On Tuesday 31st January, after school, pupils in P5/6/7 went on an adventure with Carsphairn Primary, deep into the Galloway Forest near Dalmellington. Their mission was to learn about how they could see more, in the night sky, using the telescopes at the Observatory.

In P5/6/7, as part of our Interdisciplinary, Topic work, we have been learning about planets in our Solar System so, living so near to the UK’s first Dark Park meant that a trip was the ideal opportunity to learn more through a truly interactive experience.

In class we have watched films about the different planets, stars and moons in our Solar System, as well as carrying out investigations; to find out the role gravity plays in keeping planets, including Earth, orbiting around the sun. We’ve even used scaled models, to calculate and try to understand more clearly, the massive distances between planets and their distances from the Sun.

However, the joy of seeing some of these things, such as the planet Venus, in the sky above us, really impressed us and helped us with our understanding of our Solar System. We all agreed the experience of seeing how an observatory works and using a real telescope was well worth the visit.