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74 AUSTRALIAN SKY & TELESCOPE JULY 2016

Night Life

M

ore than 5,000 visitors

enjoyed clear and starry

skies at the 7th annual

WA Astrofest held in Perth on

March 12. The Astrofest is one of

the largest science events in Perth

and is the biggest astronomy event

of its type in Australia.

Visitors engaged with amateur

and professional astronomers from

the Astronomical Group of WA and

the Astronomical Society of WA.

This year there were more than 50

telescopes on the oval providing

great views of Jupiter, the Moon,

Orion and much more.

The free family event featured

solar observing, radio telescopes,

science shows, space domes,

telescope lessons, displays

from astronomy and science

organisations, special guest

speakers and the 2016 Astrofest

Astrophotography Exhibition.

The annual event is organised

by Astronomy WA partners with

generous contributions from the

International Centre for Radio

Astronomy Research (ICRAR, a

joint venture of Curtin University

and the University of WA), Scitech,

Lotterywest, the Astronomical

Group of WA and Telescope and

Binocular World.

“This year’s Astrofest was the

most successful to date,” said Prof

Peter Quinn, Executive Director

Astrofests,eastandwest

Thousands of

people turned out

to enjoy Astrofest

inPerthinMarch.

ASTRONOMY WA ASTROFEST X3

CWAS Astrofest

July 16–17

Popular annual get-together

in Parkes, NSW, home of ‘the

Dish’.

cwas.org.au/astrofest

Queensland Astrofest

July29–August7

Lions Camp Duckadang,

Linville, Qld

Popular annual star party.

qldastrofest.org.au

Sydney Astrofest 2016

July 30

Brand new public event at the

University of Sydney, hosted by

the ARC Centre of Excellence for

All-Sky Astrophysics.

caastro.org/event/2016-

sydastrofest16

Public Open Nights in

Sydney

August 12–13

The Sutherland Astronomical

Societywillthrowopenits

observatory’s doors to the general

public. Always a great occasion.

sasi.net.au

National Science Week

August 13–21

Various activities around the

nation.

scienceweek.net.au

Siding Spring Open Day

October 1

Australia’s largest optical

observatory throws open its

doors to the public.

starfest.org.au

StarFest 2016

October 1–2

A weekend of activity at

Coonbarabran during the

Festival of the Stars.

starfest.org.au

VicSouth Desert Spring

Star Party 2016

October28–November1

Annual star party hosted by the

astro societiesofVictoria and

South Australia.

vicsouth.info

WHAT’S UP?

Do you have an event or activity

coming up? Email us at

[email protected]

of ICRAR. “Astronomy is a key

science in WA and Astrofest creates

excellent community awareness

and interest helping encourage

participation in science.”

Images from the event can

be seen at astronomywa.net.

au, with the astrophotography

gallery at astronomywa.net.au/

astrophotography-exhibition.

Meanwhile, it was announced

in April that a new astrofest will

be held in Sydney on July 30.

The Sydney Astrofest 2016 is an

initiative of the ARC Centre of

Excellence for All-Sky Astrophysics

(CAASTRO) and will be held at the

University of Sydney.

CAASTRO is a scientific

institute that is heavily involved in

the science that will be done with

the forthcoming Square Kilometre

Array radio telescope network

being built in Australia and

southern Africa.

Full details of Sydney Astrofest

2016 can be found at caastro.org/

event/2016-sydastrofest16