In early January AstroSoc teamed up with the BBC to host two large events on campus to supplement this year’s broadcast of Stargazing Live. These events were among several organised by the BBC through the country, all aimed at enabling members of the public to take part in stargazing and astronomy for themselves after seeing the television shows.
We were joined for the events by several guest speakers such as Martin Hendry and Andrew Lound, as well as experienced astronomers from local astronomical societies, all of whom were keen to help engage our community and fuel public interest in amateur astronomy. The children who visited the events were treated to activities such as portable planetarium, an educational show with local actors and paper rocket launching, while our older guests could take in a lecture or two, learn how to get the most out of owning a telescope and, for as long as we were treated to clear skies, even stargaze through telescopes which had been brought to the event!
Students and members of the public alike had a fantastic time and the events were a huge success overall with AstroSoc making several appearances on local television and radio, and welcoming around 1500 people over the course of the week.