Feature: Australian star observers gaze into new world record

CANBERRA, May 24 (Xinhua) -- Canberra of Australia is a quiet city, but the Australian National University (ANU) became crowded on the evening of Wednesday, with thousands of people waiting with their telescopes, and some with chairs too.

Apart from Canberra, people from many other locations also participated in the star-gazing event. They looked through a telescope or a pair of binoculars for 10 minutes, starting from 8:40 p.m. local time.

With the exact number of participants yet to be announced, the organizers, ANU and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation hope that a new Guinness World Record title for "most people stargazing at multiple venues" could be set.

The previous record was set in August 2015 in Australia, when 7,960 people from 37 places did star-gazing at the same time.

Alan Brown, 60, brought a big red telescope from home, which was left by his dad. "It was bought 25 years ago," he said, adding that the event gave him a chance to use the telescope again.

Brown said he went to ANU to "see the group," while his brother, who was with him at the event, said he "liked looking at the sky" when he was a kid.

Another fan of star-gazing was 16-year-old Darcy Lynch, who was also there with his father in 2015. Their big telescope was bought in 2012.

"I am doing astronomy course in year 11," said the boy. "I will look at the moon, and Mars... Maybe I will study astronomy in the future."

It is alright if one dos not have such professional telescopes, as participants could easily buy a small one with 7 Australian dollars (about 5.3 U.S. dollars), through which they could see the moon clearly.

The woman selling telescopes at the site told Xinhua that she sold as many as 2,000 in the evening. Before the event they sold telescopes online, making the total number around 5,000.

"The great thing about this Guinness World Records attempt is that anyone anywhere in Australia can take part and I can't wait to break our record from three years ago," said Dr Brad Tucker from the ANU Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics, who organized the record-breaking event in 2015.

"Astronomy is a way to get everyone interested in science and with the future Australian space agency on the way, there's never been a better time to look skywards," he said. Enditem