Our most popular engagement is to run stargazing after school or during an evening session of a young peoples’ group such as rainbows, brownies, guides, beavers, cubs, or scouts. We can can also run solargazing/observing the Sun as workshops during the daylight. Why not get in touch?
Easiest to organise between November and March as the clocks have yet to go forward, stargazing can usually commence 60 minutes after sunset or towards the end of nautical twilight. You can use https://www.timeanddate.com/sun/ to check out specific dates.
We bring telescopes along to an agreed location, preferably away from nearby sources of light pollution, and take about 30 minutes to set up before a session. Sessions can last from 30 to 60 minutes. Packing away after takes about 20 minutes.
For schools, we recommend running a carousel of 2 or 3 activities with stargazing being just one. The others can be craft or activity based such as making planispheres or creating and launching paper rockets. Students in 2 or 3 groups then rotate about the carousel spending 30 minutes in each with 5 minutes turnaround.
What about the weather?
Unfortunately if it is cloudy, we cannot stargaze and this can be problematic in terms of planning. There are several strategies to manage the risk of poor weather:
- Reserve multiple evenings and review the weather forecasts 48hrs prior to each, Run on the first night with a favourable forecast.
- Reserve two evenings and review the weather forecast 48hrs before the first. In inclement, run the session on the second date come what may and perhaps using the mobile planetarium as a virtual substitute for stargazing.
- Reserve a single evening and have a wet weather plan which could include using the mobile planetarium.
Stargazing sessions involve an introduction to the night sky and what can be seen with the naked eye before seeing how binoculars and telescopes can be used to collect more light into the eye and magnify the image, We talk about satellites, light pollution, the Moon, stars, planets, clusters, nebulae, and galaxies. Students are supplied with equipment but can also bring their own.
Helping with badges?
We can support the observing and knowledge aspects of badges such as the Beaver’s Space Activity badge, Cub’s and Scout’s Astronomer Activity badge, Brownies Space Interest badge.
Stargazing prices
The cost of the visit is based on duration of the session and round trip distance to the desired location from Bath, BA2.
- £30.00 per 60-minute period from commencement of scheduled session to start of packing up.
- Mileage at £0.45 per mile beyond Bath.