Public Open Evenings

Bayfordbury's Public Open Evenings are an opportunity for you to visit a working astronomical observatory.

During these events, researchers and post-graduate students from the University of Hertfordshire's Science and Technology Research Institute provide expert demonstrations, tours and talks on various astronomy topics.

The evenings are aimed specifically for the public so that children, adults and amateur astronomers all benefit from the evening.

Activities for you to participate in include:
  • a research talk from one of the research staff
  • a tour around the sky in our planetarium
  • a bit of practical computer based astronomy; using the National Schools' Observatory, taking part in some Zooniverse.org science projects online, or fitting exoplanet orbits
  • tours of the sky using all of the telescopes at the Observatory
  • a demonstration of how our radio telescopes work
  • 'Ask An Expert'; ask a member of our research staff anything about Astronomy
  • discovering how astronomy was done before digital cameras
  • a rocketry demonstration
  • various activities in our Astrolab including astronomy top trumps and draw your own constellations for the kids, and slow motion photography and laser experiments for the everyone.
Weather permitting there will be the opportunity to view interesting objects in the sky both looking through the telescopes and also using CCD imaging cameras as well as showing off your knowledge of the sky with a tour of the constellations. (If the weather is bad, we will show you some pictures we took earlier!).

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When: We host one open evening a month, see our upcoming events page. A variety of arrival times are available and you can stay as long as you like, but we suggest a couple of hours to explore all of our attractions.
How Much: A nominal fee of £4 per adult and £2 for concessions. Children under the age of 5 are free. You can pay online after completing your booking or pay at the door.
Who: Anyone is welcome to come along. There is disabled access to most of the areas and our colleagues are able to explain astronomy to people with a wide range of prior astronomy knowledge. Many of our events are themed and there are a variety of child friendly activities throughout the site during these events.

Book Here