Stargazing
We hold monthly public stargazing events at the Great Notley Discovery Centre, Braintree. Anyone can come along and look at the night sky through a telescope, learn about the planets and constellations, and learn about astronomy.
Also if you already own a telescope and need help with it, you are welcome to bring it along and we’ll try to assist you.
The sessions are open to everyone, so please do come along. There is no charge. (but there may be a site parking fee).
The remaining dates for 2012 are as follows. The events will run from 6pm to 9:30pm (unless stated otherwise).
- 26th May
- 23rd June – Solar observing, midday start
- 21st July – Solar observing, midday start
- 27th August – Solar observing, midday start
- 22nd September
- 20th October
- 17th November
- 15th December
These events are about observing the night sky. In the event of poor weather and not being able to see the stars, please be aware that observing will be limited and you may not get to see anything. Please check this website, our Facebook page and Twitter feed near the event time for any updates on the weather. We will always try to have some members on location to give advice/answer questions if needed in case people still turn up, or help you with telescope setups.
- For more information about Great Notley Country Park and how to get there, click here.
- A Google Maps link is here. The park is well signposted.
- For in-car satnav purposes, the park’s postcode is CM77 7FS
Many people have asked us about where to purchase a good quality but affordable telescope. Here are some online retailers that we recommend for buying a starter telescope, or alternatively click on the NEAS Store page link in the top menu)
Green-Witch – First Light Optics – Telescope House – Astronomia
We hope to see you there for some stargazing!
I have received, as a gift, a Celestron AstroMaster 130EQ MD reflector telescope. My husband has assembled it but we have not been successful in viewing stars. A friend told me of your Stargazing sessions and I note you have one on 25th February from 6pm. We would like to come along and if we bring the telescope will there be someone who could advise us how to use it? Clearly we are not operating it properly!!! Sally
Hi Sally,
Absolutely, please do bring the telescope along and we’ll try to help you with it.
all the best
David
hello all at /neas/
i am retired and need a hobby so thought astromony might be good for me. my wife bought me a cheap scope years ago tasco luminator which i enjoyed looking at the moon ect .but now would like to see a few more planets and stars ect.i dont know if you are allowed to give me advice on choosing a telescope.i have a list of three and was wondering which might be best for me.skywatcher explorer 130p supa trak auto / the skymax 127+supa trak / or the skywatcher skyliner 200p dobsonion. i will be doing most of my stargazing from my garden as i live in the country’ with not to much light pollution.hope you can help kind regards john
Hi John,
In general, almost all of the Skywatcher brand telescopes will give you a good value for money telescope and becoming increasingly recommended.
In brief:
- Skyliner 200 – You get a lot of telescope for your money and it has a simple-to-use mount. It’ll give decent views of the planets, but also fainter deep sky objects. (I own one, so I am slightly biased on this!)
- Explorer 130 – this is basically a smaller version of the above and on a different mount. Again, it’s a good scope for the price.
- Skymax 127 – this will give great views of the Moon and the planets. It’s quite small and portable. They can be slightly more expensive.
Note: The “Supa trak” mounts will track an object once you’ve found it and will keep it in the eyepiece – bear in mind they don’t find objects for you! (sometimes people expect this).
If possible, I would recommend you come along to one of our stargazing nights – you can see some of these scopes (or similar) in person and get a better view on what you might want to buy.
Get in touch if you have any more questions.
all the best
David
hi david thank you for your quick reply. sounds like good advice’ so hope to see you on the 31st march. i think that is your next meeting. regards john
Hi there, husband and I would like to join please? How do we go about it? Can we come along to one of your stargazing events?
I’d suggest coming to a few events and monthly talks first before joining so you can get to know us and see what we have to offer. If you still want to join then either fill out the online form and post it off with payment or see us in person at one of our stargazing events at notley discovery centre. Or we have our monthly talk this weds night which the details can be found above under the events tab. Hope to see you and your husband soon.
Paul
Events and Publicity
Hi. I have just attended the May Stargazing Event with my friends and their children. We had a wonderful time, so just wanted to thank everyone involved. We will definitely come to another event later in the year even if we do have to wear many layers of clothing! Thanks again.
Thanks for coming, Judith. Glad you enjoyed it, and hopefully we’ll see you again! Feel free to join us at any of our other public meetings.
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