Exmouth astronomy and stargazing business ‘overwhelmed’ with interest for upcoming Kalgoorlie-Boulder session

An Exmouth-based astronomy business says it has likely found its second home in the Goldfields-Esperance region after being overwhelmed with interest in its stargazing services. Family-run business Ningaloo Stars has been offering stargazing and astronomy sessions in Esperance since December and is now bringing their service to Kalgoorlie-Boulder. With community demand seeing the one-night-only session on February 18 sold out in just a few hours, founder Paul Woods said he was now offering a second session on February 25. “It has been such an incredible response for us in the whole Kalgoorlie and Esperance area,” he said. “We are based in Exmouth most of the year and were thinking of things to do in the summer, and we thought there’s a lot of regional places in Australia that don’t get access to astronomy and stargazing . . . so we decided to go do a tour. “We packed up and came down to Esperance and the response we have received, the friendliness of the whole area and the welcome we have had — we are going to come and make this our sort of second base area.” The upcoming Kalgoorlie-Boulder session will take place at Lake Douglas, with the family bringing four telescopes and a whole lot of passion and knowledge for a two-hour session. Mr Woods said telling stories around a telescope, not a campfire, helped reconnect humans back to the stars. “The telescopes are not the whole experience, you don’t just turn up, look through the telescope and go home,” he said. “Humans have been looking at the stars forever, but I think these days, we tend to think stargazing and astronomy is all about science and physics and STEM where, in fact, it’s been with us for the whole of the human culture’s development. “I think we sort of forget that a little bit. We forget that most of our cultures have developed around star stories, we forget that your star sign is a direct link to a constellation in the skies. “So with our experience, we tell a lot of the star stories, a bit of the history, and still do all the astrophysics and modern physics as well, so you get that link between the past, the present and the future.” Mr Woods said he was looking forward to including the Goldfields-Esperance region in the annual touring calendar. To find out more, visit ningaloostars.com.au