Armed with a ute load of telescopes, a team from ANU has toured regional centres to inspire school students about the possibilities of their futures. Ross Peake reports.

The International Space Station was due to zoom over Mackay just when Dr Brad Tucker was speaking about astronomy to students, teachers and career advisers.

Tucker, an astrophysicist and astronomer from Mount Stromlo Observatory, knew precisely when to usher his audience of more than 100 people outside to watch the bright object track overhead. It flashed over, on schedule, very bright against the dark sky.

He visited primary and high schools in North Queensland and Western Australia late last year and is due to tour other regional areas this year.

The schools reached out to ANU after being involved in last year’s astronomy event when citizen scientists in every state and territory helped ANU smash its stargazing Guinness World Records title.

For that event, more than 40,000 people across hundreds of locations in Australia looked at the Moon at the same time – nearly six times greater than the number of people involved in the previous record.

Tucker says: “After the success of our ANU/ABC World Record Stargazing, we didn’t want to let the momentum and fun end, especially since we had such large parties in regional Australia.  

“It was great to be able to take the stargazing show on the road, and be able to enjoy some dark skies with space lovers in North Queensland and the Pilbara.

“At the same time, ANU and Australia are doing some amazing things in space – being able to talk about some of the research going on that seems like it is out of science fiction, and being able to use this to inspire the next generation, is something I love.”

With Tucker on the first roadshow were Adam Rains, MAA (Adv) ’16, a PhD Scholar at the ANU Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics, and Julie Murdoch, Manager of Domestic Student Recruitment.

Murdoch says a common reaction at schools was, 'Oh my God, I don’t believe you’ve come all this way, it’s just amazing!'

“A lot of the students were star struck by Brad – they knew who he was and loved hearing him talk about the Moon and the planets,” she says.

“In Mackay, one of the career advisers said, ‘I’ve got a really good student who would be a great fit for ANU’ – that was a real highlight of the trip for me.”

Each night, the ANU group unpacked and assembled new telescopes for students and parents to look at the Moon and Saturn.

When Rains spoke in the classrooms, his presence resonated particularly well with students. He was able to tell them he grew up in North Queensland and completed a joint Electrical Engineering/Information Technology Degree at James Cook University, before going to ANU to complete a Master in Astronomy and Astrophysics (Advanced).

“It was rewarding to go back and speak in regional areas close to where I grew up,” he says.

“One of the highlights was speaking in Townsville where some family and friends came along to listen, as well as being able to speak to rural students at Home Hill.

“When I did my undergrad, I didn’t really look outside Townsville for study because of the impact geography has on opportunity. And that can be compounded many times over for people who have very different lived experiences to mine.

“There’s a lower density of STEM outreach in regional areas, particularly astronomy where North Queensland is concerned, so I hope I helped remedy that in some way.”

Through the trips to regional areas, the University hopes to inspire the next generation of Australians to expand their minds on what they can achieve in life.

The ANU team, with the ARC Centre of Excellence ASTRO 3D, which ANU hosts, donated two 20-centimetre in diameter reflecting telescopes to each of the four schools that hosted the astronomy events.