Australia Ferris wheel
The Southern Star
You can see 104 km from here, looking east.
Calculating the panorama…
Drag to turn around. The relief is drawn 2.2 times taller so the ridges can be read; far ridges are paler, as in the real air.
The view
Up to 104 km away.
Calculated on the relief one degree at a time, up to 250 km, with the curvature of the Earth and the refraction of the air: what stands above the horizon from here.
Our own rating, from the relief and the climate only: open horizon (35 points), how far you see (25), sea and named peaks in view (20) and clear months (20).
- 104 kmFarthest ridgelooking east
- 100%Open horizonof the circle where the horizon is below your eyes
- 9%Seaof the circle where the horizon is the sea
- 12Peaks in viewnamed summits that rise above the relief in front
- 5 mAltitudeabove the sea, at the highest point of the viewpoint
The 12 peaks you can name from here
From west to east as you turn around: height, distance and direction. Each one links to its guide on Peakyas, our mountain atlas.
From the relief only: buildings, trees and haze are not in the model. On a hazy day you see much less; 250 km is the limit of our calculation.
The sun
The best sunsets are from December to March.
When the sun really disappears from this viewpoint — behind the relief or into the sea — and in which direction, on the 15th of each month, in local time.
- Jansouth-west2 min before the sea-level sunset50%
- Febwest4 min before the sea-level sunset50%
- Marwest4 min before the sea-level sunset50%
- Aprwest4 min before the sea-level sunset45%
- Maynorth-west6 min before the sea-level sunset39%
- Junnorth-west6 min before the sea-level sunset36%
- Julnorth-west6 min before the sea-level sunset33%
- Augwest6 min before the sea-level sunset34%
- Sepwest6 min before the sea-level sunset36%
- Octwest4 min before the sea-level sunset41%
- Novsouth-west4 min before the sea-level sunset40%
- Decsouth-west4 min before the sea-level sunset46%
- Time: when the sun goes behind the horizon you see from here.
- Minutes: how much earlier the relief hides the sun.
- %: share of clear sky that month (NASA, 2001–2020).
The highlighted months are the clearest. Golden hour starts about an hour before.
The place
The Southern Star.
Melbourne tourist attraction
The Southern Star is a Ferris wheel in Australia.
On a clear day the farthest ridge you can see is 104 km away, looking east.
The sea fills 9% of the horizon.
12 named peaks rise above the relief in front; the most prominent is Mount Donna Buang (1,250 m), 66 km away.
The horizon is open, below your eyes, over 100% of the circle.
The skies are clearest from December to March.
Get there and stay
- Going upCheck the opening hours before you go: towers and decks close in bad weather.Official site↗
- Wicked Campervan Hirecampsite · 2.2 km · 4 within 10 km
- Hotel Sophiaplace to stay · 1.5 km · 287 within 10 km
- West Melbournenearest town · 1.1 km in a straight linePlaces to stay in West MelbourneBooking.com · sponsored link↗
- Melbourne Essendon Airport (MEB)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 10 km in a straight lineCar hire at MEL airport (Melbourne)Discover Cars · sponsored link↗
Plan the visit
A guided tour, a bed nearby, a car.
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
From above
The viewpoint and its surroundings.
The satellite image of the 6 × 6 km around the viewpoint, with what OpenStreetMap shows nearby.
Around, in OpenStreetMap
- 27other viewpoints within 5 kmEvan Walker Bridge Lookout, Street Art, Sandridge Lookout and 24 more
- 1named peaks within 5 kmRiver Hill Lookout
- 1marked trails within 3 kmBillibellary's Walk
- 280shelters and huts within 5 kmClematis Pavilion, Fern Gully Rest House and 278 more
- 1,144car parks within 3 km
- 14visitor centres within 5 kmFitzroy Gardens Visitor Centre, Stop 1 - Student Advice - Level G, National Trust of Australia (Victoria) and 11 more
- 1,573restaurants and cafés within 3 km
- 4campsites within 10 kmWicked Campervan Hire, Discovery Parks Melbourne, "The Pines" Scout Camp, 4th Altona and 1 more
- 287places to stay within 10 kmHotel Sophia, Melbourne CBD Hotel, Vibe Savoy Hotel and 284 more
- cable car and funicular stations within 5 km
Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit. A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet.
In our other atlases
What you see from The Southern Star, and what is near.
Everything around this viewpoint — mountains, water, forests, birds, caves and the night sky — in the family's atlases.
Peakyas16 mountains within 25 km
Lakeyas2 lakes within 15 km
Forestyas4 forests and trees within 15 km
Birdyas1 birding sites within 25 km
Darkskyas1 dark-sky places within 30 km
Cascadyas2 waterfalls within 15 km
Riveryasthe river nearbyFigures from the sister sites' databases (Wikidata, HydroATLAS, GeoNames, OpenStreetMap, GBIF). Links open when each site is online.
Photographs
The view, as people saw it.
Other viewpoints nearby.
The Southern Star
Australia
- 75Viewyas Score
- 104 kmFarthest ridge
- 12Peaks in view
- 5 mAltitude
Mount Kosciuszko
Australia · 331 km
- 79Viewyas Score
- 183 kmFarthest ridge
- 23Peaks in view
- 2,221 mAltitude
Where these figures come from
| Name and type | Wikidata (Q1155904) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Sun | J. Meeus, Astronomical Algorithms |
| Peaks in view | Peakyas (Wikidata, CC0) |
| Panorama and altitude | Copernicus DEM GLO-90 / GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA |
| Clouds | NASA POWER (CERES SYN1deg, 2001–2020; MERRA-2) |
| What is around | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Sister atlases | Peakyas, Coastya, Lakeyas, Forestyas, Birdyas, Darkskyas, Cascadyas, Riveryas |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
The family
Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers, canyons, caves, dark skies, viewpoints, birdwatching or forests?
Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, in seven languages.
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Every lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Visit mountains
Every summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit waterfalls
Every waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Visit 
islands
Every island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Visit rivers
Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.Visit 
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Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Visit 
caves
Every cave with its real depth and length: the rock above, the temperature inside all year, and how to visit.Visit dark skies
Where the night is still dark: the sky of every place, the Milky Way month by month, the Moon, eclipses and auroras.Visit 
viewpoints
Every viewpoint with its real 360° panorama: the peaks you can name, how far you see and where the sun sets.You are herebirdwatching
Every bird sanctuary and wetland with the species recorded month by month: who is resident, who comes for the summer, who only passes through.Visit forests
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