Stars in their eyes

On Thursday 3rd December I had the opportunity to join 10th Mansfield Cubs and Scouts as they swapped their usual Church Hall meeting place for the Sherwood Observatory at Sutton-in-Ashfield.  It was a cold night but at least there were some breaks in the clouds of the night sky, so hopefully there would be the opportunity to view the night sky through the telescope.

After receiving a warm welcome, we watched and listened to a very interesting presentation about the night sky.  Throughout the evening, small groups of us went upstairs to the Observatory telescope where we had the opportunity to view Jupiter and The Moon.

Sherwood Observatory is an amateur astronomical observatory in Nottinghamshire, owned and operated by Mansfield and Sutton Astronomical Society. The main dome is 6.5m in diameter and houses a 0.61 m Newtonian Reflecting telescope. There is a club meeting room that hosts society meetings and lectures and also serves as a lecture theatre for the public on open evenings. The complex has workshop, kitchen, office, storage and toilet facilities and is claimed to be one of the best amateur astronomical facilities in the United Kingdom.

Visiting groups can be accommodated during the evening at the Observatory from 7:30pm on selected dates throughout the winter months, subject to the availability of sufficient society members. Groups must be adequately supervised at all time, and must book at least 8 weeks in advance of the preferred date.   Due to a continuing commitment, visiting groups cannot be accepted on Friday evenings if there is an evening class running. Nor can visits be accommodated on the Second or Last Tuesday of any month, due to the society’s committee and lecture meetings.

To enquire about a visit to Sherwood Observatory, go to http://www.sherwood-observatory.org.uk click on “Observatory” and then on “Visitors” and complete the “Contact Us” form by clicking on “contacts page” in the next to bottom paragraph.    The Observatory will get back to you usually within the week.

If you want to check the Observatory out beforehand, again, go to their website and look to see when the next Public Open evening will be held – there should be one towards the end of January and one towards the end of February.
  
Sherwood Observatory is well worth a visit and the charge imposed for the evening was extremely reasonable.

Thanks to 10th Mansfield for the opportunity to join them on this visit.

Steve Cree
Deputy County Commissioner