Stargazers and space enthusiasts will dust off their telescopes for Astrofest at Curtin University this week.
Astrofest, which is now in its seventh year, is the state’s biggest celebration of astronomy.
The event will include guest speakers, exhibits, an astrophotography competition and up to 50 telescopes including the state’s largest privately-owned telescope.
A model of the Square Kilometre Array radio telescope, which when built will be the largest and most capable radio telescope ever constructed, will be on display.
Western Australia and South Africa will host the actual telescope when constructed, which is expected to be about 2020.
Astrofest coordinator and International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research astronomy ambassador Kirstin Gottsschalk said the event was designed to open up astronomy to the public.
“We want to let everyone know what’s going on in astronomy and give people the opportunity to have a chat with people who spend their days studying stars and galaxies,” she said.
“We have a lot of astronomy research going on in in WA, we have some really big telescopes being built here and we have a lot of organisations that are involved in studying the night sky.
“So while astronomy is a niche area, WA has made a name for itself in that niche area.”
Ms Gottsschalk said Astrofest was also suitable for the whole family and would feature Scitech and other children’s activities.
“We’ll also have the Fireballs in the Sky team, who are tracking meteorites,” she said.
“They recently found one on the ground in South Australia based on their tracking and they’re going to bring that meteor along to Astrofest and tell us how they found it.”
She said astronomy was an important field because it touched on an innate human curiosity while also impacting other fields of research.
“Space is so intriguing and there’s so much of it out there and so many cool things going on that we don’t understand,” she said.
“When we study space we’re faced with problems we’ve never encountered before so in trying to solve those problems we have to develop new technology, which can impact our every day lives.
“A prime example of that is WiFi. Part of the programming behind that was invented by a CSIRO radio astronomer.”
Astrofest essentials
The free event will be held at Curtin Stadium and Edinburgh Oval off Kent Street in Bentley on March 12 from 5.30pm to 9.30pm.
For more information or to pre-register visit www.astronomywa.net.au/astrofest.html.
