Koolang Observatory
The Moon from Wollombi
View the night sky from Koolang Observatory in the beautiful Wollombi Valley, just 50 minutes from Gosford, Wyong, Cessnock and Pokolbin.
On dark sky nights (no moon), the band of the winter Milky Way can be seen streaming across the sky from Sagittarius rising in the east, to Cancer, setting in the west. Rising high in the sky this month, and in a perfect position for observing with our 1/2 metre telescope, is bright Jupiter, the giant of the solar system.
This huge planet (over 10 times the diameter of our Earth), with its atmospheric banding and system of moons, is a major "wow" object when seen through a telescope.
The dense star fields of Sagittarius, Scorpius and Crux (the Southern Cross) provide us with many fascinating clusters and nebula to observe. These include the famous Jewel Box in Crux with its hundreds of coloured stars, omega Centauri - the largest globular cluster in the galaxy with over a million stars - and the famous eta Carina nebula.
These and many more objects are on display every night at Koolang.
Our moon shows cover many of the objects listed above as well as close up views of the rugged lunar surface - with our big "scope you can see craters within craters within craters.
Koolang Observatory and Space Science Display Centre is on the Great North Road, Bucketty, 23 kilometres south of Wollombi - 32 kilometres north of Peats Ridge. In addition to our space science display center we operate one of the largest public access telescopes in Australia as well as numerous smaller scopes.
Koolang is open to the public every Friday and Saturday night for two hour talks and viewing sessions but booking is essential. We also open at other times for group visits. Our standard prices are $15 for adults, $13 for pensioner concession and $10 for children. Group discounts are available.
Our display centre also doubles up as a lecture theatre so if the weather misbehaves we deliver an enjoyable and educational indoor multi media presentation.
Contact Koolang - phone 4998 8216 or visit http://www.koolang.com.au/
“Lovely service! Thanks, wonderful setting, beautiful weather, wonderful hostess.”
Bill Davis, South Yarra, April 2008
