The ANU Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics is hoping to break the world record for the most people gazing into the sky through telescopes at one time.

The University, in conjunction with the Canberra Astronomical Society, is hosting a stargazing record attempt at Fellows Oval on the ANU campus on Friday 21 August.

Students and staff are invited to register to be part of the record attempt.

Event co-organiser Dr Brad Tucker says the current record stands at 3,007 participants all looking into the sky through telescopes at one time.

"There are two site records we'll be setting - single site record which will be for ANU Canberra, and a national record which ANU in Canberra is leading," Dr Tucker says.

The nominal target needed for a single site record is 640 people and to break the national record, 3,008 people need to be stargazing across 33 sites across Australia.

"So we have to have at least 3,000 plus people across 35 sites to set the national record. So we're well on target for both of these," he said.

"We are hoping to have such a big crowd that no one is crazy enough to attempt this again."

The facebook event, so far, has more than 9,600 people registered to attend.

The stargazing event is being run as part of Science Week, with participants encouraged to arrive on campus at 6pm.

As part of the world record attempt, participants need to be stargazing through a telescope or binoculars. They can bring their own telescope or binoculars, or order a a small $5 telescope which they can pick up on the night.

"On the night there will be a bunch of lectures by some astronomers including Brian Schmidt and Charley Lineweaver in the Manning Clarke lecture theatre," Dr Tucker says.

Those who attend will be encouraged to look at Saturn, globular clusters and galaxies through their telescopes as part of a special talk on some of the wonders of the sky, he says.

"Then at 8:15pm we'll all gaze through the telescopes for about 10 minutes, which will be our formal attempt to set the Guinness World Record for most people stargazing," he said.

"We want Canberra to have the record. We really want to have a great community event and showcase all of the great things going on at ANU show what the ANU community is all about," he said.

To register for the event, visit the stargazing event brite link. People can also pre-order their $5 telescopes.

Keep up to date with the event's organisers via the stargazing facebook page, which also shows the locations across the nation that will be participating in the world record attempt at the same time.