Aurora hunters from 10 to 100 years old will enjoy this experience.

You'll get lots out of tonight's event if all you do is bring yourself and a sense of adventure.

The Aurora Borealis (also known as Northern Lights) are magical and inspirational phenomena that grace the Northern night skies.  What are they and how can you go hunting for them successfully?

Aurorae are now very well understood by physicists around the world but for thousands of years and for many communities, they played a part in religions, fairytales and folklore.  Join us on a journey that begins with the history of the social and cultural impact of the Northern Lights through to our scientific understanding of the Aurora today.

At Battlesteads Observatory we aim to give our guests the knowledge and understanding you will need to hunt the Aurora Borealis for yourselves.  You'll learn the basics of the science behind how they are created, how to find them, which apps to use and some hints and tips on how to photograph them.  Questions are welcomed and our team will be on hand to help you with anything we are able to.  Our team has led hundreds of aurora talks and trips over the years and includes photographers & physicists (in case you have any tricky technical questions.)

If the skies clear for us, we'll take a short tour of the universe in ever-increasing distances from our home the earth, including the moon, the planets, any comets that might be about and then further into the depths of the Milky Way to view star clusters, nebulae and any supernovae that happen to be about.  You'll then be taken beyond the boundaries of the milky way and across the vast expanse of space to see other galaxies containing billions and billions of stars.

The Battlesteads Observatory is a gateway to the Northumberland Dark Sky Park and enjoys skies as dark as much of the park itself so later on, why not join our team in one of our many observing areas, where the twinkling stars of the milky way can be seen with the naked eye in all their glory, and perhaps an impromptu binocular tour from one of our team. 

As of yet, we're unable to control the weather, so observing the skies can only go ahead if it's clear but you'll be pleased to know that all events go ahead in any weather conditions.  The Northern Lights are a random natural occurrence, and our aurora hunting night is about preparing for the occasions when they are visible, aurora may or may not be visible on the night.