Macquarie Island Magnetic Observatory

Macquarie Island Magnetic Observatory sits on remote Macquarie Island in the Southern Ocean, roughly halfway between mainland Australia and Antarctica.

About Macquarie Island Magnetic Observatory

This geomagnetic observatory has continuously recorded Earth's magnetic field since 1952, making its dataset more than seventy years long — the longest continuous geomagnetic record in the Southern Hemisphere.

Telescopes & research

Data from the observatory is fed in near real-time to Australia's Space Weather Forecasting Centre, supporting geomagnetic storm forecasting, and is used in both the Australian and International Geomagnetic Reference Field models (AGRF/IGRF). Records are made freely available through Geoscience Australia, Intermagnet, and the World Data Centre.

Location & getting there

Macquarie Island is one of the most isolated inhabited places on Earth, lying in the Southern Ocean between Australia and Antarctica — a location that makes it valuable for undisturbed scientific monitoring but very difficult to reach for casual visitors.

Visiting Macquarie Island Magnetic Observatory

Access to Macquarie Island is tightly controlled and typically limited to research personnel and permitted expeditions; there is no general public visiting programme. Check official Australian Antarctic Division resources for current access information.

See your named star from here

From one of the most remote monitoring stations on the planet, the same principle that guides geomagnetic tracking applies to stargazing: give a telescope precise coordinates, and it can find its target — including a star named through Star Register. Name a star and look it up in our catalogue.