Week 7: Organising a stargaze

Objectives

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to

• name some of the hazards involved with running an observing session
• suggest ways of working around the hazards
• devise a checklist to help others run a family stargazing session

Web Links

Planning a stargazing party

Good advice from Disney. Yes it is about the stars above not below!

Star parties

Some people even go camping to look at the night sky from a rural area. Best places in England are North Wales and East Anglia. I personally prefer the North of Scotland, but you do get cloudy weather up there rather more often than down here.

Cautionary tale

Not stargazing but keep counting them! In the dark - how are you going to do headcounts?

Longer trips

If you are organising a school trip away for some weeks, there is a whole range of things to take into consideration. This is definitely left to the professionals!

Activity

When you have looked at some of the Web sites, you should discuss the kinds of activity you think you could organise around the west Midlands area. Then brainstorm some of the risks that could occur on a short trip somwhere dark in Birmingham. Sutton Park is often used for public stargazing sessions organised by the Birmingham Astronomical Society and the Sutton park rangers.

After thrashing out the issues, you will then want to use the activity 5 pro forma to list some of the hazards, ways of preventing them and responses to the hazard situation should it arise.

Keith Burnett
Last modified: 10th June 02