The Battlesteads Dark Sky Observatory, is an accessible, public astronomical observatory offering talks, activities, stargazing and Astro courses to suit anyone from the absolute beginner to the professional. Located at a Dark Sky Discovery Site in Wark and under very dark skies, the observatory offers the perfect compromise between the beautiful majesty of dark skies and the facilities offered by a 21st Century Countryside Village location.
Amazing beginners stargazing evening. We all loved it so much. Thanks to Jimmy and Jacob for a fab evening of star spotting, we even saw Saturn and got a peek at some meteorites. Best thing we did on our holiday!
An amazing, insightful and magical evening spent learning about and locating the stars. Johnny and Jacob were very knowledgeable and clearly passionate about astronomy. A great evening and we'd definitely go again!! Thank you!
A big thank you to Jimmy and Rita for a most enjoyable evening looking at the stars for TANABATA, the Japanese annual star festival. Both guides were very enthusiastic and shared their knowledge and expertise with good humour, making everyone in the group feel welcome. The icing on the cake was seeing the observatory's museum-quality meteorite collection and being allowed to hold a piece of the Moon and a fragment of Mars in my hand. Mind blowing! See their observatory calendar for the many events they have on, I certainly hope to return for another star-filled evening in the near future.
An amazing experience! Very insightful, our host was great fun and full of knowledge (it was a couple of weeks ago but I think his name was Roy?) We were a little worried about the amount of clouds that night but still managed to gaze and stars and use all of the equipment! Seeing the roof on the building retract was very cool. We even got to see Jupiter!! (Photo attached for proof haha) Will definitely be back!
We had a great evening at the observatory, we were really lucky that the sky cleared on what had been a dull cloudy day, Josie and the team very quickly rearranged the planned evening to suit the weather, great! The guy who presented the space rocks should be on the stage, how he could make a presentation on space rock so entertaining and informative was exceptional. The guy who did the presentation on the telescope was just brilliant - so passionate about what he did! thank you to the whole team for an unforgettable evening, how you remember all those numbers is just staggering.
A super evening learning about the solar system, galaxy, constellations, and equipment used to see these. Chris, who lead us through the session was very knowledgeable and passionate about the subject. He had some meteorites and handed them to the group to touch them! During the session, he retracted the roof, so that we can see the stars. It was a cloudy night, but we managed to see a glimpse of them with the naked eye. The telescope was used to see some of the constellations. It was a very enjoyable evening and plenty of curious questions were asked! It is a fantastic area to see the constellations and it has now sparked my interest in exploring this further! I didn't take much photos as we needed to avoid white lights, so our eyes could see the stars in darkness!
Wheelchair-accessible car park
Wheelchair-accessible entrance
Good for kids
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Amazing beginners stargazing evening. We all loved it so much. Thanks to Jimmy and Jacob for a fab evening of star spotting, we even saw Saturn and got a peek at some meteorites. Best thing we did on our holiday!
An amazing, insightful and magical evening spent learning about and locating the stars. Johnny and Jacob were very knowledgeable and clearly passionate about astronomy. A great evening and we'd definitely go again!! Thank you!
A big thank you to Jimmy and Rita for a most enjoyable evening looking at the stars for TANABATA, the Japanese annual star festival. Both guides were very enthusiastic and shared their knowledge and expertise with good humour, making everyone in the group feel welcome. The icing on the cake was seeing the observatory's museum-quality meteorite collection and being allowed to hold a piece of the Moon and a fragment of Mars in my hand. Mind blowing! See their observatory calendar for the many events they have on, I certainly hope to return for another star-filled evening in the near future.
An amazing experience! Very insightful, our host was great fun and full of knowledge (it was a couple of weeks ago but I think his name was Roy?) We were a little worried about the amount of clouds that night but still managed to gaze and stars and use all of the equipment! Seeing the roof on the building retract was very cool. We even got to see Jupiter!! (Photo attached for proof haha) Will definitely be back!
We had a great evening at the observatory, we were really lucky that the sky cleared on what had been a dull cloudy day, Josie and the team very quickly rearranged the planned evening to suit the weather, great! The guy who presented the space rocks should be on the stage, how he could make a presentation on space rock so entertaining and informative was exceptional. The guy who did the presentation on the telescope was just brilliant - so passionate about what he did! thank you to the whole team for an unforgettable evening, how you remember all those numbers is just staggering.
A super evening learning about the solar system, galaxy, constellations, and equipment used to see these. Chris, who lead us through the session was very knowledgeable and passionate about the subject. He had some meteorites and handed them to the group to touch them! During the session, he retracted the roof, so that we can see the stars. It was a cloudy night, but we managed to see a glimpse of them with the naked eye. The telescope was used to see some of the constellations. It was a very enjoyable evening and plenty of curious questions were asked! It is a fantastic area to see the constellations and it has now sparked my interest in exploring this further! I didn't take much photos as we needed to avoid white lights, so our eyes could see the stars in darkness!
