Outreach

Published in the RSAA Lunations
Vol1 Issue75 1–31 August 2026

August is always one of our busiest months for outreach, with school visits and regular events in full swing. Add National Science Week to the mix, and it becomes an especially busy — and exciting — time of year!

For Science Week, the team spent the first weekend at Gungahlin Marketplace before heading to SouthPoint Shopping Centre for the second weekend. Both events were incredibly popular, with more than 1,100 people visiting us on the Saturday at SouthPoint!

August also saw the start of ANU’s 80th anniversary celebrations, including the Community Day. With large crowds throughout the day, the team were kept busy with solar observing, launching rockets, and a whole range of other activities.

We also enjoyed a fantastic public night on 21 August, with clear skies providing excellent conditions for observing. The weekend before, we headed out to Lanyon Homestead for another great evening. We welcomed around two dozen school groups from across Australia, with well over 1,200 students taking part.

It was a fantastic month for outreach, with plenty of opportunities to share our enthusiasm for astronomy and science with the community. And, thankfully, the weather mostly cooperated throughout the month!

18 September will be our final public night for the year. We’ll also be running our popular school holiday program again at the end of September and into early October for the spring school holidays.

We hope to see plenty of familiar — and new — faces at our upcoming events!

Brad Tucker