Copyright © Astronomy Roadshow Planetarium All rights Reserved
HOURS
Monday - Friday: 9am-5.00pm
North Star House
92 North Street
Sittingbourne
Kent ME10 2HH
England, UK
Amanda; Landline (01795) 420372 Office Hours Mon-Fri 9am - 5pm
Amanda's Mobile 07779 411939
Presenter; Peter's Mobile; 0772 248 9738 .. Emergencies only.
Our recent drone-flying hobby compliments the service too. Our system is charged on solar produced electricity. (Yes I do have a licence & Insurance).
Proud to announce that from November 2017, we are Space Science Education advisers to Ethiopia. They use satellite data to discover valuable resources such as fresh underground water for irrigation, metals and minerals to sell around the world.
April 2019; we have set up a specialised low-cost observing camera in the dark skies of Arizona. It can record perfect images of stars and follow them round the sky. The Milky Way is photographed over and over again and is demonstrated in the KS2-3 lectures www.northstaroasis.co.uk
We operate in Kent, Sussex, Surrey, outer London, Hampshire, Middx, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Hertsfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, and Suffolk. Note: We have improved the equipment, built fresh displays, and wrote a new book. Low cost talks in hall with props still on offer.
Our lectures are designed to accelerate covering the Space module.
A little claim to fame; back in 1975 when I was 12, I wrote to the TOP TRUMPS card company mentioning they should produce a card set on Rockets. I listed some examples along with ideas of what data-sets they could use; maximum thrust, number of stages, weight, country of origin etc. Around 4 months later they wrote back with a 'thank you' letter and a free pack that was the first off the press before they were sold in the shops.
(I would rather have had royalties than the free pack).
Many planetarium shows seem geared mainly toward entertainment with a little teaching, we have kept the teaching aspect as priority instead. We encourage the audience to reason, evaluate, find logic / realism and question but in an entertaining way.
Regarding school bookings, the presenter is not responsible for the pupils' behaviour. If it is expected for the pupils to scream and shout constantly, please book a clown or a bouncy castle instead of an Astronomer... this includes Cambridge Dons. Children wandering around in the dark is a safety risk too; the lights have to go on and ruin the session for everybody... we provide entertaining science lectures only in quiet venues - regardless of age range. Allowances are made for special needs pupils... thank you.
Our service support four charities. Smile Malawai is an Orphanage in Africa formed by Elsbeth Beacke of Sittingbourne, Kent. Click on picture above for the website.
All surround 4k star projector.
We aim to retire from 27th May 2025,
not set in stone as yet.
Established January 1994 / Owner of the Largest Mobile Dome in the UK
Operating 30 years, feeling a few aches & pains now. Due to increasing traffic & travel pressure, and health problems, we plan to retire the Roadshow 27th May 2025.
Education will continue via our books and YouTube channels
@astroroadshow and @ExploreIsleofWight
Four different sized domes from 4.5mt to 8mt diameter.
With the recent global crisis, it just demonstrates the importance of
Science & Engineering for our future on this planet.
We cater for Reception to GCSE Level Physics students - not in the same lecture.
All lectures are 180 x 360 degree projections.
Brand new home-made 4k digital Star Projector used from Feb 2019;
Setup in 30 minutes with displays once equipment is in the hall.
We just need a quiet hall to perform in as any other lecturer requires.
Upgraded displays
April 2020
The mission of The Astronomy Roadshow is to increase general interest in science. We visit 220-240 venues / 38,000+ people a year in a dome- 1.3 million since 1994; including 5,000 a year via hall lectures. The world faces huge problems today; Famine, Energy & Material Shortages, Climate Change, Destruction of the Natural World, New Diseases etc; all can be solved by new science and policy. By increasing the number of people involved, we increase our chances of survival or fall upon very hard times and remain stuck here on Planet Earth for centuries. The 21st century is a unique era where we get this choice of futures.
A short film show the beginning of the recent Total Solar Eclipse 8th April 2024. A full 10 minute version will be edited later.
Sightings of the International Space Station are very predictable
Above; a GCSE display showing the inner workings of a star - Nuclear Fusion.
This is a hybrid system unique in the UK planetarium market that keeps education as the prime objective over entertainment.