For those with an interest in astronomy, the Department of Physics is hosting ‘Stargazing Oxford’, a free public event which will take place on Saturday the 21st (2pm-10pm).
The event will feature the chance to handle meteorites, telescopes to view the night sky, an inflatable planetarium, models of tomorrow’s giant telescopes, and even DIY astronomy: visitors will make their own telescopes and spectrographs out of cereal boxes and cardboard.
Astrophysicists from Oxford University will also be on hand to answer questions and to give short talks on the latest research on outer space – and to take on local amateur astronomers in a battle of wits called ‘universe-ity challenge.’
Dr Philip Marshall, who organised the event, is very excited to invite the public into his department and share his love of all things Space-related. He said, “we all pay taxes to fund places like Oxford University, and one of the things we get in return are: discoveries. Pure human achievement, stuff that all of us can celebrate.”
With the death of a prominent Oxford physics professor last week, the event has also taken on a new significance. Marshall says the department is thinking of it “as a tribute, to our colleague and friend Steve Rawlings. He’d have loved to have been there to join in the fun, and perhaps more than any of us he knew how to think big.”
