It's no longer a research site, but a dedicated group of volunteers who love staring at the night sky are determined to keep the Perth Observatory open.

In 2013 the State Government cut the research program at the Bickley observatory, and two years later all staff but one, a caretaker, were made redundant.

This effectively ended the observatory's role in offering science education and stargazing tours.

But then a group of 80 volunteers rallied, focused on keeping the facility open.

And against all odds they did.

It's an achievement tour administrator Matt Woods is enormously proud of.

Matt Woods, tour administrator at Perth Observatory, says nothing beats seeing the stars with your own eyes. ( ABC Radio Perth: Emma Wynne )

"They gave us a one-year commercial lease agreement and said if we were really good, we were probably looking at a three or four-year lease after that," he said.

"We actually got 10 years after that first year.

"We are really excited that we have been able to get the observatory back up and running."

Perth's unique view of the universe

These days the facility's volunteers run night sky tours, day tours with school groups and look after the telescopes and grounds in the Bickley hills.

The first Perth Observatory in West Perth. The dome was preserved and moved to Bickley in 1962. ( ABC Radio Perth: Emma Wynne )

The observatory is also a museum dedicated to Perth's long history in astronomy research.

It was responsible for 10 per cent of the images captured worldwide of Halley's comet in the 1980s, and was one of two observatories that discovered the rings around Uranus.

"We live in an area where there are telescopes on the east coast and then there is nothing else until you get to South Africa, so we are smack, bang in the middle of where we need to be," Mr Woods said.

Halley's comet was photographed on glass in 1910 at the Perth Observatory. ( ABC Radio Perth: Emma Wynne )

Century-old astrographic telescope preserved

It also still houses the first telescope bought when the observatory was founded in West Perth in 1896, along with the original mount and dome, which was transported intact when the observatory moved to the hills in 1962.

"It was one of the first jobs that our first government astronomer, Sir William Ernest Cooke, had after planting the foundation stone," Mr Woods said.

"He got on a ship, went to England and did a tour of the telescope makers."

Cooke settled on a telescope made by famed Irish maker Sir Howard Grubb and it was installed by 1901.

"It is actually two telescopes — one where you look out and one with the glass plate for capturing images," Mr Woods said.

The astrographic telescope bought for Perth Observatory by Sir William Ernest Cooke in 1896. ( ABC Radio Perth: Emma Wynne )

"It's one of a kind; the mount is specifically built for Perth and it's pointing at our south celestial pole."

The telescope captured Halley's comet on glass in 1910, and snapped its last image in 1998.

The volunteers would love to restore it.

"[But] it would need a lot of time and money to get it working," Mr Woods said.

Perth joins the International Planetary Patrol

High up in the observatory tower is the Lowell telescope

It was donated by the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona so Perth could be part of a NASA program, the International Planetary Patrol, from 1970 to 1976.

"We were part of a group of different telescopes where NASA could get 24/7 access to Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn," Mr Woods explained.

"They had probes and they wanted to see cloud rotations on Venus.

The Lowell telescope was a valued part of the International Planetary Patrol in the 1970s. ( ABC Radio Perth: Emma Wynne )

"With Mars, they were looking for dust storms because the Mariner probes were going out there."

The Lowell telescope is more of a giant camera; it cannot be used to view space directly.

With its huge lens pointed skyward, the astronomers would take photographs on film and analyse them after they were developed.

In 1976 it was instrumental in the discovery of rings around Uranus — a realisation only made when they looked at the developed film the next day.

Nothing beats looking at the stars

While the Government has now switched its focus and funding to radio astronomy, including the Square Kilometre Array in the Mid West, among the general public there is an enduring fondness for old-fashioned stargazing.

The observatory hosts hundreds of visitors, even during winter, on its tours.

The observatory trialled digital cameras in 1986 to snap Halley's comet, but they were far larger than today's devices. ( ABC Radio Perth: Emma Wynne )

"There is something about just looking through an actual eye piece and seeing it for yourself," Mr Woods said.

"There is nothing like looking at Saturn and seeing the rings on a crisp night, seeing the actual division between the rings.

"Or seeing something like the Tarantula Nebula which is 160,000 light years away from our own galaxy.

"Stuff like that just blows your mind when you have a look at it and you just see what an awesome place the universe is."

Perth Observatory is hosting a free event for Stargazing Live on May 23, when visitors can participate in the attempt to set a new Guinness World Record for most people stargazing across multiple venues.