Hubble astronomer turns hundreds of young eyes to the night skies

Hubble astronomer Guido de Marchi showed the wonders of the Universe to hundreds of children at the inaugural International Space camp "Deepspace 2007" held near the Tidbinbilla Deep Space Tracking Station in Australia. Young boy and girl scouts from 11 to 18 years travelled from across the vast continent of Australia in celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of man's exciting foray into the frontiers of space.

The highlight of Deepspace 2007 was Guido's evening talk and slide show of images, from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, taking the five hundred plus audience on a journey spanning eight billion years. His words and choice of images resulted in endless questioning that lasted on into the night. Following the talk scouts created their own artistic interpretation of the beautiful Hubble images in a dedicated space art workshop led by Anne Brumfitt.

The theme of the camp was the celebration of all space exploration and the scientists whose future vision takes us further into space exploration and with such astounding technology as the present Hubble Space Telescope and the yet to come James Webb Space Telescope.

Other activities included a behind the scenes visit to the famous Deep Space Tracking Station at Tidbinbilla, high power rocket building and the largest Star Party to be held in the southern hemisphere. Enjoying near zero light pollution with spectacular views of globular clusters, nebulae and galaxies the scouts were able to use a number of 10 and 16 inch Newton-Dobsonian telescopes. The event was supported by local astronomer groups for the event. Other attractions included a detailed field exercise based on the retrieval of a planetary soil sample return mission from Titan to Earth, and the design, building and testing of a Mars rover.

Image caption: Hubble astronomer Guido de Marchi explains the workings of a Newton-Dobsonian telescope to scouts at "Deepspace 2007".

Scouts Australia works with many national and international partners. Scouts Australia is part of the World Organisation of Scouting Movements (WOSM) and the United Nations, and is actively involved in space activities.