Scilly Dark Skies Week takes place on St Martin’s between 5 and 11 October 2024.
Scilly Dark Skies Week is a celebration of grassroots astronomy and the Isles of Scilly’s wondrously dark night skies, hosted by the islands’ community observatory on St Martin’s. 2024's event will be a little more low-key than previous years, and focused on nightly stargazing at the observatory.
Whatever your level of interest or experience, Scilly Dark Skies Week 2024 is a chance to join us to learn more about our beautiful and pristine night sky. Immerse yourself in a week of stargazing: develop your skills of observation and identification, deepen your understanding and explore astrophotography. Whether you are something of an expert and have built your own telescopes, or whether you're just passingly curious and want to try something new on your visit to St Martin's, there will be something for everyone to do.
Scilly Dark Skies Week is what our observatory was built for: developing an active community of astronomers on Scilly. We'd love for you to join us!
Whatever your level of interest or experience, Scilly Dark Skies Week 2024 is a chance to join us to learn more about our beautiful and pristine night sky. Immerse yourself in a week of stargazing: develop your skills of observation and identification, deepen your understanding and explore astrophotography. Whether you are something of an expert and have built your own telescopes, or whether you're just passingly curious and want to try something new on your visit to St Martin's, there will be something for everyone to do.
Scilly Dark Skies Week is what our observatory was built for: developing an active community of astronomers on Scilly. We'd love for you to join us!
2024 Programme
Day |
Activity |
Saturday 5 October |
19:30 - Welcome drinks and opening stargazing |
Sunday 6 October |
10:30 - 12:00 - Coffee Morning at the Island Hall 19:30 - Torches-off Dark Skies Walk |
Monday 7 October |
19:30 - Stargazing at the observatory - Saturn and star clusters |
Tuesday 8 October |
19:30 - Stargazing at the observatory - astrophotography focus |
Wednesday 9 October |
19:30 - Stargazing at the observatory - galaxies and deep sky objects |
Thursday 10 October |
19:30 - Stargazing at the observatory - astrophotography focus |
Friday 11 October |
19:30 - Last night drinks and stargazing |
Tickets
Pay as you go - individual event tickets: £10/£6 (under 16s)
TO BOOK, EMAIL cosmosscilly@gmail.com
Please note: If you are not staying on St Martin’s, you can use the tripper boats to get to/from the island during daylight hours, but due to navigational risk, boating is not available after dark.
Pay as you go - individual event tickets: £10/£6 (under 16s)
TO BOOK, EMAIL cosmosscilly@gmail.com
Please note: If you are not staying on St Martin’s, you can use the tripper boats to get to/from the island during daylight hours, but due to navigational risk, boating is not available after dark.
Accommodation
There's more limited boating in October compared to the rest of the season, so we recommend staying on beautiful St Martin's if you want to take part in Scilly Dark Skies Week. There are lots of choices of accommodation available on our island. The Observatory is handily located in the middle of the island, roughly half way between Higher Town and Lower Town, and a short 10-15 minute walk from either.
Data Protection
COSMOS will store people’s personal data only when they have signed up electronically on our website www.cosmosscilly.co.uk or via a paper form requesting to receive information about a specific event or series of events. The data stored will be full name and email address and these will be stored together. This data will be stored on a password protected spreadsheet. The data will only be held until 1 month after the end date of the event. When data is no longer needed it will be fully deleted. The data collected will only be used for the purpose stated at the time of signing up and will only be used by COSMOS. At any time a person may contact COSMOS via email or writing to request the deletion of their data.
COSMOS will store people’s personal data only when they have signed up electronically on our website www.cosmosscilly.co.uk or via a paper form requesting to receive information about a specific event or series of events. The data stored will be full name and email address and these will be stored together. This data will be stored on a password protected spreadsheet. The data will only be held until 1 month after the end date of the event. When data is no longer needed it will be fully deleted. The data collected will only be used for the purpose stated at the time of signing up and will only be used by COSMOS. At any time a person may contact COSMOS via email or writing to request the deletion of their data.