National Astronomy Week

On Thursday 6^th March BRGS played host to the Mobile Stars Planetarium in order to help recognise National Astronomy Week 2014.

Students and staff were all slightly bemused that morning to find that a large, grey, inflatable dome had invaded the school hall.  However the Physics department soon reassured them that this was not an invasion of from outer space but was in fact a planetarium to teach them about outer space.  Year 7 were absolutely delighted to find out that they would be visiting the planetarium throughout the day as part of their science lessons on the topic of Earth and Space.

“I really enjoyed the planetarium coming and the star projections were really good.  It was quite hard to find the constellations when the lines were turned off and lots of the stars were visible, but I suppose that’s my fault for not researching the constellations!  I learnt quite a lot about how to find the constellations, and some information on the planets.  I am really happy that I got to experience it.”  Jess Lockheed 7B.

Members of Miss Morris’s Astronomy Club were also treated to a special lunchtime show where they got to show off some of their understanding about the constellations and finding North at night without a compass.

“We were invited to join Miss Morris on a journey into the unknown.  After crawling through an imposing dark tunnel we emerged into a mysterious dome, later to be filled with the wonders of our galaxy.  Over a period of half an hour, teacher Garry Mayes took us on a guided tour around the sky, visiting many well-known sites such as Orion, Cassiopeia and even the closest spiral galaxy to our own, Andromeda.  It was a truly fantastic experience, even if it left us feeling rather small and insignificant afterwards.”  Tara and Astronomy Club

Year 11 and Year 13 Physicists also got the chance to visit the mobile planetarium after school and were treated to shows about the life cycles of stars and the constellations.  All agreed that it was an ‘out of this world’ experience.