2019-07-01_Australian_Sky_&_Telescope

74 AUSTRALIAN SKY & TELESCOPE July 2019

NIGHT LIFE

J

uly 2019 is a specialmonthfor

spaceenthusiastsaswecelebrate

the50thanniversaryofthe

Apollo 11 missionandthefirstcrewed

landingontheMoon.Therewillbe

plentyofcelebratoryactivitiesgoing

onaroundthecountry.InBrisbane

thereis thefabulousNASA– A Human

Adventureexhibition,whichfeatures

realandreplicaspaceflightitems.

Checkit outatqm.qld.gov.au/space.

Inthenation’scapital,theAustralian

NationalUniversitywillhavea four-

dayMoonFestivalwithlotsofpublic

eventsandtours.Questaconandthe

NationalMuseumofAustraliahave

lunarexhibits,whilea 45-minutedrive

outsideofCanberrawillbringyouto

theamazingCanberraDeepSpace

CommunicationComplex(cdscc.nasa.

gov) at Tidbinbilla— oneofNASA’s

threeworldwidetrackingstations— with

itshuge70-metredish,thelargestin

Australia.Seea pieceofmoonrockand

takeinthefascinatingvisitors’centre.

InSydney,thePowerhouseMuseum

hasmorethan 200 spacerareartefacts

ondisplayfromJune29,plusa new

virtualrealityexperiencethatlets

youwatchtheMoonlandingfromthe

perspectiveofMichaelCollins,thethird

astronautwhoremainedinlunar

orbitaboardthecommandmodule

Columbia.There’salsoLukeJerram’s

installationMuseumof theMoon, a

7-metre-highlunarglobe.Fordetails,

visitmaas.museum/event/apollo-11/

InthecentreofNSW,theCSIRO’s

ParkesObservatorywillopenitsdoorsto

thepubliconJuly 20 and21.Takea tour

ofthetelescope,heartalksbyspecial

guestspeakersandseea screeningof

thefilm,‘TheDISH’(referredtoin

PeterRobertson’sarticlebeginning

onpage 28 ofthisissue).Seewww.

parkes.atnf.csiro.au/news_events/

opendays/2019/fordetails.Parkes

is alsohometotheCentralWest

AstronomicalSociety(CWAS),which

eachyearhoststheCWASAstroFest(this

yearalsoonJuly20–21)andtheDavid

MalinAwardsforastrophotography

(www.parkes.atnf.csiro.au/news_

events/astrofest/DMA/) — firstprize

NASA

AsteroidDay

June 30

A globaldayofeducationtohelpprotect

Earthfromasteroids.

asteroidday.org

QueenslandAstrofest

July26–August 4

ObservingunderdarkQueenslandskies.

Heldeveryyearsince1993.

qldastrofest.org.au

WHAT’S UP? Do you have an event or activity coming up? Email us at [email protected]

NationalScienceWeek

August10–18

Includeslotsofastroevents.Keepvisitingthe

websiteforthelatestinfo.

scienceweek.net.au

AstroRocksFest

September20–22

Familyweekendofbothastroandgeofunat

MtMagnet,WA.

mtmagnet-astrorocks.com

InternationalObservetheMoon

Night

October 5

Annualeventtoencourageobservationand

understandingofourMoon.

facebook.com/observethemoon/

NZ Starlight Conference

October 20–23

A theme is ‘Towards a Dark Sky Nation’.

starlightconference.org

NZ Starlight Festival

October 24–25

Held at the Aoraki Mackenzie International

Dark Sky Reserve.

starlightconference.org

NACAA XXIX

April 10–13, 2020

Biennial amateur astronomy convention.

nacaa.org.au

Celestial celebrations

Start your own space race to see how many events you can take in.

is a $2,000 Estore voucher.

And don’t forget some of the other

regular astronomical happenings coming

up, such as the Queensland Astrofest

(qldastrofest.org.au), now in its 23rd

year, and the 29th National Australian

Convention of Amateur Astronomers

(nacaa.org.au) which will be held next

year in Parkes, NSW, hosted by the

CWAS. If you’re involved in amateur

astronomical science or would like to be,

make sure you don’t miss it.