MPOLE Posted January 12, 2016 Share Posted January 12, 2016 BBC Stargazing Live again hits the screens tonight at 9pm on BBC2 and as usual The Long Eaton School are marking this with two nights of stargazing next week. Wednesday 20th January is the public showcase event. Doors open from 6pm until 9pm, admission free. This year we have guest speaker Paul Money FRAS, author and writer for Sky at Night magazine. Paul will be presenting a talk on our Solar system in the main hall at 7pm but that is just one of the many things on offer. There will also be Astrosphere – a mobile planetarium where audiences will enjoy a talk inside the dome under stars and many other wonders of the Universe. There are 3 showings strictly on a first come first served basis. Other attractions and activities include: Astronaut training, East Midlands Stargazers (stargazing outside if weather permits), Ilkeston and District Astronomy Society display, Nottingham Trent University with telescope displays and more, Cool Science – whiz bang science demonstrations, GCSE Astronomy display, Friends of West Park, Hands on experiments, Observatory tours and much more. Refreshments will be available from the Food Hub and there is plenty of free parking for visitors. Thursday the 21st January is the first meeting of 2016 for the Long Eaton Astronomical Society. We are joined by guest speaker Dr Simon Goodwin of Sheffield University for a talk entitled “Is Anybody Out There?”. Simon will discuss the methods we use for detecting so called “Exo Planets” and how we might one day discover life beyond Earth. The meeting starts at 6:30pm with refreshments available from 6:15pm. Members free, visitors are welcome for a suggested donation of £2 towards refreshments and costs. All under 16’s must be accompanied by an adult please. After the talk there may be chance for some observing if not a short topical talk will be given by Mr Perkins. +TasKiNG 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MPOLE Posted January 14, 2016 Author Share Posted January 14, 2016 We are pleased to announce in addition to the above, Derby and District Astro Society will also be in attendance with a display including a selection of meteorites. Hot food and drinks will also be available from the food hub including Cornish pasties, Pies and more.... There will also be opportunity to purchase one of Paul Money's latest books after the talk, if you ask nicely he might even sign it for you as well! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BAZ Posted January 15, 2016 Share Posted January 15, 2016 Excellent. Looking forward to meeting everyone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philjay Posted January 16, 2016 Share Posted January 16, 2016 Looks like it will be standing room only Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Perkil8r Posted January 22, 2016 Share Posted January 22, 2016 Wow, what a couple of days! Firstly thank you to everybody from EMS who turned up to help out at the Stargazing Live event, your help brings such events to life. Paul Money was energetic as always and talked to a good size crowd. There were quite big queues to look through the various scopes and binoculars of EMS pretty much all night and the views of the Moon did not disappoint and gave a good number of "wow" moments. The school observatory was bursting at the seams. At one point the queue was at least 50 deep. Comet making shows were well attended as always and the planetarium had to put on an extra show to try and get a few more through. IDAS had a good display in the sports hall as too did DDAS with a great selection of Meteorites. Nottingham Trent University had a pretty impressive display board that in its self looked quite space age! The middle of the sports hall was mostly devoted to Astronaut training and other experiments for the younger visitors to try and the very popular gravity well. EMS also had a couple of members in the sports hall to display some of the more "starter" type scopes. Cool Science presented by Pete Wearn was very popular with his eccentric show of whiz bang science. Friends of West Park were on hand with a slideshow of the Sundial and Planet garden from the local public park and literature was on offer from the National Space Academy / Centre to promote Space as a context in STEM and the Tim Peake Principia mission. Hot food was available and was also very popular with mushy peas selling out quite early. An estimated 6-800 visitors attended over the 3 hour event on the Wednesday night. Thursday the 21st saw the Long Eaton Astronomy Society meeting which had been scheduled to feature Dr Simon Goodwin from Sheffield University. Personal reasons lead to a late change of plan as Simon was unable to make it. Instead Mr Perkins put together a talk on Comets. "Comets - Harbingers of Doom or Bringers of Life?". In the talk we looked at the history of comet observations and understanding before moving to what they are, where they come from and what they are made of. The talk finished with a quick guide to where to find Comet Catalina in the night sky before Mr Perkins attempted to make a comet. The last time Mr Perkins tried this it was quite unique for all the wrong reasons but this time it all actually went to plan, evidence below! Tweedledee and markyap73 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Perkil8r Posted January 22, 2016 Share Posted January 22, 2016 I must be tired...... posted that on the wrong account Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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