Stargazing Live at Reepham High School
Reepham Observatory is an other-worldly place at the bottom of the High School field. Inside the spaceship-like dome is one of the biggest Newtonian telescopes in the country at 30 inches in diameter (about 75 cm).
Image of the moon taken from Reepham observatory by Ron McArthur, who has been teaching staff at Reepham High School & College how to use the observatory and take photographs
On Thursday 9 January, the observatory was opened to the public so that everyone could see, in real life, some of the things being talked about on BBC’s Stargazing Live.
“After the clouds cleared, we had some spectacular views of the moon, even managing to focus on just one crater, which was about 60 miles across,” said Sarah Holmes, teacher in charge of physics at RHSC Science Department.
“We even managed to see the Orion nebula, a blue, bird-like shape which is a star-forming region that appears just below Orion’s belt. We had a fabulous time, and I think our 200-plus visitors did, too.
“It is amazing to see so many people who are interested in what is ‘out there’ in the distance, but seems so close through the observatory telescope.”
Nature blog
Meanwhile, Miss Holmes has set up a wildlife blog. She is an independent blogger who is currently being featured as a Local Patch Reporter for the BBC Wildlife magazine for the rest of the year.
There are 12 bloggers being featured nationally and the blogs are about wildlife and wildlife events in the local area.
Sixth form students studying the observatory telescopes