First beginners course a great s

Once again we where blessed with good seeing for the last week of the beginners course.
17 students attended the observatory to gain practical experience of using a telescope.

Saturn was on hand to give its usual stunning views and produce the WOW factor, M42 was also well placed although overshadowed by a nearly full moon.

Each student had chance to take their own photograph of the moon, this will be e-mailed to them after processing.

The feed back from the course has once again been very positive with the students receiving a well rounded introduction into basic astronomy.

Examples of the images taken by the students on their practical sessions at the observatory

The first 6 week course was well attended by 17 students, the content of the course covered most of the aspects of astronomy that all beginners need and want to know. The feedback from the course has been very positive, and with the addition of a few items that where not covered and a few amendments suggested by the students we will be delivering the same course again in February 2008.

I enjoyed the beginners course very much (even if a lot of it went over my head). I found Gain particularly easy to follow, and I look forward to attending on Fridays.

I thought the course was brilliant: great fun, informative, and a thoroughly nice bunch of people. Well worth every penny, as I said to Gain last night. You were all tremendously helpful, and are obviously keen to keep us all in the fold. 6 weeks was probably just the right length of time (after all, it is just an introduction), although I would have been just as happy with longer, and the lectures in general were excellent. The Power Point presentations had obviously had a lot of time and thought gone into them, and the handouts were equally well thought out.

The guys up at the observatory worked really hard: nothing was too much trouble, and even though it was so cold, they made sure that we all had our turn in looking at things and they were in no hurry to finish up. My feet were like blocks of ice, and I felt really guilty going home at 10.00 and leaving them clearing up

Wednesday was a great evening even though the sky wasn't a perfect as it could have been, at least it was better than the previous week! I thought that the course was very good, well structured, had interesting and appropriate content, was supported by good handouts and power point presentations. I wasn't a true beginner, having done quite a bit of physics and beingfairly knowledgeable about the universe etc. However, I was a total beginner when it came to using a telescope, buying one and finding anything other than the moon with one!