Stargazing Live at the Eden Project

[KJ Dalley]

I've just come back from the Eden Project in Cornwall where they were holding a Stargazing Live event for us down here in the South West and I've got to say what a great evening it was, despite the weather. Cloudy all day and getting worse this evening, the opportunity to do any actual star gazing was non-existent, but there was still plenty to do and see. Managed to talk to a chap about his 12" Dob which looked absolutely massive, there were a couple of refractor scopes with imaging equipment and expensive looking mounts there but I didn't get to ask any questions about their rigs. There were some interesting talks in the Mediterranean Biome which were really good if not a bit surreal. Sitting in a biome, at night, with warm air and birds singing (they've obviously made their homes inside of the domes now!), next to tropical plants listening to recent and up and coming ESA space programs to Mars and Mercury was a new experience for me. There were a variety of presentation / seminar type things for the grown ups and all kinds of things for the kids e.g. Handling real meteorites, instructions on how to build your own refractor scope, model rocket launches etc.

I thoroughly enjoyed myself and would like to think that something like this should be held down here at least once a year. Getting together with like minded individuals is actually quite a pleasant way to spend an evening, especially when the clouds are covering the skyline. Shame it wasn't publicised a bit more as there was plenty of room for lots more people, but a most enjoyable event.

[Black Knight]

Sounds like a great evening