The challenge was to look at the moon for 10 minutes and the city’s event at the botanic gardens had 174 people registered.

However, only 171 successfully completed it. 

What happened to the other three? Well, one fell asleep and the other two got a case of the fidgets.

“They were very small children and the 10 minutes was just a little bit too long for them,” Tamworth Regional Astronomy Club spokesman Grant Quinn said, laughing.

“There were lots of children there – the youngest one to have completed the time would have been about five.”

Mr Quinn said about another 25 people had turned out just to observe and enjoy the night out.

“It went very smoothly,” he said.

“We had a nice, clear night, it wasn’t too cold, everyone was rugged up and it was a pleasant evening out there.”

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One club member wasn’t so lucky, though.

“I did hear of a few venues where cloud cover unfortunately stopped them from doing things, so that’s a bit sad,” Mr Quinn said.

“One of our members was in Ballarat on holidays and was hoping to join in down there, but it was really overcast down there so they couldn’t take part.

“But I think they [organisers Australian National University, in collaboration with ABC-TV] had about 30,000 registered in the end, so I’d say the record has been broken.”

In order to meet the Guinness World Record requirements, the club had to have two official witnesses, and four official stewards, plus submit video and photographic evidence of participation.

“It’s very exciting, and we’re just pleased there were so many people who came out and enjoyed a bit of science; showed an interest in science and what we do in the astronomy club,” Mr Quinn said.

“We were happy to help the people of the Tamworth region have an enjoyable evening.”