Port Macquarie Astronomical Observatory

14/06/2026

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/arc-dark-matter-centre_darkmatter-activity-7468434587308847104-ZM9H?utm_source=social_share_send&utm_medium=member_desktop_web&rcm=ACoAAAvNZuEB3DoNgaOMDPEJ4GB3lQ2j8s1pZiA

Why bother searching for dark matter? 🤔 It is a question our scientists and others who do fundamental science are often asked. In the latest instalment of our Dark Matter FAQs series, Ben McAllister of Swinburne University of Technology provides a practical - and a poetic - answer to that questio...

12/06/2026

https://astrotourismwa.com.au/june/
The Southern Hemisphere night sky

Western Australia's night sky is one of the darkest in the world. There's always something to look up for. See the spectacular Milky Way at an Astrotourism Town.

08/06/2026

Questacon Pop-Up Science Centres – Mid North Coast NSW 18-28 June 2026 https://www.questacon.edu.au/whats-on/events/pop-science-centres-mid-north-coast-nsw
PMAA will be taking part in the Port Macquarie Pop-Up 20-21 June. Come along, say hello to our volunteers, wonder around and have fun!

08/06/2026

June highlights!

June’s sky is putting on a show. 🌌✨

Over the next few weeks, six beautiful celestial events will unfold above our heads — from a stunning planetary conjunction to the darkest Milky Way skies of the month, ending with a rare Strawberry Micromoon.

♃♀️ June 9 — Jupiter & Venus Conjunction
The two brightest planets in our sky appear remarkably close together after sunset, creating one of the most eye-catching planetary pairings of 2026.

🌙🔴 June 12 — Moon Meets Mars
A delicate crescent Moon rises beside the Red Planet before dawn, creating a beautiful and easy-to-spot celestial duo.

🌌 June 15 — Best Night for the Milky Way
With the New Moon bringing the darkest skies of the month, the glowing heart of our galaxy becomes visible in all its glory.

✨🪐 June 18 — Rare Cosmic Alignment
Venus, Mercury, Jupiter, the Moon, and the bright star Regulus gather across the evening twilight in a spectacular celestial lineup.

🌅 June 21 — June Solstice
The longest day of the year arrives in the Northern Hemisphere as Earth reaches a major turning point in its annual journey around the Sun.

🌕🍓 June 29 — Strawberry Micromoon
The Full Moon rises near its farthest point from Earth, appearing slightly smaller than usual while glowing low on the horizon in rich golden hues.

Which event are you most excited to see? 👇

Tag someone who loves looking up at the night sky. ✨

08/06/2026

Communicating ...

🌌 Maybe aliens haven't ignored us... they just haven't heard us yet.

For over 100 years, humanity has been broadcasting radio signals into space. That sounds like a long time—until you realize those signals have traveled only about 100 light-years, while the Milky Way spans nearly 100,000 light-years across.

Our entire radio bubble is just a tiny ripple in a vast cosmic ocean.

📡 To most of the galaxy, Earth is still silent.
🌠 Our strongest messages have barely left our local neighborhood.
👽 If intelligent civilizations exist, they may simply be too far away to know we're here.

The universe isn't necessarily empty.

We're just incredibly early in the conversation.

✨ To 99% of the Milky Way, humanity doesn't exist yet.

30/05/2026

🔵 STEP OUTSIDE RIGHT NOW · THE RAREST FULL MOON IN YEARS IS RISING TONIGHT

Tonight, May 30, as the sky darkens, a full Moon rises in the southeast unlike any you have seen recently. It carries two rare titles at once: a Blue Moon, the second full moon in the same calendar month, and a Micromoon, the farthest and smallest-appearing full moon of all of 2026. The last Blue Moon was August 2023. The next will not come until December 31, 2028.

🔵 What Makes It Blue:
A Blue Moon has nothing to do with color. The Moon takes 29.5 days to complete one full cycle, slightly shorter than our calendar months. Most months see only one full moon. But when a full moon falls on the first day of a month, another can squeeze in before the month ends. May 1 brought the Flower Moon. Tonight, May 30-31, the second full moon of May completes the rare pairing. This happens only seven times in every 19 years, roughly once every two to three years.

🔬 The Bonus: It Is Also the Smallest Moon of 2026:
At 406,134 km from Earth tonight, the Moon sits near apogee, the farthest point in its monthly orbit. This makes it a Micromoon, appearing approximately 14% smaller in angular diameter than a Supermoon at perigee. The difference is subtle to the naked eye, but the science is real: tonight's full Moon is the most distant and smallest-appearing full moon of the entire year.

✨ Where to Look Tonight:
Face southeast after dark and find the brilliant full Moon blazing in the constellation Scorpius. Just 2.6 degrees to its lower left, Antares, the deep amber-red Heart of the Scorpion, glows in characteristic reddish-orange: two warm lights side by side in the summer night sky. Then turn to the west. Venus blazes low and brilliant in the western twilight at magnitude -4.5. Jupiter shines steadily above it at magnitude -1.9. Mercury lines up below Venus near the horizon, forming a three-planet diagonal lineup spanning 26 degrees across the western sky. For early risers, Mars and Saturn are visible before sunrise in the east.

⏰ USA Viewing Times:
Moon reaches 100% full at 4:45 AM EDT on May 31, 3:45 AM CDT, 1:45 AM PDT. Best viewing: tonight May 30 after dark looking southeast. Venus and Jupiter visible: 30 to 60 minutes after sunset looking west. No telescope or equipment needed anywhere in the USA.

📸 Photography Tips:
For the Moon near Antares: wide-angle 35-85mm to capture the full Scorpius star field with the Moon at upper frame and Antares visible beside it. ISO 800-1600, 5 to 15 second exposure. For the Venus-Jupiter-Mercury lineup: face west 30 minutes after sunset, wide angle lens, ISO 400-800, 2 to 8 seconds, include a foreground silhouette.

Have you spotted tonight's Blue Moon or the planet lineup yet? Share your sky photos below! 👇

28/05/2026

Today we celebrate the birthday of Frank Drake — the man who dared to ask one of the most terrifying and beautiful questions humanity has ever faced:

Are we alone in the Universe? 🌌

In 1961, Drake created what became known as the famous Drake equation — a formula designed to estimate how many intelligent civilizations might exist in our galaxy right now.

And this is what it looks like:
N = R × fp × ne × fl × fi × fc × L*
N = number of communicating civilizations
R* = rate of star formation
fp = stars with planets
ne = habitable planets
fl = planets where life appears
fi = intelligent life
fc = civilizations that can communicate
L = lifetime of a civilization

At first glance, it looks cold and mathematical.
But hidden inside this equation is something deeply emotional:

Every star…
Every planet…
Every possibility of life…
Every civilization that may have risen, looked at the sky, and wondered exactly what we are wondering today.

Using his original estimates, Drake suggested there could be around 10 intelligent civilizations in the Milky Way capable of communication.

Just think about that for a moment.

Somewhere out there, beneath another sky, another civilization could be asking the same question about us.

Or perhaps they already disappeared millions of years ago.

Or maybe… we are the first.

More than 60 years later, humanity still doesn’t know the answer.
And that uncertainty may be one of the most haunting things about the cosmos.

🌌 What do YOU think?
Are we alone in the Universe… or is silence itself the real mystery?

27/05/2026

When is the next Blue Moon? Find the 2026 Blue Moon date and time, learn what a Blue Moon means, and see the Blue Moon calendar through 2032.

27/05/2026

Come along to our open nights to learn something new, and check out our 14" telescope. Always free for members!