TORQUAY HERALD
11 February 2014
BBC Sky At Night presenter and former Torquay Boys’ Grammar pupil, Chris Lintott will re-open the school’s newly refurbished observatory on Thursday February 13. The observatory has been fitted out with new state-of-the art telescopes and up-to-date equipment, with the removal of the old Newtonian reflector.
Dr Lintott is an astrophysicist, currently working as a researcher in the Department of Physics in the University of Oxford, and an old boy of the school.
He is involved in a number of popular science projects aimed at bringing astronomy to a wider audience and is the primary presenter of the BBC series The Sky at Night, having previously acted as a co-presenter alongside the late Patrick Moore. He is also a co-author of the book ‘Bang! – The Complete History of the Universe’ with Patrick Moore and Queen guitarist and astrophysicist Brian May.
Dr Lintott will give a lecture entitled ‘How to discover a planet from your sofa’ at 7.30pm tonight.
The school, assisted by donations from the Torbay Astronomical Society, (TAS) and Spirent Communications, has purchased a brand new Celestron C1400 EdgeHD, a Schmidt Cassegrain Telescope (SCT) combined with a high definition optical system for wide field, astrograph quality images. This is coupled with an EQ8 mount with full GOTO facilities allowing celestial objects of interest to be located with ease.
The observatory has been fully refurbished and redecorated, with the removal of the old Newtonian reflector, allowing more space for users of the observatory, and brand new furniture in the entrance room.
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