Take a journey through the solar system at Siding Spring Observatory

Dark Sky Traveller has released two new location-triggered apps for Siding Spring Observatory. One unveils the secrets of the solar system as you drive towards Australia’s largest telescope. The other will enhance your intergalactic visit.

Solar System Drive

The location triggered driving tour app will make your journey out to Siding Spring Observatory memorable. Drive around the Astronomy Capital of Australia with Fred Watson, Astronomer-in-Charge of Australia’s biggest telescope for 20 years, and Marnie Ogg, the director of Dark Sky Traveller.

This driving tour app takes you along the world’s largest Virtual Solar System Drive from Coonabarabran’s Visitor Information Centre to Siding Spring Observatory.

As you travel along the route, Fred and Marnie will point out the three-dimensional planet models displayed on huge billboards, scaled relative to the Anglo-Australian Telescope dome at Siding Springs Observatory, which represents the Sun. They’ll also teach you about our solar system as you travel through the virtual one.

Self-guided tour around the Anglo-Australian Telescope

This 60-minute walking tour around Siding Spring Observatory retraces the history of the observatory and takes you inside Australia’s largest telescope, the Anglo Australian Telescope. This family-friendly tour will leave you in awe of the big white dome telescope and will dazzle you with the amazing science that is conducted on site.

About Siding Spring Observatory

Have a little one obsessed with all things space? Imagine how excited they would be to visit somewhere that has discovered planets in other solar systems. Cool, right? Well, you can at Siding Spring Observatory – the largest optical observatory in Australia and an important site for astronomy, astrophysics and space science.

Siding Spring Observatory is a 30-minute drive from its nearest country town, Coonabarabran. Travelling from the town’s centre, in the direction of the Warrumbungle National Park, keep your eyes peeled for the planets along the way – Jupiter, Mars, Earth, Venus and Mercury – as part of Largest Virtual Solar System Drive. (You can catch Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto on your way back to the nearest airport in Dubbo.) As you’re walking around the AAT telescope building, keep in mind that this is the ‘sun’ and that the planets you’ve passed on the way are to scale in distance and size.

Located beside the Warrumbungle Mountains, meaning “crooked mountain” in Gamilaroi, the observatory is dotted with over 20 international research-grade telescopes, searching the universe far and wide.

Joe Hockey, the then Minister for Tourism, said: “Everyone should visit at least once in their life!”

The largest telescope in Australia

Standing underneath the largest telescope in Australia is memorable and getting behind the scenes of the enormous white building is a treat, but strolling along the catwalk at the top of the rotating dome is breathtaking and only available to guests booked on a day tour with Dark Sky Traveller.

Bookings can be made online here or by calling 02 6842 6363.

Key features

Kids’ club
No

Educational programs
Yes

Cloakroom
No

Restaurants
Yes

Barbecue areas
No

Help desk
Yes

Family ticket packages
Yes

Guided tours
Yes (fees apply)

Wheelchair accessible
Yes

Daily shows
No

Kids’ area
No

Parenting rooms
Yes

Play

Who knows what new horizons your little ones will discover with a visit to Siding Spring Observatory?

Ask science teachers how to get kids interested in STEM and the list will contain “dinosaurs, volcanoes and stars!” Who hasn’t looked up to the heavens and wondered where we’ve come from?

“Children ask the best questions,” says Guide Donna Burton. “Adults are often too frightened to raise their hands, but children bubble over. They’ve asked the question about the speed of light and wormholes, before the adults have even considered it!”

The dark night skies above Siding Spring Observatory are not open to the public during the day but the destination provides the perfect day time expedition for curious minds with the Anglo Australian Telescope’s Visitors Gallery worth a peek. But for those wanting more, the family-friendly day tours on Thursdays and Saturdays allow questioning minds to delve deeper into the universe.

Tourism to Siding Spring is a new venture for the Australian National University-managed Siding Spring Observatory, but it’s not new to the region.

“Guests in their 70s frequently tell us this is not their first visit to the area. They reminisce of the time they were here as youngsters, either with the school, their parents or even their grandparents. They recall the bright the stars of the night as they camped in the nearby Warrumbungle National Park or how they were blown away by the size of the telescopes as children.”

Whatever the memory, it is one that they’ve wanted to share with their own family.

Allow Dark Sky Traveller to share the wonders of the night sky with your family. Book a fully-escorted Discovery Tour – and mention Holiday with Kids – to receive a $5 coupon to spend in the Dark Sky Cafe. Enjoy a light refreshments daily from 10am to 4pm, Wednesday to Sunday.

Dark Sky Traveller offers 90-minute tours of the Anglo Australian Telescope on Thursday at 10.30am and Saturday at 2pm.

Getting there

Siding Spring Observatory is a 30-minute drive from its nearest country town, Coonabarabran. Travelling from the town’s centre, in the direction of the Warrumbungle National Park.