Go boldly into the night

TastroFest was born out of a passion for the universe and making it accessible for everybody who has a desire to explore. From humble beginnings in beautiful Ulverstone on Tasmania’s North West Coast, it has grown to be the largest astronomy festival in the country. Spread over three days with activities for beginners through to expert level, this award winning event has taken its place alongside Tasmania’s other premier annual science events with thousands of patrons and students visiting annually.

Commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the Apollo 13 mission, our 2020 festival was planned to explore “how to make do with limited resources that you have in isolated environments”. Little did we know how predictive that was going to be.

It soon became clear that this year’s TastroFest (if it was going to happen), was going to be in a completely different format. Thankfully, the people at National Science Week got behind the idea of providing resources for people to watch at home and we re-jigged the entire festival to bring it to you online, (we are all volunteers and this is our first go at it, so be gentle). Our team has travelled to remote places and managed to get behind the scenes to some amazing places, all available to you from the comfort of your own living room. Or your back yard. Or on top of a mountain. With today’s technology the possibilities are endless, but we do hope you enjoy the show.