At Sherwood Observatory, many of our events and outreach activities are made possible by the people who volunteer and give their time, enthusiasm and expertise to share astronomy with others.
In this edition of The People Behind Sherwood Observatory, we meet Karen, who looks after our Events and Visitor Support.
Karen is passionate about helping people experience astronomy for themselves, whether that’s welcoming visitors to the observatory, supporting or leading events or taking astronomy out into the community.
Below, Karen shares her experience of one day of outreach at English Heritage’s MindFest at Bolsover Castle, where she and fellow member/volunteers of Mansfield Sutton Astronomical Society helped more than a thousand visitors safely observe the Sun.
On Saturday 1st August, three other members of Mansfield & Sutton Astro Society and I attended English Heritage’s MindFest event at Bolsover Castle, which celebrated the life and ideas of Margaret Cavendish.
The day started with me getting lost trying to find the entrance, which will come as no surprise to anyone who knows me. That aside, I was soon parked up and got my kit loaded into a trolley and made my way to our designated spot on a lawn outside the castle.
The others were already there so they helped me to quickly set up my
solar telescope before the public started arriving.
Between us, we had three solar telescopes to enable members of the public to look at the Sun safely. Two were dedicated hydrogen-alpha telescopes, which allowed people to see several small prominences which appeared at different areas around the Sun throughout the day. The other was a regular night-time telescope, fitted with a special white light filter, which allowed visitors to look at Sun spots on the surface of the Sun. There was a really good cluster of these, right in the middle of
the solar disc.
There were 1319 visitors at the event, and we were able to provide many of them with a look at the Sun through the telescopes. This was despite having to play ‘dodge the clouds’ throughout the day.
After weeks of there not being a cloud in the sky the day was quite cloudy, because of course it was when there was a solar event happening! However, the cloud breaks did allow us time to have a quick sit-down and enjoy a coffee or two, so they definitely had a silver lining.
The best part of doing any kind of astronomy outreach is the reactions from people when they look through telescopes. Most of the people who came and looked through the telescope said it was the first time they had ever had the opportunity to do so and we were rewarded with a succession of ‘Wows’ throughout the day, from adults and children alike.
With a deep solar eclipse due to happen a week or so after this event, we took plenty of solar glasses with us so the visitors could buy some to ensure safe viewing of that event and these were unsurprisingly extremely popular and it was great to be able to take the opportunity to explain the importance of safe solar viewing and give suggestions about using things like slotted spoons, colanders and pin-holes in card to project images of the eclipse for smaller children to see.
Volunteer outreach is a common occurrence at Sherwood Observatory. From setting up equipment and supporting visitors to experience the excitement of seeing the Sun through a telescope for the first time, to showing people the beauty of the night sky at our open evening’s ( which will return this October), it really is all about creating opportunities for people to discover astronomy.
It is the enthusiasm, time and commitment of our volunteers and staff that allows us bring astronomy beyond the observatory and into the wider community.
Contributed by Karen, Events & Visitor Support Officer