Hosted by the Cardiff Astronomical Society, stargazers were also able to see demonstrations models and telescopes inside the Visitor Centre. They were also treated to a range of talks on the night sky, black holes, the solar system, star gazing equipment and how to become more involved with astronomy.
Richard Levy, National Park Visitor Centre Manager said: “It was a wonderful moment when we spotted Orion’s belt. With our eyes trained on the crescent moon we also got to see Mars, our next door neighbour in the solar system.
“It was a fantastic night for astronomy and just wouldn’t have been possible without the support of the Cardiff Astronomical Society.”
For further information on star gazing in the National Park please contact the National Park Visitor Centre on 01874 623 366 or email visitor.centre@breconbeacons.org
-ENDS-
Picture credits: Allan Trow, University of Glamorgan
Pictures taken at previous star gazing events
Notes for Editors
Bannau Brycheiniog National Park has some of the darkest skies in the UK right, so the clear dark skies we are experiencing at the moment makes this the perfect time for people to learn more about the mysteries of our night skies and astronomy.
The National Park Visitor Centre is fast becoming the perfect location to host star gazing events, with the ideal combination of being easy to get to, but still secluded away from light pollution. At previous events we’ve seen Mars, Jupiter, the International Space Station whizzing overhead at the beginning and even Saturn and its rings. We are also planning to hold further star gazing events later during the year because of overwhelming demand to discover more about our dark skies.