the wonders of the night sky with the community.” Mr Hollow said enjoying the night sky and the stars and planets was only becoming more accessible with technology continuing to improve. “If you want to invest, the sky is the limit, literally,” he said. However, he said there was no need to go for expensive equipment to enjoy the night sky. “In a place like this, you can just lie down and look at the wonderful night sky,” he said. “It’s just something anybody can do, especially in places like Geraldton where you have beautiful blue skies most of the time.”