South Australian observatories help create new outback experience for stargazers

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Stargazing in the outback is often described as a breathtaking experience. Now observatories in Woomera and Andamooka in South Australia's remote desert are collaborating to offer a new outback star trail.

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00:00When Rebecca Taylor and Richard Wilkin took over the Woomera Observatory in 2015, they

00:08were excited to share their slice of the sky with the world.

00:11Let's let that average person who doesn't normally get to look through a telescope

00:16and make it available to everyone.

00:18Surveys by trade, the duo were amateur stargazers at the observatory when they were handed the

00:22keys, taking over from scientists made for big shoes to fill.

00:27We still, to this day, get people come along and ask a question like, I don't actually

00:30know the answer to that, go home, Google it, remember it for next week.

00:33Just an hour north from Woomera, the Andamuka Observatory also looks to the skies.

00:38The two groups have fostered a unique relationship, making the region a bucket list destination

00:44for budding astronomers.

00:45We like to call it a bit of a star trail, so between Woomera and Andamuka you can have two

00:51completely different experiences of the night skies.

00:54The deep space telescope that's down at Woomera, and ours which is outside the dob, without

01:00the dob, under the elements, under the full sky.

01:02It's also an opportunity to foster the next generation's interest in space.

01:07For the first time ever we've got the Australian Space Agency, we've never had that before in

01:11history, so these kids today could potentially be an astronaut in 20 years.

01:16Inspiring stargazers today to become trailblazers tomorrow.

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