Observing Evenings

Public Open Evenings at the IoA

 
The Institute of Astronomy is open every Wednesday 7 - 9pm between October and March. Entrance is free, and there is no need to book (unless your group has more than 15 people). Each evening consists of a 30 minute public talk about astronomy, followed by (weather dependent!) stargazing. You can find a list of all our talks this season here.

What happens at a public open evening?

Doors open at 6:30pm, and an astronomer will present a half-hour public talk, starting at 7.15pm. This is followed by an opportunity to look through the historical Northumberland and Thorrowgood telescopes if the weather is clear. Members of the Cambridge Astronomical Association also set up modern telescopes on the observatory lawns, with video projection facilities and expert commentary. We can't always guarantee observing, of course, as it is very weather-dependent. On a cloudy evening, the talk will instead be followed by tea and biscuits, and some short entertainment from the CAA.

Seating in the lecture theatre is available on a first-come, first-seated basis - if it's full, we'll do our best to seat you in an overspill room, where the talk will be live-streamed. We also stream our public talks live to the web (click here for the streaming link), and also archive the recordings for later viewing.
If you wish to skip the talk and only attend the observing, please arrive at 7.45pm (don't arrive before this, as we'll be still setting up!).

For more information about the talks done each Wednesday go to this link
https://www.public.ast.cam.ac.uk/public-open-evenings-ioa