Rehua - Dark Sky Base

Here is the 2019 building which represents a centre for the Dark Sky activities around Tekapo, and a joint private/Ngai Tahu venture with input from the University of Canterbury and British Royal Zara Tindall.

The (Aoraki McKenzie) area was designated an International Dark Sky Reserve in 2012, recognition of the unpolluted skies that attracted the University of Canterbury to site Mt John Observatory here decades earlier.

For visitors there are four distinct tours offered by 'Dark Sky Project', which is run by Graeme Murray and Hide Ozawa. The new building serves a base for transport to the night time field trips, and houses the fourth experience, which is a 45 minute multimedia show, based on Ngai Tahu Astronomy.

The dome in 'Rehua' hosts the 9 metre 125-year-old Brashear Telescope. Percival Lowell first used the Brashear to study Mars from Tekapo in the nineteenth century. It has been painstakingly restored, with support from Ms Tindall, and plays a part in the Rehua experience.

DARK SKY EXPERIENCE - BOOK HERE

Image Credit: Viator