Outreach visit to Summerhill Acedemy

The Society had a very successful and enjoyable outreach session with the Summerhill Academy, St George, Bristol on Wednesday 5th February.

The session was led by our Outreach Coordinator, Allan McCarthy, supported by David Bennett and Stephen Price. We visited the school last year and so this was the second outreach session for the Society at Summerhill Academy.

Allan gave a talk to the students and parents on how to observe the night sky and recognise the major constellations. Outside under clear skies in the school’s playground, David operated the Society’s SeeStar S50 smart telescope and Stephen operated a Celestron Evolution C8 telescope (see photos).

We had a very good interactive session with the students, teachers and parents (about 60 in total) discussing key facts of the solar system and the targets visible on the night – Venus, Mars, Jupiter and the Moon. The children (age range 6 – 10) had been learning about the solar system in their classes and it was great to see that they had a lot of enthusiasm and knowledge, even knowing about the 10-hour rotational period of Jupiter!

The children then observed the planets and the Moon through both telescopes and were able to compare visual observing through an eyepiece with the digital images shown on the S50 tablet screen. The observations were very well received by both children and parents with the opportunity to answer many of their questions about the planets and the solar system. It was a thoroughly enjoyable outreach session and the school were very appreciative of the visit by the BAS.