The programme of activities for our open day on 15th October, as part of the Sidmouth Science Festival, is now available.
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Restored Orrery featured in Sidmouth Herald
The official launching of our restored 19th Century Orrery was featured in the Sidmouth Herald. The launch was conducted by Allan Chapman FRAS with some of the volunteers who worked hard on the restoration.
Family Day 2017 Programme
British Science Week: Family Day at the NLO
Saturday 18th March 11:00am-5.00pm. Theme: “Our Changing Universe”
Talks in the Lecture Theatre:
11:30h – 12:00h “Changes in our Understanding” – Kate Kay (NLO)
Looking at how our knowledge of space has changed in the last 200 years and what helped those changes.
14:00h – 14:45h “On Board the ISS” – Jo Richardson (Space Detectives)
Talk on what it’s like to live aboard the Space Station and get to use a VR headset and take a virtual tour of the ISS.
Planetarium Shows:
11:15 – 11:45h Discovering the Sky
12:15 – 12:45h What’s in the Sky Tonight?
13:00 – 13:30h Stories Under the Stars with Mike O’Leary
14:15 – 14:45h Springtime Stars
15:00 – 15:30h More Stories Under the Stars with Mike O’Leary
15:45 -16:15h Myths & Legends of the Stars
Plus: Hands-on-Science experiments with Colyton Grammar School – Historic Telescope Tours – Live Radar Meteor Detecting – Magnetometers and Space Weather Displays – Drones/Quadcopters – Solar Telescope (if sunny) – 3D printing demonstration and Laser engraving – Refreshments by LoveCake Catering.
Family Day 2017 Poster
Here is the poster for our Family Day event on the 18th March.
We will be having a series of talks, Planetarium shows, hand-on science experiments and much more.
Space Weather talk on 13th January
“Space Weather Woman” – Dr Tamitha Skov is to visit the NLO on January 13th 2017 at 4.30pm. She has very kindly agreed to give a short talk about Space Weather and meet space weather enthusiasts. All welcome.
Continue reading Space Weather talk on 13th January
2017 Calendar Published
The list of public openings and astronomy courses for 2017 has been published.
There is no need to book for the open events, but please do book in advance for the courses
Family Day Programme for 16th October
The Norman Lockyer Observatory will be open from 11am to 4pm for our family day as part of the Sidmouth Science Festival.
Autumn Talks Schedule
Our Autumn series of talks starts at 7:30pm on the 12th September at the NLO. Our guest speaker is Laura Williams on the Aluna Project, the world’s first tidal powered Moon Clock.
The Sound of Music
This Month’s talk – 9th May at 19:30.
While the Ancient Greeks gave the mathematical basis of perfect intervals in music over two and a half thousand years ago, there are still many considerations (not all understood) that influence and affect how we experience music today. These include culture, memory, familiarity, setting, acoustics, physics, mathematics and psychology – to name but a few. In this introductory talk (with many audio examples), I’ll look at just one aspect – the physics and mathematics of sound. From this, can we scientifically explain concepts like dissonance/consonance in music? How is this related to the Western 12-tone scale? What has this to do with MP3 compression? Or maybe music just transcends any crude scientific reductionism?
Restored 19th Century Orrery
NLO members, John Bardsley, Bill Hitchings & Pete Youd have spent the last year restoring this wonderful 19th century Orrery to full working order. It was donated by Howard Anderson, a member of the British Sundial Society.
On arrival it consisted of a painted wooden base, the Sun and Mercury and the clockwork mechanism but no other planets. Pete restored and french polished the base. John who is a master watchmaker/repairer, worked on the mechanism,repaired the gears and made new arms. Bill restored the Earth and the Cambridge Design Partnership 3D printed Saturn and the remaining planets (this orrery also includes asteroids, Ceres, Pallas, Vesta).
It is believed to have been made in Germany circa 1895, but we would be grateful for further information about this remarkable model of the solar system.