Once again, Bannau Brycheiniog National Park Authority have teamed up with the Cardiff Astronomical Society to host an outdoor star gazing event at the National Park Visitor Centre on Saturday 3rd March from 7.00pm until 9.30pm – although avid astronomers will be welcome to stay as long as they like.
If the cold skies are clear, shooting stars, nebulae, galaxies, clusters, and even a few planets will be at your fingertips – offering star gazers a wonderful opportunity to view the night sky, see great views from telescopes and learn about star gazing equipment and astronomy. If the weather does turn cloudy, don’t worry the event will run whatever the weather and there will be interesting phenomena lectures indoors to keep everyone entertained!
At 1100ft above sea level, the National Park Visitor Centre is fast becoming the perfect location to host star gazing events, with the ideal combination of being easy to travel to and away from the intrusive glare of light pollution. Richard Levy, National Park Visitor Centre Manager said: “While the winter nights are still long it’s the perfect time to celebrate the start of a new star gazing year with an outdoor event like this. With experts on hand from the Cardiff Astronomical Society, visitors can learn more about the mysteries of the night skies, interesting phenomena, astronomy and what to look out for. At previous events visitors have seen Mars, Jupiter, the International Space Station whizzing overhead at the beginning and even Saturn and its rings. We are planning to host further star gazing events throughout 2012 because of overwhelming demand to discover more about our dark skies.”
The event will be held outside so please bring warm clothing and if you do bring a torch, please cover it with a red filter (a simple skimmed milk red lid works very well apparently!) The event costs £6.00 for adults and £4.00 for children and the price includes soup and a roll to keep tummies warm and free parking. Booking is required but if you’d like further information please contact the National Park Visitor Centre on 01874 623 366 or email visitor.centre@breconbeacons.org
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