Experiência de Observação de Estrelas na Cúpula do Projeto Céu Escuro no Observatório Mt John

This was my first time joining a stargazing tour, and it was even cheaper than the official website. The service was excellent; you don't need to worry about not having warm enough clothes, as they provide one-piece down jackets. It seemed like they had four or five sizes! The only downside was that the night we attended was the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, which was a full moon. This affected the stargazing, making it a bit different from what I had imagined. For the "Dark Sky Project," they pick you up from the foot of the mountain and drive you to the observatory's protected area. Then, a specialist explains various astronomical phenomena, and they'll ask if anyone has questions about astronomy. If you're not very familiar with the twelve planets and some professional astronomical English terms, it might be a bit challenging to understand. However, they do offer earlier sessions in Chinese. They also use the observatory's super-large astronomical telescope for stargazing, which was my first time experiencing it, and I found it very magical and a rare opportunity! But if you encounter dates near the first or fifteenth day of the lunar month (full moon), I suggest not attending, as you might be quite disappointed.

Our tour guide, Tonic from Taiwan, had a warm, cheerful smile and tone that made me, also from Taiwan, feel incredibly welcome. His detailed explanations of astronomy greatly expanded my knowledge. I highly recommend that friends visiting Tekapo don't miss this interesting and educational stargazing tour.

Although I booked an English explanation, it was still very worthwhile! How many times in life can you visit a stargazing research center and use such precise instruments to observe the stars? And to have three telescopes simultaneously observing the Milky Way, the moon, and stars in a dark sky preserve with no light pollution! It was a truly worthwhile experience!

We are super lucky as the day we join the sky is clear, we manage to see clearly. The guide taught us lots of knowledge regarding to stargazing. They provide warm coat for everyone and I suggest everyone to wear it as it will gets colder during stargazing. I will strongly recommend this tour to traveler who visit tekapo.

Absolutely loved it! We had perfect clear skies the day we had our experience. We headed for the meeting point 20 minutes prior to our departure time to listen in on what the weather was doing (they give a quick briefing). We then got suited up with warm jackets and hopped on the bus up to the top of the hill. Absolutely fantastic experience and the ski looks incredible from the top of Mt John Summit. We swapped between 3x telescopes and spent time learning about the constellations which was great. Would highly recommend this experience! There is a cafe at the summit which is open during the day if you're self-driving and want the best view of Lake Tekapo too. Would highly recommend self-driving up during the day. When you finish your experience they take you back to the meeting point where the shop is open if you want to purchase anything afterwards

My family went for the 2-hour Summit Experience stargazing guided tour by the Dark Sky Project. It was awesome! At the working Mount John Observatory at the top of the mountain overlooking Lake Tekapo. Insightful and interesting sharing by the experts, including evolution of stars and use of three different telescopes such as in one of the observatory domes, to look at the moon, Saturn, Jupiter, Jewel Box Cluster of stars, etc. A really unique, once-in-a-lifetime, memorable and both inspiring and inspirational experience 👍🙏😊

On March 12, 2024, due to the weather, we were unable to see the beautiful Milky Way. However, our colleague Mok at the center patiently and meticulously answered all our questions about the starry sky. The friendly Cantonese conversation made us feel even warmer, like meeting a long-lost friend in a distant land. Additionally, because we couldn't change to other activities due to time constraints, we were able to receive a full refund. On March 13, we visited the center again, and our colleague Ada explained the refund process in great detail. She also sent emails to us and followed up with the service provider. The warm hospitality of every colleague left us with wonderful memories of our trip. We look forward to our next encounter, when we can witness the mysteries of the starry sky together.

The ascent and descent take a total of half an hour. The first 45 minutes are dedicated to a stargazing introduction, followed by 45 minutes for photography and telescope viewing. The introduction was very detailed, and the guide also helped with taking photos.

體驗：整趟體驗很棒！很值得 ！Annd 講解的很詳細，很有耐心，還會幫忙拍照，所以整個體驗很值得！ 設備：很齊全，會提供一件防風防寒衣服，超級保暖 安全性：會給一個人一個手燈，可以照腳下的路，也會提醒大家上車繫安全帶！

約翰山天文台觀星體驗超震撼，銀河清晰可見，導覽解說專業有趣，環境無光害非常夢幻，是此行最浪漫難忘的活動之一。