Thousands flock to West Australian astronomy festival showcasing SKA

Kids, parents, friends, couples and a handful of die-hard Star Wars fans descended on Curtin University to celebrate all things astronomy and the SKA once more.

The crowd of more than 3000 turned out to view the night sky through giant telescopes, listen to talks from local researchers and science communicators, and learn more about the SKA as part of the annual Astrofest event.

Astrofest is the largest annual astronomy festival in Australia and a regular fixture on the Perth science calendar, packed with SKA-themed content.

Visitors took part in a selfie competition with a SKALA antenna, and explored SKA augmented reality colouring sheets (try it here!). They built SKA dishes out of LEGO, and listened to Australia’s Astronomer at Large Dr Fred Watson present an update on the SKA project.

The Australian SKA site was shown off with a 3D model of the site, including models of the precursor telescopes already on site, and visitors were also treated to a virtual tour of the observatory.

“While very few people travel to the Murchison region, we’ve been able to engage the community through virtual tours and hands-on activities that make them feel like they’re on site,” said ICRAR Astronomy Ambassador and Astronomy WA Co-Chair Kirsten Gottschalk.

Astrofest is coordinated every year by the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) on behalf of Astronomy WA.

ASTROFEST IN PICTURES

By ICRAR