Observatories open to the public in London?

Hi, I'm in london,england and have always wanted to see the stars
through a powerful telescope. I don't own one,and so went to the
Greenwich website,and the trouble is all their observing nights are
booked up in advance. does anyone know of any other observatories
offering viewing nights? Thanks.

wrote in message
...
Hi, I'm in london,england and have always wanted to see the stars
through a powerful telescope. I don't own one,and so went to the
Greenwich website,and the trouble is all their observing nights are
booked up in advance. does anyone know of any other observatories
offering viewing nights? Thanks.

Britain doesn't have as many public observatories as some places, but I'm
sure you'd be welcome at any of London's Astronomical Societies

I can't get any details about the Hampstead Garden Suburb AS, and the West
of London AS seems to do discussion evenings at a members house rather than
specific observation evenings.

Croydon AS, on the other hand has a members' observatory open on Fridays and
Saturdays (between September and May)
http://www.croydonastro.org.uk/educat.htm#Public_Visits
It may also be worth contacting them to see if they are aware of any
Sidewalk Astronomy events in the area.

And of course, the University of London Observatory has regular public
tours, but I'm not sure what equipment is available for public observing.

On 9 Mar, 20:28, "OG" wrote:
wrote in message

...

Hi, I'm in london,england and have always wanted to see the stars
through a powerful telescope. I don't own one,and so went to the
Greenwich website,and the trouble is all their observing nights are
booked up in advance. does anyone know of any other observatories
offering viewing nights? Thanks.

Britain doesn't have as many public observatories as some places, but I'm
sure you'd be welcome at any of London's Astronomical Societies

I can't get any details about the Hampstead Garden Suburb AS, and the West
of London AS seems to do discussion evenings at a *members house rather than
specific observation evenings.

Croydon AS, on the other hand has a members' observatory open on Fridays and
Saturdays (between September and May)http://www.croydonastro.org.uk/educat.htm#Public_Visits
It may also be worth contacting them to see if they are aware of any
Sidewalk Astronomy events in the area.

And of course, the University of London Observatory has regular public
tours, but I'm not sure what equipment is available for public observing.

Thanks so much for your help. I think I'll ask the Croydon group if
they have any meetings where members of the public can view the sky
through a telescope. Bye.

wrote:
Hi, I'm in london,england and have always wanted to see the stars
through a powerful telescope. I don't own one,and so went to the
Greenwich website,and the trouble is all their observing nights are
booked up in advance. does anyone know of any other observatories
offering viewing nights? Thanks.

Your best bet is to look in the societies section at the back of
Astronomy Now magazine. The more active societies usually have a public
observing session around once a month. It tends to guarantee clouds.

I don't know much about the ones in London and so you might need to go
some way out of the city to get dark skies.

http://fedastro.org.uk/fas/index.php...apper&Itemid=8

Has alist of some of the more active societies (ie members of FAS).

Regards,
Martin Brown

"OG" wrote in message
...

wrote in message
...
Hi, I'm in london,england and have always wanted to see the stars
through a powerful telescope. I don't own one,and so went to the
Greenwich website,and the trouble is all their observing nights are
booked up in advance. does anyone know of any other observatories
offering viewing nights? Thanks.

Britain doesn't have as many public observatories as some places, but I'm
sure you'd be welcome at any of London's Astronomical Societies

I can't get any details about the Hampstead Garden Suburb AS, and the West
of London AS seems to do discussion evenings at a members house rather
than specific observation evenings.

Croydon AS, on the other hand has a members' observatory open on Fridays
and Saturdays (between September and May)
http://www.croydonastro.org.uk/educat.htm#Public_Visits
It may also be worth contacting them to see if they are aware of any
Sidewalk Astronomy events in the area.

And of course, the University of London Observatory has regular public
tours, but I'm not sure what equipment is available for public observing.

ULO has bookable tours (mainly on alternate Friday nights, but numbers have
to be limited) and if it is clear the Fry refractor is used for public
observing. This is an 8-inch achromatic Cooke instrument dating from 1862
which gives excellent views.

The Celestron 14-inch is not used for public observing because it is set up
for wide field CCD imaging and for the exoplanet transit observing
programme, and the Radcliffe 18-inch visual refractor is difficult to
operate safely and quickly for large crowds of visitors (works fine for
small student projects, though--it's a logistics problem involving the use
of the rising floor).

Call 020 8959 0421 for booking information.

There will be an open evening (no booking required) on Friday 3 April
starting at 6.30, as part of International Year of Astronomy. Can't
guarantee the weather...

In late September, ULO has one day for the London Open House and if it is
clear there will be solar H-alpha telescopes set up.

--
Mike Dworetsky

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