Stars and stripes

Despite frozen toes, feedback from our ‘Date with the Stars’ event on Saturday evening has been glowing. I know it left me on a stargazing high for the rest of the weekend and I reckon many of those who came would agree.

Arranged to coincide with BBC Stargazing LIVE, this was first event of its type that we’ve run on the reserve. It’s certainly not going to be the last.

Amateur astronomer and Middleton Lakes volunteer Bob brought the night sky to life for us.  Tales of the winter constellations, a stroll though the solar system itself – to a scale that would fit in the Play Meadow – and finally hot chocolate, marshmallows, and wonderful views of Jupiter and its moons through the telescope.  I’ve never before watched a planet hanging in space with my own eyes...being able to see the stripes on it was just incredible.

Thanks to Bob’s expertise, a quick lesson on planispheres and some helpful hand-outs, we hope everyone who came will be able to carrying on enjoying the night sky at home every time they look up.

So when’s the next one, I hear you ask. Well, the two sessions on Saturday booked up in about three seconds flat, before the BBC programmes even aired, and the office spent quite a bit of last week fielding emails and phone calls requesting places.  Bob and I will shortly be confirming some more dates over the coming weeks to get through the waiting list of 74 (!) but then we’ll be taking new bookings as soon as we can. Just keep an eye on the website, or follow us on Facebook or Twitter, to find out when.