大象传媒

Phil Randall is an amateur astronomer. He's been fascinated by the night sky since he was a child but it wasn't until much later on in life that he acted upon it and joined the Mansfield and Sutton Astronomical Society.

As an active member he attends regular weekly sessions where other amateurs discuss what's going on in the night's sky as well as monthly meetings where the Society invites professional astronomers to lecture on what they're working on.

Nativity

The wise men, or magi, in the story of birth of Jesus, were astrologers and studied the stars. In the Nativity story the magi followed the Star of Bethlehem to Jesus.

Asked what that 'star' might have been Phil says there is no definitive answer.

"It could be any one of a number of things. Nobody really knows for sure because it was such a long time ago that records were really sparse and unreliable. There is talk that it could be a comet or a supanova."

Visit

The Sherwood Observatory is manned by volunteers and doors are regularly opened to members of the public keen to find out more about galaxies far, far away.

History

Sherwood Observatory opened in 1986 after years of planning.

It all started in 1969, the same year Neil Armstrong landed on the moon.

Comet over Sherwood Observatory

A space enthusiast placed a small advertisement in a local newspaper asking for people who were interested in astronomy.

A handful of men answered, resulting in the formation of the Mansfield and Sutton Astronomical Society.

They bought the land on which the Observatory now sits for 拢50 and started building the dome and the 61 cm mirror telescope in 1972.