19 May 2010

(Please click images to enlarge)

College Newsletter article from St Richard's, Bexhill

In an invitation to Mr Pert to return to St Richard's College for an up-and-coming conference on 12th July, Dr Durkin said of the previous visit ".... my Year 8 Astronomy potentials were absolutely buzzing and I hope to have a full class come September"

The 12th July conference will be aimed at the Yr8s from eight schools local to St Richard's as well as a few students selected from Uplands Yr8, and will feature
Johny Ball , presenter of the popular science and technology television programs for children in the 1970s, 80s and 90s (eg. "Think of a Number" and "Think Again"), doing lectures in the morning. Mr Pert's Faulkes Telescope demonstration will be one of the practical activities in the afternoon. Sounds like a fun day.

This is the College Newsletter article from St Richard's (Thank you so much, Dr Durkin...It's always great to get feedback, especially when it's so positive!):




Year 8 Stargazing ‘taster’ lesson

On Wednesday 5th May, Year 8 pupils interested in starting the new GCSE Astronomy course in September, were treated to a visit from visiting Astronomy teacher, Mr. Iain Pert from Uplands School.
The pupils had prepared for the visit by identifying faint inter stellar objects, visible in the night sky over the Southern Hemisphere, using the newly installed (and free to download at home) stellarium software on the notebooks.


Guided by Mr. Pert, pupils identified binary star systems, nebulae and galaxies to observe and take images of, using the Faulkes Telescope in Hawaii.
At our allotted time, we were given remote control of the telescope and were able to aim it towards our chosen regions of space. Pupils observed and imaged three different galaxies, M98 (bottom right), M101 (middle right) and M64,the ‘Black Eye Galaxy’ (top right)’.

The ‘Black eye’ galaxy has been studied extensively by the Hubble Deep Field Telescope, in orbit around the Earth, and its distinctive appearance is thought to be due to an absorbing dust cloud which was produced as two star systems merged. First catalogued in the 18th century, it is located roughly 17 million light years away from Earth.

Congratulations to the pupils who took these amazing images.

Dr. Durkin

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