Why is it here?

How old is it?

How did it start?

How big is it?

How will it end?

These are a sample of the questions that have engaged civilisations throughout millennia.

Science has come a long way since the Greeks stared at the sky and wondered about its geometry, since Kepler organised the solar system and Einstein gave us the tools to examine the large scale structure of the universe and the true meaning of reality...

Well tonight we will have a go at unravelling it all so that we can get an understanding as to the probability of how accurate we are. From the uncertainty of the big bang to the cosmic microwave background and on to the evolution of the universe to what we see today. Remember, Clear skies and it all stops: the universe the lot, because stars in the sky and its eyes to the telescopes, thats our priority always!

A thought provoking journey through understanding and reason as to our existence in this fantastic and awe inspiring physical universe.

After the talk we will guide you through the observatory, visiting the telescopes and instruments we have here. We will look at galaxies, nebulae, star clusters, gaze at the glittering stars of the Milky Way. We’ll even try to look at this, Horsehead Nebula, a giant cloud of interstellar dust and gas. This object has only been seen by 10% of astronomers but we can see it from Kielder from November onwards!