Thanks to everyone who joined us in January for the first of our star gazing evenings!

Despite it being an unseasonally cold January evening, the Balingup Heights Hill offered the perfect vantage point for star gazing.

The crew from the Astronomical Society of the South West set up two large 10 inch aperture reflecting telescopes, which gave us a chance to dive right into the Milky Way! Brian and Cameron were a wealth of knowledge and enthusiastically pointed out many of the wonders of the night sky.

We gathered at the lookout for sunset drinks, and watched the sun set. One of the early highlights was seeing Jupiter rise with its 4 moons. We spotted Venus & Mercury low in the west and Mars was also visible high in the western sky. There were plenty of other stars and clusters which we were able to identify.

A bright moon rose at around 9.50pm and we were able to check out major moon features. Stunning!

We’ll be announcing the date soon for our next star gazing night. So join us for an awe inspiring look at the night sky from the lookout at Balingup Heights!