To celebrate the 400th anniversary of Galileo looking at the Moon, Saturn, Jupiter and the Sun through a small telescope and starting us on the path to modern astronomy UNESCO and the IAU have declared 2009 an international year of astronomy and invited astronomy societies around the country to take part in events where the public get a chance to hear something about astronomy and have a look at the Moon or a planet through a telescope.
Tomorrow's astronomers perhaps?
In support of this activity the SAS set up 3 public observing evenings at Attingham Park Shropshire - not far from Shrewsbury - and brought along a stack of telescopes. In this instance we were fairly lucky with something being visible on every night so that the more than 150 members of the public that attended got to see what it is we get up to and also gained a first up-close look at the Moon.
The Moon - thought provoking and rather pretty.
Many will have seen it as an amusingly different evening, though for one or two it might form the catalyst that leads to a life long interest.
The skies were not very clear but attendances were good.
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In the event a lot of fun was had and adults and kids alike got to gawp and ask questions of the experienced observers present. The pictures herein capture some of the moments.
Moon watching in action.
We extend our thanks to Ron Iremonger, Dave Woodward, Richard & Ghislaine Pearce, Mandy Bailey, Mark Wiggin, Stan Courtney, Michael Bourke, Douglas Renton-Cooper, Ray Hollister and anyone else I missed who kindly gave up their evenings to make this possible. We would also like to thank Attingham Park for providing such a wonderful venue for the event. The pictures on this page are by Mark Wiggin unless stated otherwise.
Before the rush. Members gather in preparation.
This page last modified 28th April 2009. Copyright of all images remains with whoever took it.