- Astrofest, Australia's largest astronomy festival,
in Perth this weekend
- Run by Astronomy WA, the event features
telescopes and talks on the universe
- Free event at Curtin Stadium on Saturday, 18 November
Thousands of stargazers are
expected to attend the Astrofest festival this weekend to learn more about the universe
and use some of Western Australia's biggest telescopes.
Science Minister Stephen
Dawson encouraged everyone with an interest in astronomy to take advantage of
this opportunity to enjoy a different view of Perth's night sky.
Highlights for this year's
event include seeing radio telescopes work, listening to real-life astronomers
talk about their discoveries, live science shows, exploring the
astrophotography exhibition and gazing into the stars with giant professional
telescopes.
Talks by the experts will
also give insights into careers working on the giant SKA telescope and in the
space industry.
Astrofest, which is the
biggest astronomy festival in the country, started as an annual event in 2007
and is a free, fun celebration of Australian science and learning about the
universe.
The festival is supported
by Astronomy WA, a collective made up of more than 30 of WA's astronomy and
STEM outreach organisations, including Curtin University, University of Western
Australia, International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research, Scitech and the
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Perth Observatory
and the Gravity Discovery Centre.
Astrofest will be held at
Curtin Stadium on 18 November between 5:30pm to 9:30pm.
For more information
visit https://www.astronomywa.net.au/astrofest.html
Comments attributed to Science Minister Stephen Dawson:
"Astrofest is a wonderful
opportunity to get up close and personal with Perth's night sky.
"Events such as Astrofest
highlight just how important space and astronomy are to WA, and it's an
industry that the Cook Government is keen to explore a lot further.
"Astrofest is a great
event to showcase the STEM culture and skills pathways, which are establishing WA
as a Southern Hemisphere global hub for radio astronomy and space science.
"I want to commend Astronomy
WA and their collective of more than 30 organisations who make Astrofest a
possibility."
