STARGAZING in the Isle of Man is growing in popularity as amateur astronomers learn more about the stars and also take advantage of the Island’s often excellent atmospheric conditions and clear night skies.

The Isle of Man’s expert astronomer Howard Parkin, chairman of the Astronomical Society, is attracting big audiences to his regular talks on the Manx Night Sky and the response has been so strong that a new larger venue has been chosen for the next event.

When Mr Parkin hosted an astronomy presentation at the Henry Bloom Noble Library in November ticket supply was unable to meet demand. So the venue for the next event - on January 25 - has been switched to the much larger Noble’s Park Pavilion.

The new presentation, entitled ‘The Manx Night Sky 2012’, will advise local stargazers what they will be able to see in the Manx skies over the Isle of Man during the next 12 months.

Borough librarian Jan Macartney said, “Howard Parkin’s talk in November attracted record numbers to the library which meant that we couldn’t accommodate everyone. So, we’re holding the Manx Night Sky 2012 event in a much larger venue which has easy parking outside and disabled access.”

The timing for the talk couldn’t be better, as BBC 2 is running its “Stargazing Live” series from January 16 to 18. The Stargazing Live website* will be promoting local stargazing events and Howard and some of his Isle of Man Astronomical Society colleagues will be hosting an event in Noble’s Park on January 18 from 7 to 9pm to give people an opportunity to discover a little about the wonders of the solar system and our Manx night skies.

The talk will start at 7.30pm and is expected to finish by 9.30pm. On this occasion there is a £2 charge for tickets which include light refreshments and are on sale at the Henry Bloom Noble library’s ground floor counter.

*  http://www.bbc.co.uk/tv/features/stargazing/

Photo: Bill Dale