Battlesteads Observatory

Rocket launch in about 25 minutes and you can watch it live here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwMDvPCGe E0

Last night's stargazing was superb and our AstroVentures #Stargazing astronomers Roy Alexander and Jimmy took these great pictures with their mobile phones.

Hello everyone - do you want to win a night of astronomy fun, some award winning dinner and some astro goodies - head over to AstroVentures #Stargazing and go for it!

Grab some binoculars and look up, see if you can spot this comet this week.

Watch the launch of the Parker probe live here at about half past eight!

A great night with guests last night. Clear skies and the return of the darkness after the light nights of summer. We looked at Venus, Jupiter, Saturn and Mars, as well as double star Alberio, the Globular Cluster in Hercules and the Andromeda Galaxy. At the end of the night the milkyway was visible. Much later after the guest had gone to bed I photographed a nebula Know as the Bubble. The "bubble" is created by the stellar wind from a massive hot, young central star. Astronomers find it hard to exactly measure how far awar this nebula is becuse there are no standard reference stars near it. It is thought to be between 7,000 and 11,000 lightyears away.

Apocalyptic sky over the North Tyne on Monday night, which then cleared so the guests at our observatory session enjoyed seeing Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Mars, the Summer Triangle, the beautiful double star Albireo, the ISS and an endless parade of satellites across the darkening sky

Lunar eclipse tomorrow evening at moonrise in the east. Best place to view will be with clear views to the east such as the coast.
The forecast thunderstorms might mean it's a washout but if it is clear then it's going to be great!

The annual Perseids meteor shower heralds the start of the shooting star season for 2018. These are nature's fireworks at their best and they occur during a warm summer month so you can enjoy them without having to put on your thermals.
You can enjoy these shooting stars from anywhere BUT surely the best place would be our dark sky discovery site, whilst enjoying some award winning local grub?
Click the link to book now before it's sold out!

The annual Perseids meteor shower heralds the start of the shooting star season for 2018. These are nature's fireworks at their best and they occur during a warm summer month so you can enjoy them without having to put on your thermals.
You can enjoy these shooting stars from anywhere BUT surely the best place would be our dark sky discovery site, whilst enjoying some award winning local grub?
Click the link to book now before it's sold out!

20km wide underground lake of water found on planet Mars. !

Please go to this website and suggest the name for the new Mars rover.
We've gone for "Rovey McMarsFace" and I hope you'll support this endeavour.
https://events.airbus.com/ereg/newreg.php ?eventid=200179103&

Look at that aurora forecast!

Did you know you can come for a fantastic 5 course meal at the award winning restaurant and follow it up by visiting the Dark Sky Discovery Observatory afterwards (a 1 minute walk behind the The Battlesteads, and all for the daft price of £24 per person? There's an offer on "itson" - why not take a look?
https://www.itison.com/…/5-courses-obse rvatory-experience-a…

Are you going hunting for Noctilucent Clouds this weekend? The current NLC Daisy looks EPIC!
http://lasp.colorado.edu/…/reposit…/p relim/current_daisy.png

Oooh keep an eye out for the aurora....

aDispite the moon interfering with the visibility and moisture building on the scopes lenses, it was a very interesting night last night at the Observatory.....a hearty supper in the bar, .....presentation in the warm room on the scale of earth, versus the other planets in our universe,.....a talk on the subject of the night (shooting Stars) followed by going outside onto the decks where our Astronomer taught us how to navigate the stars with the naked eye (using his lazer pointer).

The observatory has 2 medium and one main large telescope which were pointed at deep sky objects such as Orion and the Dumbell Nebular as well as the Hercules Cluster. We also looked closely at the moon, Jupiter and Mercury.

I had a one to one with the Astronomer on setting up my own scope - correctly - as well as a one to one on Astro Photography (the basics).

Every night is a themed night, we booked for Shooting Stars with supper - we saw none - although we had supper (included) and we did see plenty of other stuff through both the scopes and with the naked eye which we didn't expect to see - bonus. ..... HIGHLY RECOMMENDED :) (leaves you wondering your very own existence in this vast universe).

