Suitable for any age.

All equipment is provided.

The 7th of July is the festival of TANABATA, the Japanese annual STAR FESTIVAL.  Tanabata celebrates the meeting of the deities Orihime and Hikoboshi (represented by the stars Vega and Altair). The Milky Way separates these lovers, but they are allowed to meet only once a year on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, the 7th of July.

Tonight guests will be invited to write wishes on strips of paper and tie them to one of our trees with ribbons after enjoying home-made Asian style soup and snacks.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanabata

https://www.victoria.ac.nz/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/1657383/Japanese-slides-for-Tanabata-language-structures.pdf

The summer is a great time to spot the constellations. Lighter summer skies give us the opportunity to see the brighter summer stars forming these ancient stellar patterns, and our GoTo telescope can seek out stars and double stars even during the twilight, (have you ever seen a Daytime Double Star?)  Once it's dark, we'll take you on our summer tour of night-time wonders and we'll show you planets and deep sky star clusters.

Between May and July, rare shimmering Noctilucent Clouds (NLCs) are also around and sometimes visible an hour or so after sunset. These thin clouds are seeded on the ashes of shooting stars at the edge of space and are so beautiful that they often get mistaken for the Aurora Borealis.

If the skies clear, we'll take a tour of the night sky with our 14 inch diameter large aperture telescope, our dobsonian telescopes and binoculars for each guest to use throughout the event.  In addition to looking for the planets, we'll also be looking for the best double stars and the brightest clusters. You can log onto our free WiFi to download stargazing apps and will give you tips on how to use them too.

Finally - why not start or end your evening with a drink on the observing decks whilst you enjoy the warm evening's stargazing - with a gin and tonic, craft beer, real ale or glass of wine from our extensive, award-winning bar*. (Often stocked with locally produced ales, gins etc, - drinks not included in ticket price.)

Observing the skies is weather dependent, but you'll be pleased to know that all events go ahead whatever the weather and we aim to deliver exciting and interesting events every time.

The observatory is part of the multi-award-winning Battlesteads Hotel site and is a 1 minute stroll down the path from the observatory.

Please drink responsibly.  

All our events also include the chance to handle and investigate our extensive meteorite collection, which includes pieces of asteroids, the Moon and planet Mars.