When the Masters of Science Communication Outreach students from CPAS visited Coonabarabran this week as part of their fieldwork with the Shell Questacon Science Circus, they took the opportunity to visit ANU's Siding Springs Observatory to learn about each other and share stories.

On the agenda for discussion: science communication, visitor engagement, and cutting-edge astronomy!

Amanda from the observatory gave a behind-the-scenes tour of the facilities and began with the control room of the 3.9m Anglo-Australian Telescope where Andre, the night assistant, shared some history of the 300-ton telescopes on a vertigo-inducing tour of the outside platform.

Next, the CPAS masters students headed to the 2.3m telescope where Ian showed them how the whole building rotates to track the heavens.

After showing the team how to polish a telescope mirror, he generously opened the telescope cover to show the entire 2.3m wide aluminium mirror (great for spectroscopic astronomy—and selfies!).

Finally, the tour wrapped up with a visit to a telescope that runs itself: the Skyscanner.

Ian lead the CPAS masters students and Questacon staff up into the dome and explained how the robotic telescope automatically scans the entire southern sky—piece by piece—three times a year.

The Shell Questacon Science Circus team had a great day and are grateful for the time taken by the Siding Spring Observatory staff to show them around.

The Master of Science Communication Outreach is a unique crash course in science communication and outreach, which offers specialist training in performance, exhibition design, social media, management of science centres and engagement of diverse audiences.