Stargazing 2025 at Rutherford Appleton Laboratory

Join us for the 2025 Stargazing at RAL where we’ll have plenty of activities for the whole family, whatever the weather.

There’ll be meteorites, rocket building, comet making, a series of fascinating talks, robots, and of course, stargazing. We’ll have experts on hand to explain how they use the Diamond Light Source to find out more about meteorites and comets, and you’ll be able to visit the ISIS Neutron and Muon Source and Central Laser Facility to learn about how we use particle accelerators and lasers to learn more about space.

Newbury Astronomy Society will be in attendance and will lead the actual stargazing. If the weather doesn’t cooperate, they’ll be on hand to show their telescopes indoors and give advice about astronomy and what can be seen in the night sky on cloudless nights.

Planetarium shows will run throughout the evening (ages 5+ only) however places are limited owing to the size of the planetarium and are therefore allocated by lottery.

There will also be tours of the ISIS Neutron and Muon Source Experiment Hall throughout the evening and places are again limited and allocated by lottery. Please note that owing to health & safety restrictions, these tours are only for those aged 11+.

Tickets for in-person attendance will be released on Friday 10 January in three batches: 07:00, 12:00, and 19:00.

The talks will also be streamed online as follows: (visit the registration link for more info)

• 18:15 An Introduction to Stargazing with Cat Gould
• 19:00 A Virtual Tour of the National Space Test Facility with Charly Knight
• 19:45 The Square Kilometre Array with Rose Cooper