This page was last amended on 31st July, 2007

International Year of Astronomy Open Day: A great success!

The IYA Open Day, organised jointly by the Society and King Charles I School and Specialist Science College on Saturday 11th July, was a great success.  We lost count of the number of members of the public that spent some time with us, but it certainly ran into hundreds, and all of those we spoke to enjoyed themselves very much.

This portable planetarium, erected for the day in the School Hall, was one of the favourite attractions (Photos: Martin Humphries).

Chris Livingstone (right) brought along a selection of astronomical telescopes and binoculars to buy or just drool over!

These pupils of the School had some of the School's radio-controlled model Mars Rovers on display, much to the amusement of our younger visitors.

Craig Stevens brought along some of his Lego sculptures (in this case the Tantive IV) that "Star Wars" fans certainly enjoyed. He also gave a talk on "The Art of Ralph McQuarrie" later in the day.

Kidderminster's TJ Models Ltd. brought along this fantastic selection of space and science-fiction models. 

We had an all-day selection of talks  and lectures  aimed at members of the public as well as keen amateur astronomers - here's Jerry Stone talking about "How we reached the Moon" ...

... and here Chris Hawthorne (left) and Dean Chester showed some of the work done through the School's use of a telescope in Hawaii operated over the Internet.

Jerry Stone also ran a series of 30-minute, well-attended activity workshops for young people ... and for the Carolian Astronomy Society the icing on the cake was the recruitment of 16 new members!

And finally, Open Day came early to King Charles I School on Tuesday 7th July!  We had hoped to get this Starchaser rocket on Saturday 11th,  but it was already booked.  So the School got it along for its pupils to enjoy instead.  Lucky pupils! (Photo: Martin Humphries)