Bathurst Observatory Research Facility’s Ray Pickard has coordinated an event locally with the help of Abercrombie House and Charles Sturt University, after being approached to participate in the record attempt. 

“[The ABC] actually do it each year. We didn’t do it last year, but we thought we would do it this year,” he said. 

“We’ve been really surprised by the interest from the community.” 

As this is the first time Bathurst has participated, Mr Pickard decided to limit the event to 100 tickets and has successfully sold them. 

On the night, the participants will stargaze at the moon through a telescope or binoculars for a 10-minute period simultaneously across multiple sites throughout Australia.

People will need to bring their own telescope or binoculars to Abercrombie House.

To participate in the world record, each person must stargaze through a device on their own as sharing these items will result in disqualification from the attempt.

The current world record, which was set in 2015 by the Australian National University, stands at 7960 people across 37 locations. 

Mr Pickard said that, aside from the record attempt, he will be helping participants to spot star clusters, look at constellations and locate Jupiter in the sky. 

“I guess the crowing jewel of the night will be having everyone with a telescope or an optical device looking at the moon,” he said. 

The record attempt will occur between 8pm and 9pm.

Mr Pickard said the level of interest in the event has him looking into holding regular “star parties” in Bathurst.

“We always have our tours at Bathurst Observatory, but I can’t have as many [people] out there as I can on this night, so we are actually planning another night in September with a few partners we have lined up,” he said. 

Mr Pickhard has thanked CSU and Abercrombie House for supporting Wednesday’s event.