Something to do on a wet afternoon - Southend Planetarium, plus others

[JOC]

So I guess in common with many other families who may have planned a day outdoors yesterday for Mother's Day the weather interceded (when in the UK doesn't it?) and we were left trying to fudge a more clement experience in place of the planned outdoor walk.  Googling for indoor activities locally we chanced upon a Planetarium in Southend-on-sea of all places that I had no idea existed.  The website said they did a 2pm showing of 'Introduction to the night sky' for 1 hour.  Well, never having been inside a planetarium, and currently having a knackered hand (karate injury!) and unable to do anything right-handed like bowling, son called up the planetarium and found that they had at least 2 seats free and we could join the group at quite reasonable cost - £6.80 per adult.  So along we went.  A small, but perfectly formed dome with a circle of 18 seats apparently built in 1984 with one of only a handful of star domes at it's centre and an illuminated moon model to approx. the correct scale alongside.  We had a brief slide-show on the earth, sun, moon and the solar system and then they lowered the lights and all the stars were projected onto the curved roof (and no clouds!!) and the presenter showed us the current night sky some of the constellations and demonstrated by the spinning the array how the pole star stays still as everything moves - obviously I knew it did, but spinning the constellations around it was quite emphatic proof  - I'm still not entirely sure  why that particular star is the only one not to move - it must be down to where it sits in the sky, but to see it sitting still like that was very reinforcing of the fact that it does and of what I knew - Edit found out why https://byjus.com/question-answer/why-doesnt-the-north-star-appear-to-move-like-the-other-stars/ it must be purely by chance that one star is aligned with Earth's axis, but the explanation diagram on that page plays right into the spinning start field explanation.  Obviously a lot of what they showed wasn't new to me, but it was a novel experience and well worth the trip out, esp. if you have done a planetarium before.  It is also worth commenting on how much the kids there knew about space - it is obviously being well covered at primary school which is good to see.   When the Planetarium also shares its site with a small interesting and rather smartly laid out museum of artifacts through the ages including a whole section dedicated to the remains of a burial of what is thought to be an Anglo-Saxon prince that was discovered as a road was being built and which we knew nothing about before visiting.  

Additionally it is literally next door to quite a large free art gallery - I don't often do art galleries, but we then had a nice mooch around there discussing the various merits of the pictures with each other.  Also, if you are interested in the basement area of the gallery is a large exhibition dedicated to Jazz music - not our scene so we didn't bother, but looking down at it there seemed quite a comprehensive compilation of Jazz memorabilia and various headphones.

I was most impressed with both venues and here are their websites if you fancy a wet afternoon out somewhere dry in Essex at any point.  https://www.southendmuseums.co.uk/   https://www.southendmuseums.co.uk/beecroft    https://www.southendmuseums.co.uk/planetarium

FWIW we also did the Maldon military museum some years ago and that is also unexpectedly decent https://cmsm.co.uk/?gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIkq2Q1avshAMV4Q8GAB1qAwKuEAAYASAAEgLr1vD_BwE

I thought I'd post in Astro lounge because of the planetarium which is what we really went for.  I hope the above review is of interest.

Edited March 11 by JOC

[JeremyS]

Sounds like a good day out, JoC. Not visited the planetarium, but it was built by Harry Ford, previously of the Mills Obsy, Dundee.

I would have given the jazz museum a wide berth. 😊

[NGC 1502]

Excellent review of Southend Planetarium, just 15 minutes walk from where I live. When you first enter the planetarium it seems disappointingly small. But when the lights go down and the stars “come out” all that changes and it seems so much larger.

The current chair of Castle Point Astronomy club once worked there, as did several other members. It’s well worth a visit and it’s only 5 minutes walk from the Odeon multi screen cinema and the High Street. And about 20 minutes walk from Southend’s most famous landmark, the longest pleasure pier in the world. The pier has Adventure Island at the shore end.

And no, I’m not getting paid for promoting where I live 😊

Ed.

 

[LondonNeil]

I recently took the family (kids are 8, 6 and 3.5) to the national space centre.. its well worth a trip if you're close enough to Leicester.  Book online as they get bcu busy,  plus online bodybuilding l bookings get a free upgrade to an annual pass. We enjoyed it so much we have booked to go back at Easter.   They also have a planetarium and the kids were fascinated by our trip around the solar system!

 

If you've young kids you'll know who Maddie Moate is.  CBeebies 'Maddie space and me' was recorded there.