Thirty people eagerly arrived for theirwork’s Star Gazing night, which was led by Brian Sheen, Director of The Roseland Observatory.

Brian arranged for everyone to meet at 8.00pm so that there was a chance to see his Star Gazing tools whilst the night sky rose. It also gave us the opportunity to have tea and biscuits and meet new people and old friends. People came from Gulval, Hayle, Camborne, Leedstown, Helston, Mullion, St. Keverne and there were past residents of Cornwall, visitors on working holidays who came as far as from Germany and transient residents who came from ‘up country’! There were at least five amateur gazers in the audience, three children and the rest of us who sat somewhere in between, so Brian had many different types of knowledge to reach.

To set the scene, Brian simulated a planetarium using Stellarium, an open source planetarium software for PC and Mac. Note, I’ve downloaded my copy and I’m already learning from it. It’s quick to download and user friendly. Go to http://www.stellarium.org and get your copy now and see your desktop turn into the night sky.

Stellarium
Using Stellarium, Brian walked us through some of the key planets and constellations, pointing out in particular how the North Star never moved position – demonstrating how everything else ‘spun’ around it. He showed us the Moon and Jupiter close up and asked the audience to call out other planets they would like to see magnified.

He then shared with us other tools that are key in helping you to learn about the night sky. All are explained on the Roseland’s Observatory Links page www.roselandobservatory.com but here’s a brief overview.

Key websites
Heavens Above www.heavens-above.com - star, planet and satellite information
Space Weather www.spaceweather.com - what’s happening in the night sky
Stellarium www.stellarium.org - planetarium

Best Magazines
Astronomy Now (UK) www.astronomynow.com
BBC Sky at Night www.skyatnightmagazine.com

Good Kit
Binoculars - Most people start off with a pair of binoculars normally 10 X 50, these can be hand held. A pair of Celestron 15 X 70 bins is better for astronomy, they need to be fixed to a good tripod and are excellent for looking at star clusters.
Telescopes - Should at least be 75mm if refractors or 150mm if reflectors, buy from a recognised astronomy shop.
Green Lasers - A pen like pointer that produces a green beam of light that you can use to point out features in the night sky. Get from: Telescope House www.telescopehouse.com
Clestron Sky Scouts - A global positioning hand held device that enables you to locate, see and hear stars and planets. Get from: SCS Astro www.scsastro.co.uk for information see www.celestron.com/skyscout/index.php
Planespheres - Sky charts so you can locate stars and planets. These are available from any good bookshop.

Geology
Brian then talked in brief about the geology of the Moon and Mars and gave us the chance to understand and handle real meteorites.

He explained about the seas of the moon. The seas of the moon were so named because people saw them like dark running rivers across the surface. He showed us a piece of Basalt and explained the seas on the moon are basalt basins, otherwise known as maria or seas. He then showed us some granite from Cornwall and explained that the rest of the moon rock was not unlike our very own granite.

Brian then produced some red rusty rock – and explained this was not unlike the rock found on the surface of Mars - its redness coming from hematite, an iron oxide. About 26 Martian rocks have been found on Earth. He then explained terrestrial hematite can be connected to aqueous environments hence perhaps is part of the answer to the question “is there life on Mars?”

Questions
Key to the night was the fact that the audience could then ask Brian questions about any aspect of astronomy. This gave people time to build on their knowledge and questions continued into the night. Here are three key questions out of the many asked -

Is Pluto a planet? When Pluto was first discovered in 1930 it was the only object beyond the orbit of Neptune hence it was natural to call it a planet. Recently many more objects have been found in the far parts of the solar system. School children and other beginners were going to have to learn about a lot of new planets or about separate groups of planets, hence it was decided to call Pluto a Dwarf Planet.

Why have we never seen the back of the Moon? The Moon turns on its axis in the same length of time as it orbits the Earth (28 days) hence we only see the same part of the Moon from here on Earth.

Why is Arthur, at Goonhilly not used by Jodrell Bank Observatory? Arthur would make a useful addition to the Jodrell Bank Observatory, however it requires a lot of upkeep beyond the resources of Jodrell Bank, especially in these days of financial constraints.

What exactly is a Meteor Shower? When a comet passes close to the Sun the ice holding it together evaporates releasing a lot of dust. Years later, in some cases the Earth’s orbit passes through the dust cloud and the atmosphere causes the comet dust to burn up and results in a meteor shower.

Lunar Eclipse and birthday stars
Before we went outside we asked if we could see the night sky on Stellarium again – as we were about to see it for real. Emily aged four was due to turn five at midnight (15th August) and so she saw the stars fly past, as they would be on her birthday. Annabel, who was to turn seven on Saturday 16th August, learnt what would happen on her birthday - a Lunar Eclipse! See their enchanting drawings, and Ella’s (Emily’s sister), here, on our theirwork Flickr site.

Shooting Stars and the outside
We drank tea and ate cake whilst watching shooting stars from the Perseid shower and whilst gazing at the Moon and Jupiter. The North Star was visible, and although the sky could have been clearer, we were still star struck and more firmly orientated on our Earth. I think the time outside, more than any other feedback, has been best captured by Emily’s wonderful image below.

PS Warnings
Don’t look at the Sun with the naked eye because you could badly damage your sight. Use Green Lasers wisely. Please don’t point them at people’s eyes, or at airplanes that are low in the night sky because they can cause damage to eyesight even at a long distance.