Amateur astronomers or planetaria in Yorkshire?

I wonder whether there are any people in this area who enjoy looking up and beholding yon starry welkin upon one of the rare cloudless nights that we experience hereabouts.

I, for one, have certainly gazed into the heavens many a time, abetted by my trusted 60mm refractor, which now sadly languishes in a depot far away in a strange land... The late, great Patrick Moore was little less than a deity to me, when I first discovered him on the nocturnal Learning Zone in the early nineties.

Ergo, my question is: does South Yorkshire possess any astronomical observatories or planetaria? I cannot, as yet, be bothered to go up to Kielder Forest, and upon a resplendent, star-strewn night such as this, I am beset by a pining once again to take up the habit of peering into the unfathomable depths of this universe of ours.

Have you tried the Sheffield Astronomical Society:

http://www.voyagerdome.co.uk/sas/

Check this out it, might be just what you want.

They do have open days during autumn and winter.

Situated near Hoober stand

http://www.msas.org.uk/

Plus 1 for the Mexborough society above.

Ah, interesting. Thankee, sirrahs.

I have an interest in the nearer planetary bodies and watch the various documentaries on Discovery with a great deal of interest. i had a g/f years back who used to get me sprawled out in her back garden watching various annual meteor showers and seem to remember she used to visit the university telescope observatory.

I became fascinated by astronomy when I was 7. I seriously considered studying it and pursuing a career in the field, but I suffer from dyscalculia and could never deal with the maths that underpin it. But I have reads countless books on astronomy and cosmology (several by Patrick, of course), I know my way round the sky and I have seen Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune with my own eyes, through my own telescope. I have marvelled at the craters of the Moon, distant galaxies, globular clusters and projections of partial solar eclipses. I have spent hours outside in -20°C, just to see some Quadrantids or Leonids. And I miss all that.

Being useless at all things numerical, I turned to linguistics instead, and my stargazing fell into desuetude.

Hi there,

I am new to this forum but am interested in Astronomy. Would like to join an astronomy group but alas, I have very little knowledge (and limited brain capacity!). Does anyone know of any smaller astronomy groups (very amateur) or whether the official group are happy to accommodate poor learners?

Many thanks

Katie

Hi there,

 

I am new to this forum but am interested in Astronomy. Would like to join an astronomy group but alas, I have very little knowledge (and limited brain capacity!). Does anyone know of any smaller astronomy groups (very amateur) or whether the official group are happy to accommodate poor learners?

 

Many thanks

 

Katie

Mexbrough used to run a GCSE astronomy course, see their website

http://www.msas.org.uk/annual-reports/2012/40-ar2012perf

http://www.voyagerdome.co.uk/sas/

This is the website for the Sheffield Astronomical Society - maybe give them a try? I don't know anything about them I'm afraid, just a keyboard-happy googler