WELCOME TO OUR NIGHT SKY TOUR PAGE
The Starry Night Mobile Planetarium can visit
your school during the day for a fun and educational experience.
Did you know that we can follow up the Planetarium experience with a view
through our telescope and a night sky tour with our amazing Green Laser.
We can visit your school at dusk (non daylight saving preferred) and show
your students , parents family and friends, craters on the moon, Saturns Rings
or the moons of Jupiter. We can also point out the important features of the
sky including the Zodiac consellations, The Scorpion, the Hunter and the Southern
Cross. We can also visit your school camp where low light pollution will enable
your students to see many more celestial objects.
We hope we can answer your questions with this FAQ
Check our Calendar for availability HERE
1. What is a night sky tour?
2. What is naked eye observing?
3. How big is our telescope?
4. Where can we set up?
5. How long does the night sky tour last?
6. What happens if it is cloudy?
7. How much will it cost?
8. What grades can attend?
9. What is a suitable location?
10. How many people can attend?
11. Are there any special requirements?
12. What will the students be able to see?
13. Who are the Cosmic Couple?
14. Which schools have already scheduled the night sky tour?
15. Is power required?
16. What is a green laser?
17. What is an Astronomy Night?
18. How can my P&C committee help
19. What about Public Liability?
20. Any other requirements?
21. How can I book?
22. What will the students see?
1 The Night Sky Tours run by the Cosmic Couple are nightime events to help your students identify celestial objects with and without any telescope or binoculars.
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Our telescope
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The Craters Eratosthenes and Copernicus
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2. To do "naked eye" observing, you do not need a telescope or even binoculars. May be a planisphere to help you find your away around and a reasonable view of the sky, preferably the East and South.Approximately 3,000 stars can be seen with the naked eye, the same number as can be seen in our Planetarium so its the next step to identify the bright stars , constellations and planets(IF VISIBLE)
3. We use an 8" reflecting telescope of compact design, together with a CCD camera for highly magnified images of the moon and planets on our big screen.
4. We need a reasonably sheltered site with a good view of the sky.It should preferably be away from lights and trees.We can advise on the best location.
5. Our Night Sky tour generally lasts about 90 mins. We can usually
split into two groups, Telescope observing and naked eye.
6. We can reschedule ,but do have an alternate
programme featuring computer simulations and space related movies.
7. For school students only the charge is $3 per student. The tour could be at the school or at another location (school camp-Dorroughby/Pottsville/Tyalgum Rural Retreat etc) For family groups we have a flat fee of $120 for the 90minute presentation.Where there have been a large number of Planetarium shows the Night Sky Tour could be FREE!
8. We present the night sky in a friendly fun way with plenty of interaction.Children from year 3+ will benefit from the tour.Parents will benefit the most, its suprising how little adults understand the mechanics of the Universe and the size of Space.Bring along your questions and we will try to answer.
9. Close to a powerpoint and somewhere where we can either project
our images on to a wall or on to our screen. We can even use our van as a
screen
10. There is no limit to the size of the group . We like to split into telescope observing and naked eye observing to control numbers. If your students have telecopes they are welcome to bring them along too.
11 .. No, only a good view of the sky with minimal light pollution and few trees.
12. What we see in the sky at night is determined byour position on the globe,the time, the date, the position of the planets in their orbits around the sun and the position of the moon in its orbit around Earth. No two nights are the same! At the 1st qtr moon, craters and mountain ranges can be seen and the huge "Mares" that cover a large percentage of the moons surface.Saturn will show us its rings and Jupiter its amazing moons discovered by Galileo.The constellation of Scorpio can be seen in the winter and Orion in the summer.From the southern hemisphere parts of Orion are known as "the saucepan" or "the shopping trolley"
13.
Marie Whealing: Marie has over 25 years teaching experience in Science,
Maths and computers. Astronomy became a particular interest after the 1987
Supernovae! (so this supernova has a lot to answer for - creating more than
the usual cosmic ripples!) Marie's fun and friendly approach will captivate
the children.
Philip Hood: Philip has over 30 years experience in the computer industry
and uses his skills for much of the planetarium presentations. Philip looks
after all the equipment and is always discovering new ways to enhance the
Planetarium experience. Marie and Philip are both members of the Astronomical
Society of NSW.
14. During 2005 we visited the following schools for our night sky tour. Ballina PS, Condong PS, Alstonville PS, Ellangowan PS and Empire Vale PS. We also visited Kingscliff HS and Uki PS at their camps at Dorroughby and Pottsville.Our night sky tours are also popular at the Parks we visit during the holidays,- North Star resort. Darlington Beach and Emerald Beach resort.
15. We need power for our computer and video projector. If no power is available we use our van 12v power supply.
16. Green Lasers are extremely powerful beams of light.The difference between a red laser and a green is that you can actually see the green beam enabling us to point out features of the night sky. They must be used with caution and certainly not by any one under 18years of age. A green laser is used to measure the distance from earth to the Moon!
17. Why not turn the evening into a real Astronomy night! We can advise on how to make this happen.
18. Your P&C can make this a fund raising event or just provide a simple sausage sizzle and drinks.
19. We have $10m Public Liability Insurance .
20. No. 
21. Have a look at our "recommended" viewing days and see if you can schedule either Planetarium shows for these days or just night sky viewing. Check our Calendar and give us a call to discuss your requirements.
22. Craters and mountain ranges on the moon. Apollo landing spots. Saturns rings(when visible) The Moons of Jupiter(when visible) The orion Nebulae, The plaeides star cluster. The visible Zodiac and other constellations. The South Celestial Pole.