What a lovely place - great equipment and awesome information given by our hosts. Took some epic photos ! We will be back ! Many thanks !

What a great night - really informative but fun and Roy put up with my endless questions. Perfect mix of professional and fun. The pub food was simply gorgeous too. Go there!

What a great little place. We were really lucky as the forecast cloud disappeared and we had darks skies teaming with stars to enjoy for the evening. Excellent facilities, we really enjoyed it. Will be coming back!

We had such a good time. It was amazing to see so many things up close and in detail and everything was explained really well. Would definitely go back!

The food is the best I've ever tasted. local sourced produce, top chef, The accommodation is really well thought out, we had a beautiful suite. The staff are friendly and couldn't do enough for us, If your into Astronomy or not this was a fantastic experience and will do again, considering the time of year, it was cold but the view in the skies more than made up for it.

Thanks for an amazing night and sharing your knowledge! We'll be back with the kids for family night very soon

Roy mixes professional, fun and educational brilliantly. He put up with my many questions and pointing out satelites passing by. Though the cloud came in, Roy enthusiastically found as many features in the Dark Sky he could find for our small group. It's great to spend time with someone as knowledgable and as passionate, who is willing to educate others on what is out there.

Special night and a great end to our holiday.

We will be back for more!

Love this place, the staff the food and the hotel are amazing. The observatory sets this place apart from everything else. Will go back again and again..... ⭐️

Had a great time, know nothing if the stars or what to look for but it was explain simply and was really fun learning and looking through the telescopes

Had a fantastic night at the Observatory on my 53rd birthday. Many thanks to Roy for being brilliant. Thoroughly recommend this particularly if you don't have dark skies where you live.

Keep up the great work Roy.

Had a fantastic night at Battlesteads. Learnt all about telescopes and binoculars. Staff very friendly and informative. I will definitely be back for more. Thank you guys for the fantastic night. It has gave me even more of a star bug.

Had a brilliant night at the stargazing event, very informative and interesting - got the chance to see some amazing sights, and best of all we could take a drink in with us �

Had A great night at the Observatory. Roy was brilliant pitching at the various levels of knowledge. Some thing for every one from the basics of using binoculars to the more detailed information on stars clusters etc. Highlight seeing Jupiter its bands and 3 moons and so many stars on the edge of the dark zone in Northumbria. Definitely recommend the experience. The hotel was excellent as well

Five stars doesn't seem enough after Roy has shown us trillions of them. A great night which was both fun and educational. Roy was great, patient with our questions and fun too. Hot chocolate was great.

Don't really write reviews but.....the food is the best I've ever tasted. The accommodation is good. The staff are friendly and there's loads to do within an hour. If your into Astro photography (like me), then the skies are as dark as your going to find anywhere in the UK. Just book it.

Dark skies. Wonderful views of the universe. But surprisingly not in the middle of nowhere and you definitely don't have to be staying at the hotel to book an amazing experience with astronomers who are passionate about their subject. A truly dark sky is something every city dweller should see at least once.

Brilliant evening spent with Chris (and assisted with Trevor) last Night (19th June). Whilst the sky wasnt as clear as we would have liked it to have been initially we still got to see Jupiter ans also 3 of it's moons and some other stars (which i cant quite remember the name of or how to spell correctly!) and as soon as the clouds cleared we were shown the different plants/stars straight away. Evening was very informative and relaxed with the oportunity to ask as many questions as the group wanted to. We were also shown some clips during the presentation which were excellent in explaining about the universe and how far apart the planets in our solar system really were! I've always been interested in the solar system and the stars and this has only made me want to know more. We will be returning again but during the winter/darker months to allow us to see a bit more of our skies. ...just one little bit of advice if you're reading this and attending one of the nights during the summer-please take some insect repellent with you. We have literally been eaten alive!! But other than I cant wait to go back and i'll be asking for a telescope for Christmas! Thanks again to chris who was perfect host for the night!

A fantastic star gazing night at the observatory. It was a relaxed informative evening...I now know how to use my binoculars! The stars and the Milky Way made an appearance along with shooting stars, Roy was an interesting and inspiring instructor...we will return.