Cloudy skies meant that Buriton's innovative star-gazing party had to stay indoors. But experts from Hants Astro turned St Mary's church into a mini-planetarium for the evening and engaged the audience with images projected onto the walls and ceiling - and, with the help of local children, demonstrated the expanse of the solar system by using fruit!
Over 70 people turned out on a chilly November evening and learnt a lot about our night skies and the solar system from David Woods and colleagues from the Hants Astro Group. There were opportunities to learn about some of the large mobile telescopes owned by members of the group, too.
The experts explained what a fantastic place Buriton can be - after dark.
'You are really lucky to have such dark skies in the evenings' explained Mr Woods. 'Many places are now spoilt by bright lights which mean that residents can only see a small fraction of all the stars that are out there. We would love to come back here on another occasion and show you what can be seen by the naked eye and with binoculars as well as with powerful telescopes' he added.
More details about the Hants Astro group can be found via www.hantsastro.org
