Norfolk Island Stargazing by Peter Davies

17 January 2023

A Perfect Night for Stargazing!

This group of fellow stargazers enjoyed viewing the rings of Saturn, the Moons of Jupiter, the Orion Nebula, Pleiades, Sirius, Canopus, Betelgeuse and not to mention the almost full moon on my last night of stargazing earlier this month, until I return to Norfolk Island later this year.

Did you know?

Norfolk Island Stargazing will resume operation once again when I return to the island for three months from September to November later this year.

I would like to say a big thank you to Yorlie for all your support over the last two years that my family and I have lived on wonderful Norfolk Island.

Norfolk Island Observatory

Some of you may know that I have a vision to build an Observatory on Norfolk Island. This is a 3–5 year plan where I intend to seek Government grants to enable this to happen. I intend to collaborate with universities who would be able to do their Astronomy research at the facility once built. It would be a great tourist attraction for the island as well, due to the Dark Sky Zone rating it already has and I believe the community will benefit in many ways.

I have been looking at various sites for the construction of the Observatory over the last year or so and have been speaking with Council, Parks as well as several private landowners, but at this stage have not found anything suitable.

I need your help. If any of you are interested in assisting in any way with this project please email me on norfolkislandstargazing@gmail.com and introduce yourself. If someone reading this article thinks they have some land that might be suitable then please let me know as well.

I hope to be back on the island before September, specifically to further research suitable locations for the Observatory and would like to hold a public meeting at that time to be able to explain my vision to the community in greater detail.

So farewell for now and please keep in touch.

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Norfolk Island Stargazing: Open for business September – November 2023

Bookings by appointment: Adults $48 (min 4) – Children $20.

(Self-drive / weather dependant)

For bookings email Peter on norfolkislandstargazing@gmail.com