Keighley Astronomy Society goes back to college

Posted by admin on Dec 15, 2016 in Main |

On Wednesday 14th December 2016, 12 students completed the societies ever popular five week ‘Introduction to Astronomy course’, The course was based at Skipton’s Craven Collage. The students learnt much about the amazing night sky.

Week one was a general introduction to help the students to get started and make sense of the history of human discovery in this field if science.

Week two, covered a study of the interactions of the Earth with the sun and our nearest neighbour the Moon. A full understanding of the phases of the Moon was gained, and eclipses of both the Moon and the Sun

Week three was a study of the Solar system. Not just the planet. But their moons, but other phenomena, such as Comets, meteor showers. The theories about the formation of our planetary system. The students left the classroom to construct a scale model the planets orbiting our Sun.

Week four, covered the formation and structure of stars. How and why the stars in the sky are grouped into patterns called constellations. Which are used to map the night sky. The students learnt to identify the major constellations and how to star hop across the sky using planispheres they had made themselves.

The final week was a move out into the realm of Galaxies and the wider universe, which also included a peak into the origins of the universe and a peak into the study of Cosmology.

Each student was awarded a certificate in recognition of there hard work and study.

When asked, what they thought of the course now it was completed;

Rosie Johnson said, “ Paul has been a fantastic tutor. He was able to teach a complicated subject to novices”.

“Fantastic. So informative, I loved it”. Replied Gillian Robertson.

Louis Gillet commented, “ The questions were always listened expertly answered. The lesions were well thought out”.