Which Astronomy Event Is For You?
The Observatory runs events most evenings throughout the year so there’s plenty to choose from!
If you’ve not visited before, choosing an event can be a bit bewildering, so to help you decide we’ve prepared a short guide and colour-coded our events into 4 categories, just click on a category to see a description of the events it includes and suggestions will appear below.
IMPORTANT
You can only visit the observatory if you have booked onto an event in advance, we sell out quickly so please plan ahead!
The website is live and each event shows the number of places available, unfortunately it is not possible to add extra places.
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Discover More About Our Family Events
With stargazing at home on the rise, we understand it can be daunting if you're just starting out. Telescopes or binoculars? What is a star? What is a light year? How do I use star charts...
Our team of Astronomers are here to help you get started with the basics, suitable for all the family, these events are designed to inspire children aged 7-12 with our fun and interactive learning experience. These events include Young Explorers and Space Kids, one of our most popular events for parents and their young scientists.
Using our state of the art facilities we will set you on a journey of discovery, and if it's clear we will use our big telescopes to observe the sky, and if not then we have the technology to bring it alive.
Aimed to be fun and interesting to everyone, parents and older siblings will also discover lots of interesting facts about the universe and these are the only events that offer reduced family tickets (inc. two adults and two children).
Please be aware that all children under 16 yrs must be accompanied by an adult, all of whom must have a ticket to attend.
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We Think You'd Like...
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Discover More About Our Main Events
These are our main evening events which are aimed at all levels of knowledge and experience and ideally ages from 8yrs upwards and last 3 hours. The difference between our events is the subject of the 45 min presentation that we provide during the event, for example: Aurora Night, Origins of the Universe & The Secret Lives of Stars.
We have large aperture telescopes in each of our two turrets, and some smaller portable telescopes on the viewing deck. The guests are rotated so they get the opportunity to use each telescope as well as a tour of our specialist observatory, the Gillian Dickinson Astro-imaging Academy – with its suite of instruments aimed at imaging the universe.
Observations depend on the weather of course, and if observing isn't possible our science team have a well-rehearsed bad weather programme involving other interactive activities.
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We Think You'd Like...
