Final update 26th January 2012
​Message from the Observatory Director
Thank you to everyone who attended our 3 nights of Star Gazing Live at the Observatory last week.
Hope you enjoyed what we had on offer - it was unfortunate that the weather was not very good on two of the nights.
We would appreciate any feedback about this event, that you are willing to provide.
This can be done via the Contact Us form on the website.
We will then send it, anonymously, to the BBC.

Here is the latest seasonal sky update.
For December, January and February the Planets are gathering in the evening sky.
By February the planets Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus can all be seen at some time of the night.
Jupiter is still a prominent evening object in Pisces and, at the end of February is passed by Venus - for more details see the related story on this page.
Full details are available in the attached notes.

After the success in 2010, Natwest are again running their Community Force initiative.
 
The idea behind Community Force is that community-based organisations can apply for a number of financial awards in order to increase their contribution to society.
 
This year, we have put in an application for a financial contribution to go towards a new Solar Telescope, which we plan to use for outreach activities and open evenings at the observatory.

Comet Garradd, is still in the night sky at the moment. It is currently 7th magnitude and somewhat fainter than can be seen with the unaided eye.
It is moving rapidly across the sky and, at the moment, is just too faint to be seen with the unaided eye. However if you use binoculars you should be able to see this comet as a 'fuzzy patch' - and one that moves with respect to the background stars or clusters every night.