Marlborough Dark Skies Fest
It was great to re-start events at the Marlborough Dark Skies Fest in the UK last weekend. This was an extremely well organised event by the town council in the historic town of Marlborough within the North Wessex Downs area of outstanding natural beauty. No bright lights or big cities here, dark skies ahoy!
Not only was Chris Lintott, of the University of Oxford and BBC fame, lined up for the key note speech; but there was also the Museum of the Moon on display all week; a chance to visit the Blackett Observatory to look through their 1860 10” Cooke refractor and nPAE Precision Astro Engineering in the exhibition hall on Saturday and Sunday!
If you haven’t seen the Museum of the Moon, make sure you do when it’s on tour near you. Stupendous doesn’t do it justice. It’s the closest you will get to being in orbit around our natural satellite.
The Blackett Observatory is part of Marlborough College and home to one of the last two surviving T. Cooke & Sons 10” refractor telescopes. Built in 1860 it’s a wonder of Victorian engineering and a testament to the longevity of all well-made telescope hardware. Generally not open to the public, unless you join the Friends of the Marlborough Telescope, it was a genuine joy to look at as well as look through!
Marlborough itself is a very pleasing location to visit with one of the 9 Wiltshire White Horses and the Neolithic Marlborough Mound dated to 2,400 BC. Which local legend has as the burial site of the wizard Merlin. Avebury stone circle, a smaller but more accessible Stonehenge, is a short car ride away.
All in all it was a fantastic trip and we sincerely hope the Marlborough Dark Skies Fest becomes a permanent fixture in the Astro Calendar.
