Astrofest: an astronomy festival of epic proportions

BY ICRAR

Perth’s annual astronomy festival, Astrofest, went ahead on 29 October drawing a crowd of nearly 2,500 people despite the overcast weather. Lucky visitors were treated to glimpses of the Moon, Saturn, and Jupiter through the clouds, as well as a variety of talks, stalls, and shows throughout the night.

For the first time, there were three separate talk zones with more than 30 speakers across the night with topics ranging from SKAO science to judging astrophotography. This culminated in an hour-long panel discussion around SKAO science – Big Telescopes, Big Data – featuring scientists from the SKAO, Pawsey Supercomputing Research Centre, CSIRO, Australian SKA Regional Centre, MWA, and ICRAR.

Scattered around the inside of the stadium were more than 20 stalls, each one inspiring people about the wonders of astronomy and what is happening in the sector here in Western Australia.

ICRAR’s ever-popular stall was joined by a combined SKAO-CSIRO booth, giving the Australian SKA project partners great visibility at the event.

The ICRAR stand was a hit with both the young and young-atheart, with hundreds of people building and taking home their own Lego radio telescope, looking at WALLABY survey data in virtual reality, and talking to researchers about their work.

Members of the SKA-Low telescope team presented on a range of SKA-themed science, and the SKAO-CSIRO stand drew many youngsters with the opportunity to help “build” an SKA-Low antenna using plastic construction tools.

More than 100 people had the opportunity to experience the immersive virtual reality documentary developed by White Spark Pictures, Beyond the Milky Way, showcasing SKA precursor telescopes and the beautiful site where the SKALow telescope will be built.

Astrofest has something for all ages.

SKAO