Join in the star party with Stargazing Oxford

17 January 2012

Everyone is invited to visit ‘Stargazing Oxford’, a free public event held at Oxford University on Saturday 21 January (2pm-10pm), and find out more about astronomy.

The event, which ties in with BBC Two’s Stargazing Live (16-18 January 2012), will feature hands-on exhibits, creative activities, quizzes, the chance to observe the night sky through a range of telescopes, and even an inflatable planetarium.

Stargazing Oxford takes place at the Denys Wilkinson Building, Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Keble Road, Oxford OX1 3RH, highlights include:

• Discover ‘astrocrafts’; make your own cardboard telescopes, satellites, and a working spectrograph out of a cereal box to see what light is made of.
• Observe the night sky through a range of telescopes.
• Get hands-on with a collection of meteorites – space rocks that fell to Earth.
• Learn tips for star-gazing at home from amateur astronomy groups and Oxford scientists.
• Take a tour of the sky in an inflatable planetarium.
• Talks exploring topics such as simulating the universe, the shape of galaxies, and the weather on other planets.
• Step into the unknown with ‘darkmatter’, a unique and exhilarating work by installation artist Marion Yorston.
• See the latest images from today’s best telescopes, plus models of tomorrow’s telescopes that, when completed, will be the largest in the world.

There is no need to book in advance for this free event, just drop-in on the day.

More about Stargazing Oxford: http://www2.physics.ox.ac.uk/events/2012/01/21/stargazing-oxford

Updates on the Astro Blog: https://www2.physics.ox.ac.uk/blog/astro-blog

For more information contact the University of Oxford Press Office on 01865 283877 or email press.office@admin.ox.ac.uk