We can tailor our night sky tours for you. Are you looking for an exclusive night sky experience at your venue or ours? An astronomical enhancement to your school camp or conference or special event? All of our equipment is transportable.
We can also do daytime or indoors presentations at your venue. We have a Solar Telescope, specifically designed to safely view the Sun’s surface features, plus a data projector for our large collection of astronomy images.
Costs for groups will depend on our travel distance and number of adults / children attending. We’ll ask for a (refundable) deposit to confirm your booking, with the remainder to be paid if the weather allows your tour to happen. We accept EFTPOS, bank transfers or cash; and we can issue Tax Invoices.
We’ll also need a contact person and their mobile phone number, so that we can advise your group of the latest weather forecasts. Cloud forecasting is not reliable until the actual day.
Private Groups
Two options, either:
- Book out one of our Fleurieu Stars tour nights. If you all know each other we can increase the group size to about 20 people. Note: the parking at Fleurieu Stars is unsuitable for large buses or for large numbers of cars.
- Book a private tour at your venue; subject to a suitable location being available (see notes below). We’ve already checked out a lot of venues around the Fleurieu Peninsula and a few in the Flinders Ranges.
Contact us to arrange the details, including pricing for your group.
School Groups
Available at your school or at your school’s camp; subject to a suitable location being available (see notes below). We’ll also need from you at least one teacher (or adult) per 15 students to supervise the group.
We know school groups are difficult to reschedule if it’s cloudy, so we usually do these presentations as either:
- Outdoors with our telescope(s) and laser pointer if it’s clear.
- Indoors with our astronomy images & software if it’s cloudy.
- We can also do daytime presentations, including views through our Solar Telescope.
We’ll also work with you to tailor the experience to meet your students’ learning needs and interests. Contact us to arrange the details including pricing.
Choosing a suitable location
If you’re planning a night sky tour at your venue (or school), you should pick a spot that:
- Isn’t overshadowed by buildings or large trees.
- Isn’t afflicted by outdoor lighting that cannot be turned off. Including any motion-activated lighting.
- Has an unobstructed view of the sky, especially to the south.
- We can drive onto with our car. Our telescopes are heavy, we don’t want to carry them a long way!
- Doesn’t have any tripping or falling hazards, wandering livestock, manure blobs, soft/slippery/boggy surfaces, steep slopes, or passing traffic.
- Isn’t overgrown with weeds or long grass.
- Won’t be sprayed by an irrigation system while we’re there.
- Isn’t metres away from any neighbours who may be trying to sleep during our tour.
- Is more than 5km from the nearest part of any commercial airport runway (or helipad) that is routinely used at night. Laser pointers can’t be used near an active airport.
- Isn’t subject to a lock-out or curfew time before we can finish packing up after tour.
- ….and if it’s not your property, do you have the property owner’s permission for us to be there?
We have used school ovals, golf courses, vineyards, basketball & tennis courts, car parks, private airstrips, rural accommodations, and “the back paddock” before.
We have:
- Public liability insurance.
- Sustainable Tourism Accreditation from the Australian Tourism Industry Council.
- Tour Operator Permit for many of South Australia’s National Parks and Conservation Parks.
- Working With Children & Vulnerable Persons clearances, national police clearances, and RRHAN-EC certification.
