William Brookes School Blog

William Brookes students will have stars in their eyes this term as the school has just received a free SPA 1YA2009 telescope from the Society for Popular Astronomy. Over a thousand telescopes have been donated to schools by the Society, and ours was presented to us by Miss A Bailey, the Society’s Publicity Officer - who is also a Cover Supervisor at William Brookes!

The telescope will be used to study the Moon and other celestial wonders. It will make the Moon appear 60 times closer, and under good conditions can reveal galaxies at least 50 million light years away. The telescope will also show the rings of Saturn and the major satellites of the giant planet Jupiter, which will be visible later in the year.
Dr Hearle says “This is a great opportunity to enthuse students in astronomy and show them how observations and measurements are so important in all aspects of Science.”
Miss Bailey added “It was lovely to see the excitement and enthusiasm of the students who will have the opportunity to use the telescope. This made all the work of the last two years, bringing this project to fruition, very worthwhile!”
The project, which is also supported by the Royal Astronomical Society, is part of the International Year of Astronomy held to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the first astronomical use of the telescope in 1609. Thomas Harriot in England and Galileo in Italy both observed the Moon with the newly-invented instrument. Galileo’s discoveries helped to convince people that the Earth was not the centre of the Universe, but orbits the Sun.

Student, Martyn Pridmore commented “I have just one question: how are we supposed to use a telescope during school/club time? Will we have to come to school at night?”
In response, Dr Hearle invites students to talk to him about forthcoming (evening) events at an astronomical society, where the telescope will be used. Thanks for your comment Martyn.

See www.popastro.com and www.astronomy2009.co.uk for more information.