If you’d like to find bright stars, major constellations and the solar system and the universe, Skygazing Labs at Maraetai Beach during the school holidays will help you zoom in on the fascinating secrets of the universe.
Designed to motivate interest in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) in young minds, the first session starts before sunset and will focus on the very basic concepts about astronomy, telescopes, and photography.
There will be opportunities to observe the craters and mountains on the Moon, Jupiter’s Great Red Spot, and the rings of Saturn; as well as a chance to observe deep-sky objects like star clusters, nebulae and galaxies.
The sessions will target different objects and topics every day with some telescopes and additional resources available for use including telescopes that can be operated by kids.
During each observing session, participants will be taught how to find elusive patterns in the sky with a simple monthly star map and a green laser pointer that projects a visible beam into the sky – just like at a planetarium but under the real night sky!
Stargazing Labs at Maraetai Beach provides stunning views of the night sky and low-light pollution coming from the city.
This is key to allow long-term expositions to capture amazing pictures of the deep-sky objects like nebulae and galaxies.
Since these events are weather dependent, there will be occasions where the event is postponed at short notice with a text message, one hour prior to the event. Bookings will be transferred to the next available session.
There are four public parking spots (free) available (+40 cars capacity) and public toilets close to the observation area.
For more information check out Skygazing Lab on Facebook.
