Living in the South West? This is for you!

The South West Astronomy Fair is a great event to socialise with local astronomers, meet with professionals and learn something new, and get involved in observations.

The fair is on the 10th of August this year, at the Norman Lockyer Observatory. Displays and stalls are setup around the place, where you can engage in 3D printing, spectroscopy, Imaging, and laser workshops, or experiments with the IoP for the younger audience.

Scheduled throughout the day are lectures from amateurs and professionals. Each lasts about an hour, and are a fantastic way to learn about what’s happening in astrophysics recently.

The Lectures this year are:

Lecture 1 – Dave Rothery – Mercury: What Messenger showed us and what we want to find out with BepiColombo.

Lecture 2 – Nick Hewitt – Variable Nebulae.

Lecture 3 – Will Gater – “Dynamic Skies the story of our changing Cosmos & a new revolution in astronomy.”

Lecture 4 – Pete Lawrence & Paul Abel –  tbc

Alongside lectures and workshops, you’ll get to view the observatory and telescopes.

Norman Lockyer houses 3 historic telescopes, built in the 19th century. The telescopes were used solar observations and spectroscopy.

Solar observation will be taking place at the fair, which is a great opportunity to see the Sun without blinding yourself!

The observatory also is home to a siderostat, which projects the Sun’s spectrum onto the wall. The siderostat will be in operation at the Fair, and open for all guests to see!

A Planetarium will also be open to all guests. See the night sky, planets, and other amazing celestial objects!

Tickets can be bought by post, paypal or at the door.

For more information, have a look at the South West Astronomy Fair website. To learn more about Norman Lockyer, click here.

 

In the meantime, happy stargazing!

 

All images of the event have been taken from southwestastrofair.com

All images of the Norman Lockyer telescopes have been taken from normanlockyer.com