The Bailiwick is renowned for its pristine, dark night skies, with amateur astronomers flocking to Guernsey and Sark to spend crystal-clear winter nights gazing at thousands of stars.
But this weekend, stargazers are being invited to swap thousands of tiny stars for one ‘big’ one – well a much closer one – this Saturday.
La Société Guernesiaise is running a Solar Open Day at its David Le Conte Astronomical Observatory on Saturday from 10:30 to 15:00, for everyone to find out more about their closest star.
People in Guernsey will be able to see a partial eclipse next month, on 12 August, with the Perseid meteor shower happening the same night.
During the open day people will be shown how to view the Sun safely, get to test out specialised equipment, and discover the science of the Sun.
There will also be a chance to have a look at ‘stellarium’ simulations, which will give a virtual preview of exactly how the eclipse will look from Guernsey as the Sun sets.
Activities throughout the day include live solar viewing, eclipse preparation and finding out how eclipses occur and what to look for.
Some of the equipment people will be able to use includes white-light telescopes, the heliostat, and a hydrogen-alpha (H-α) telescope.
