Keele University Observatory - Open Evenings

If you're looking for something different to do on a Tuesday evening, can I suggest Keele University's Observatory?  It's open to the public every Tuesday evening, from 8pm - 10pm, and is a genuinely unique experience.  It's not fast-paced, it's not high-energy, it's not for everybody, but if you're looking for a complete change of pace, and a chance to see the night sky in a new way, you're going to enjoy this.

Keele Observatory is part of the university's astrophysics department, and it consists of two telescopes (the second was brought back into use in March 2022), two domes, various classrooms and teaching aids, and - as with the biology and invertebrate days at Staffs Uni - a team of experts.  The experts are a combination of teaching staff and students at the department, who will set up the larger of the two telescopes, and point it at various night-sky objects.  At the moment, there are no planets visible in the night sky (they're hiding near or behind the Sun), but there are still many objects and interesting stars to look at.  

The main telescope, aiming for the Orion Nebula

We've been twice since the post-Covid re-opening, and have seen the Pleiades; M35, M54, the Orion Nebula, and the star Castor.  Castor is found in the constellation of Gemini, and it's relatively easy to find at this time of year (look straight up and slightly to the south).  Stars aren't exactly interesting by themselves; they still look like dots through a telescope because they're so far away.  However, Castor is a double-star - i.e. two stars close together and orbiting each other (it's actually a total of six stars - three pairs, but the other four are fainter).  Using the telescope it's possible to see the two component stars, and it makes for a fascinating view.  The team do a great job of showing a different variety of objects each week, so there's something new to see each time you go.

The experts are on hand to answer all your questions, and I'd like to call out the Keele University Director, Jacco von Loon, who does a great job in not only setting up the telescope, but commenting on what we're looking at, explaining its relevance and importance and then answering questions about it (and about anything else in space).  

The second telescope, recently brought back into use, is controlled by motors and can be programmed using a computer below the observatory (mind your head) from a warm control room.  It's only just come back online, and when we visited it, the team were taking some test shots; in this case, of the Orion Nebula.

The 'new' motorised telescope.  It's pointing up and to the right; the block near the camera is a counterbalance weight.

The image (right screen) of the Orion Nebula.   The bright smudge is the nebula; the central bright area are the stars within it.

There are activities to do and the team give short presentations for times when the weather is poor and the sky is cloudy, but this is definitely something that's best in good weather.  And clear skies at night mean it's going to be cold, so dress up in warm clothing - the dome roof is open to the elements and it can be freezing standing waiting for your turn to look through the telescope!  It's well worth it, though, so keep an eye on the weather forecast, and on a clear Tuesday evening, head to Keele for a truly out-of-this-world experience.

There are various learning resources around the observatory teaching room, including smaller telescopes; posters and models.

Staffordshire Invertebrate Science Fair 2022 Review

I've mentioned before that the Staffs Invertebrate Science Fair is an unmissable event in our house.  But in March 2022, the bug people reunited in a post-COVID world - how would it all go?  Could it still be as good as it was in 2019 or early 2020?

And the answer is that it was even better.  Maybe it's the maturity of my children; maybe they understand more about what they're seeing (maybe they're more likely to look into petri dishes at the creatures inside, instead of trying to set them free) but March 2022 was a good time to be a bug enthusiast.

I have previously mentioned that the experts are key to the success of the event, and this year they returned with even more enthusiasm and even more facts.  Even the scientists who are perhaps less accustomed to working with the general public were talkative, chatty and happy to share their knowledge, while working double-time to make sure that they were making things easy to understand.  No, a six-year-old may not know the difference between a flea, a fly or a genuine bug, but the entomologist who was running the stand on insects was more than happy to help to explain in words that we could all understand.

The butterfly expert, John, was a real gent, drawing butterfly outlines from stencils and then sharing them out for young enthusiasts to colour in with their own designs.  He was tireless, enthusiastic, energetic and engaging, which is just what young bug fans want from their grown-ups. 

Similarly, the Staffs Wildlife stand was manned by an expert in centipedes and spiders, and had plastic child-friendly microscopes with creepy-crawly specimens lined up.  These critters look weird enough at actual size, but when viewed through any kind of magnification they look alien, and very scary (and very exciting for young and older viewers alike).  Great stuff!

One thing that really makes these events, though, is the freebies :-)  Apart from our own collection of photos, drawings and pictures, we were the grateful recipients of assorted stationery courtesy of the Harper Adams stand (rulers, pens, wristbands, and so on), and spider leaflets from the British Arachnologists Society's stand.  We may not exactly like spiders, but seeing close-up pictures of eight legs and multiple eyes was fascinating (from a safe distance) and we ended up fielding all sorts of questions from our youngest - what's this called, why is it called that, and so on. 

