In support of the Stargazing Live project Trinity School Observatory opened on 16 January 2012 and 19 January 2012 from 7.00 pm to 10.00 pm

A chance to look at the night skythrough the 16 inch telescope housed in the observatory and also through other telescopes in the car park. Local astronomers will We had a fantstic response this year. Over 30 people attended on the Monday 16 January with clear skies except for a little background mist.

We had three telescopes set up outside on the grass in addition to the 16" Newtonian Reflector in the observatory. Visitors moved from one to the other viewing Jupiter and its satellites, The Pleiades (seven sisters) and the Orion nebula.

On Thursday 19 January the weather was cloudy with rain and we did not expect many visitors. Imagine our surprise when we turned up at 6.45 pm to find three people waiting outside the observatory. Jupiter kept appearing between the clouds so we opened up the dome between the showers and gave a Powerpoint presentation down in the room below. This was continually interrupted bly the arrival of more and more visitors who had seen the feature in the News and Star the previous day. over 40 people attended in total and all were able to see Jupiter and its moons at some time during the evening. One presentation illustrated the work out members do, particularly with photography and webcams. The other was about Mars and how our ideas and understanding of its nature has changed from the ancient Greeks to the present time. The evening finally ended at 10,00 pm when Jupiter disappeared completely behind the clouds,

In addition on Wednesday 18 January 2012 at 7.00 pm we intended to run a joint observing meeting with Newcastle Upon Tyne Astronomical Society at Cawfields Quarry car park on Hadrians Wall. However, due lto adverse weatlher condition that meeting had to be cancelled and has been re-scheduled for 11 March 2012. Cawfields, time: 7pm - 9pm. Witness some of the darkest skies in the country by joining us at the Cawfields site, near Haltwhistle for an evening of Stargazing in the Northumberland National Park.

We will take our six inch equatorial refractor telescope with us to that meeting.