After school on Thursday 19th September, a group of 14 Sixth Form students and two staff set off to visit Bedford School’s observatory.

The largest school observatory in the South East region, the visit was linked to material studied in both A Level and IB courses.

It was twilight under clear skies when the group arrived, and this proved ideal conditions for observing planets through the reflecting telescope. The group then moved into the welcome warmth of the planetarium for a very informative talk on the night sky. Darkness had fallen by the time the group emerged and this allowed the students and staff to use the telescopes once again and observe some stellar clusters.

Thanks are due to Bedford School for hosting this visit and in particular to the Head of Astronomy at Bedford School, Mr Linton Guise.