Dedham Vale National Landscape Dark Skies Campaign Dark Skies Fair

International Dark Sky Week

To commemorate the International Dark Skies Week 2024 we are holding a FREE Dark Skies Fair at Boxted Village Hall on Sunday April 7th from 3:30pm to 10:00pm.  There will be lots of activities for both young and old.  

We have a number of speakers lined up to talk about the night skies and the effects of the encroaching light pollution on our beautiful National Landscape.  Starting with Dr Chris Gibson: The Famous Moth Man. Topics will range from Wildlife and Nature to our own health.  We will be having a number of astronomy talks including: recognising the night skies, our solar system, and buying a telescope. 

We will also have practical workshops where there will be a number of experts on hand to help you with telescope workshops and one to one advice sessions.  If you want to know something about your equipment then bring it along and we will show you how to use it.

Weather permitting during the day we will have some Solar Telescopes trained on the Sun where you will be able to see sunspots on the surface, and flares and prominences being ejected into the chromosphere. As the sun sets we celebrate the dark skies with the moon out of the way you will be able to observe some of the faint and fuzzy delights above us.

There will be a number of exhibits, films and activities for all ages. Including paper rocket making and colouring.

Booking is not required, but emailing [email protected] will help us gauge the number of attendees to expect. There is no charge for this event, and there will also be free refreshments available.

Our programme for the day

Open at 3:30

In the hall

4:00 Dr Chris Gibson: The Famous Moth Man
5:00 Beverley McClean : Planning for Lighting
5:45 Lisa Mathews: Nocturnal Animals
6:15 Telescope Workshop
6:45 Paul Blakesley: The Solar System
7:30 Mike Barrett: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
8:15 Nik Szymanek: Astrophotography
8:45 Telescope Viewing/Workshop
10:00 Close

In between talks Dark Sky Videos will be playing

On the field (Weather Permitting)
4:00 to 6pm Solar Observing
6:00 Planet Observing (Jupiter and Venus)
7:30 Sunset / Watch the Stars pop out
8:30 to 10pm Observing
10:00 Close

Programme subject to change

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