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BBC STARGAZING LIVE 2012 "Where the Heavens Meet the Earth"
ґ At An Creagan and Beaghmore Stone Circles
Wednesday 18th January 2012
Programme Last Updated: 2011 December 22

Armagh Observatory and the Nor thern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) together ґ with An Creagan and the Omagh and Cookstown District Councils are hosting a day of ґ free BBC Stargazing LIVE and Universe Awareness (UNAWE) activities at An Creagan and the nearby Beaghmore Stone Circles. This is a unique megalithic site and the best Dark-Sky site in Nor thern Ireland.

1 EU-UNAWE Primary School Activities
In the morning, star ting at 10.30 am (arrival), a series of astronomy and science-based activities will ґ be provided for local KS2 school children at An Creagan. These activities for primar y school children ґ (including time for them to eat a packed lunch at An Creagan) will finish at approximately 2.00 pm (depar ture). The children will be divided into groups to carr y out a series of up to four activities including the following:

1.1

Shadow Theatre by European Universe Awareness (EU-UNAWE)

Presenters Lara Albanese and Alessandra Zanazzi from the world-famous Arcetri Obser vator y in Florence. Their contribution is entitled "Virginia and Galileo Galilei: a Sky Full of Discoveries". The Italian presenters will lead the children along a learning path combining hands-on activities and science experiments, including shadow theatre and puppet performances. The show begins by asking the children to produce loud noises, strong enough to make rice grains `dance'. This introduces some basic physical principles using the medium of fun and play. Verbal and non-verbal learning styles are used to expand the pupils' learning skills and knowledge of science. The first theatre play, written thanks to the idea and contribution of the famous puppet maker and shadow-theatre exper t Mariano Dolci, is about Virginia, Galileo's daughter. In the play we imagine that she was the first to point her father's telescope at the stars. This is exactly the kind of clever, cheeky idea that a child's imagination might contrive. We then introduce some of the questions about astronomy that Virginia might have asked, and encourage the children to make fur ther explanator y experiments. The `play' keeps switching from shadow theatre to hands-on activities and involves different cultures from around the world.

1.2

Distance and Scale in the Solar System (EU-UNAWE)

A hands-on astronomy lesson. This brings together numeracy, group work and practical activities. Using the worksheets provided, the children will be guided by Armagh Obser vator y staff to build two models (all materials supplied). The first will be a scale model of the size of the planets; the second, on a different scale, a model to illustrate the relative distances of the planets from the Sun and one another. These activities reinforce concepts of distance and scale and help pupils to understand the vast distances in our own Solar System.

1.3

Life in the Bronze Age

This `early times' session will include activities relating to this special, unique Bronze Age site, including pot making, using stone-age tools and other available materials. The children will gain a far better 1


appreciation of the people who used to live here and who built the intriguing Beaghmore Stone Circles.

1.4

The Night Sky

This child-friendly activity will include a slideshow illustrating the night sky from this special Dark-Sky site, linking in with the previous cycle of activities. Children and their teachers are shown how to observe Venus and Jupiter (planets that they just made) and other objects visible in the night sky, using handouts and explanations of easy ways to identify other objects such as the principal nor thern-hemisphere winter constellations. The slideshow may be presented to ever yone par ticipating in the morning sessions.

2 Living History and Observing at Beaghmore
The second element of the free BBC Stargazing LIVE event will take place in the afternoon, from approximately 3.30 pm to 5.00 pm. Weather permitting, all par ticipants will travel by bus to the Beaghmore Stone Circles to watch the Sun going down. There will then be an oppor tunity to obser ve the bright planets Venus and Jupiter, both visible in the southern sky, as well as the first stars to appear after sunset. Those requiring transpor t by bus from Cookstown should reser ve places in advance from Burnavon Ar ts and Cultural Centre, Tel: 028-8676-9949. The bus will leave Cookstown Burnavon Ar ts and Culґ tural Centre at 2.30 pm, with pick-up at An Creagan at 3.00 pm, arriving at Beaghmore for 3.30 pm and returning from Beaghmore at approximately 5.30 pm depending on local conditions. ґ If the weather's bad, we will have an alternative Living Histor y programme at An Creagan, a slide show illustrating the night sky from this special Dark-Sky site, and the EU-UNAWE presentation "Virginia and Galileo Galilei: A Sky Full of Discoveries".

3 Public Lectures on Archaeology and Astronomy and Observing from ґ An Creagan
ґ The last par t of this free BBC Stargazing LIVE event will take place in the evening in An Creagan, from 8.00 pm to 9.30 pm, followed by obser ving (if clear) from the grounds. The evening par t of the event will involve two Public Lectures, the first by Claire Foley (NIEA), entitled "Stone Circles and the Bronze Age Perception of the Skies"; and the second by Professor Mark Bailey (Armagh Obser vator y), entitled "Comets and Cometar y Concepts in Histor y: Identifying the Celestial Connection". Anyone wishing to par ticipate in either the afternoon or evening events is requested to obtain their free ticket(s) by telephoning or sending an e-mail to: Mrs Aileen McKee at the Armagh Obser vatory, College Hill, Armagh; Tel: 028-3752-2928; e-mail: ambn@arm.ac.uk.

Acknowledgements
Funding to provide this BBC Stargazing LIVE event is provided by European Universe Awareness (EU-UNAWE), funded through the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007­2013) under grant agreement No. 263325; the Armagh Observatory and the Nor thern Ireland Depar tment of Culture, Ar ts and Leisure (DCAL); the Nor thern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) and the Depar tment of the Environment (DoE); and the Cookstown and Omagh District Councils. It is a pleasure to acknowledge the suppor t of all these organizations, as well as the BBC, for the work they have all under taken to facilitate education and learning in STEM through this ґ year's BBC Stargazing LIVE event at An Creagan and the Beaghmore Stone Circles.

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