Being held in Staffs University's Science Building meant that there were local amenities on hand - toilets, a snack bar and plenty of space to sit down and take a break - which is a big winner too.  The fair was well-attended but not at all overcrowded (we're not quite over the pandemic yet) and is a very bright and airy location.  My big hope for 2022 events is that we'll get the Big Biology Day in the autumn - the other half of Staffs Uni's science events for the year... then we really will be back to normal.

We had a great time (in case you hadn't guessed) and we are very grateful to all the experts who gave their time, patience, energy, leaflets, quiz sheets and freebies and who once again made this a great day.

Staffordshire Invertebrate Science Fair (SISF) 2022 - preview

Just over two years ago (remember those times?), I published a preview of the Staffs Invertebrate Science Fair, in March 2020.  I had fully intended to post a review of the event, as I often do, but things went slightly awry shortly after, and I never took the time to write it (in fact, I didn't have the time, as we were all rapidly introduced to homeschooling).

Anyway, now is the time to fix that miss, because this year's Bug Day is at Staffordshire University's Science Centre (although it might be at the new Catalyst Building, which I assume is nearby) and it's on Saturday, 5 March from 10:30 - 4:00.  Did I mention that it's free admission?  This is the event that keeps on giving.

I've said it before, but it bears repeating:  the Staffs Invertebrate Science Fair (aka 'Bug Day' in our house) is one of the highlights of the events diary each year.  There's the Big Biology Day which typically falls in October, also hosted at Staffordshire University, and Bug Day which falls in April - six months apart, to keep all your budding scientists engaged at the start and end of the year.  

We visited the most recent one in March 2020, and even though there was some general apprehension about COVID (we didn't even really know what it was at that time) there was a great turnout of staff and visitors.  At the time, our children were three, eight and ten, and they all had a great time:

The two things that consistently stand out about the Bug Day are the experts and the number of hands-on activities.  This is not a walk around a series of glass cases, peering inside dank, mouldy, dimly-lit tanks looking for a glimpse of some heavily-camouflaged creepy-crawly.  Oh no, on the contrary: providing it's safe for the bugs, and for the little hands, there is a multitude of opportunities to touch, stroke, hold, and get up close and personal with all sorts of insects and other creatures.  If necessary, you can look at them down a microscope, or see a TV screen hooked up to a camera-microscope, and see the hairs on a bee's knees. Yes, it really is the bee's knees.

The hands-on activities are particularly well thought-out.  Apart from interacting with the real, live invertebrates, there are opportunities to participate in craft sessions - draw, colour, cut, stick, make, decorate and produce your own wonderful butterflies, ladybirds and so on.  If your little ones are a little shy about getting too close to the bugs (and this is understandable, some bugs are easily five or six inches long and tend more towards creepy than crawly), then you can take time out and do some cutting and sticking.

And the second most amazing thing about Bug Day is the experts.  I'm always surprised - and I should have learned by now - that when you get people talking about something they're interested in, they will keep talking and talking about it.  People - and Bug People in particular - love sharing their knowledge about bugs that spread disease, bugs that eat crops, bugs that have eluded quarantine and eaten crops in other countries... These experts know how to make their subject appealing to a younger audience too, with gory details where appropriate, or how to scale it back for a very young audience and keep it simple.  

The experts come from a wide range of disciplines and some are from industry rather than education - they all get together and participate, they all talk fluent science and they're all very engaging.  Everybody has a slightly different angle - is it worms, is it bees, is it other larger creepy crawlies?  Is it ecological?  Habitats?  Microscopic?  There's far more to see and do here than you'd think from 'invertebrates'.  Everybody is delighted to talk about their particular niche, and absolutely nobody said, "You can't touch that," and when you're five or six years old, that's very important.

The favourite activities amongst our little people were looking at the leaf litter (finding insects in the dirt... I mean, show me a three-year-old who isn't up for that?) and investigating pond life with the oversized pipettes.  The experts are on hand to help you identify the creatures you discover, while the parents are standing close by to make sure that the pipettes, water and creatures stay where they're supposed to!  It is genuinely fascinating to look at the small water-borne insects, and my photographs do not do them justice - you have to see them for yourself. 

For older children and adults, there are informative lectures and presentations - these vary each year, but cover a wide range of topics.  I must confess that these were a little advanced for our children, and while we started listening, we soon realised that we were better placed among the more interactive activities (we left quietly and the lecturer was not at all offended).  This does show the range of activities that are available at the Bug Day, and how it very carefully and thoughtfully caters to all ages, abilities and interests (you don't even have to be a biologist to find the view down a microscope interesting).

There isn't much more to say:  Bug Day is excellent; suitable for all age ranges and interests, and is highly, highly recommended.