About Dark Sky Project
Perched above Lake Tekapo, Mount John Observatory was established in 1965 as New Zealand’s leading astronomical research site. The region’s clear skies, high altitude and very low light pollution made it ideal for studying the southern night sky.
Today the observatory sits at the heart of the Aoraki Mackenzie International Dark Sky Reserve, one of the best places in the world for stargazing. The Dark Sky Project runs guided experiences here, where visitors can see the Milky Way blazing overhead and learn about the constellations visible only from the southern hemisphere. ✨🔭
Our tour
The Dark Sky Project has a base in Lake Tekapo and we assemble there for our trip up Mount John to its observatory. About 30 of us gather for a briefing and some do’s and dont’s eg take lots of photos but make sure flash is turned off (astronomers will be working and flash impacts their star gazing). We are provided all weather jackets as it gets mighty cold up top, and we all board a bus for the 15 minute trip up the mountain.
Our guide is English and you quickly realise why the site was chosen – it is very dark, with virtually no light pollution, even though we can see Lake Tekapo far below us. The guide has a laser pen and points out various planets, systems and even satellites. To be honest it’s a bit of blur of names and directions that Steve and Nikki have very little chance of remembering!
The event turns on a dime though when suddenly the guide stops and says “hang on everyone, can you see that blur appearing on the horizon above Lake Tekapo”, “yes we can” we all reply. He explains there may be something forming there. About 5 minutes later, he looks back again and asks if we can now see vertical pipes appearing above the blur, and again we agree we can. He advises we start taking photos and these reveal the most amazing Aurora Australis. There are lots of oohs and aahs as everyone stares at their photos. The guide says we are really lucky because it is the best Australis he has ever seen.
Although we do return to stargazing, the guide by now has lost the room as the Aurora is a total distraction which appears in a couple of 15 – 20 minuute slots. You can see just a few of some of our photos of this memory of a lifetime type event.
We do finish the tour looking into 4 telescopes preset to certain stars and clusters. Amazingly, these days you set the position of a telescope using an app on your smart phone. There is some sort of catalogue in the app and you choose what you want to look at, the app uses the time and co-ordinates of the telescope to find what you are looking for. Incredible.
We return to base around 11pm by which time, inevitably, all the bars are closed so we are unable to get a night cap to ponder all of our photos. Amazing experience and this post will serve us as a reminder to us over the coming years.
One Response
WOW! 🤩