51 years ago, humanity landed on the surface of the moon, a groundbreaking leap in our exploration of space. 8 years ago, the Curiosity rover, designed by Nasa to explore the Gale crater, landed on the surface of Mars. Today, Curiosity continues to show phenomenal images of the martian surface. 

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At this moment in time humanity reveals exciting steps towards furthering space exploration, with the successful launch of the Falcon 9, Elon Musk and SpaceX are ever closer to make manned missions to mars a reality. The focus is now placed onto our nearest celestial neighbour, Luna, as it is soon to explored once more as countries around the world acknowledge the importance of new world exploration as a key to insure the survival of humankind. 

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Through astronomy we can join this amazing space journey, into the past, the present and dream the ever expanding possibilities of future space exploration, made possible by simply looking at the celestial wonders presented in the sky at night with your naked eyes, binoculars or telescopes.

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Anyone local with an interest in the night sky, come onto the Rawcliffe Green and gaze through both of the Rawcliffe Astronomical Society's very own Sky Watcher Telescopes on German Gyro Mounts and Berlebach Tripods provided by Harrison Telescopes and Luna Studio 47 for public viewing and the shear love of astronomy. 

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This page, the Rawcliffe Astronomical Society, aims to become a catalogue for your images to be displayed. We already have some submissions from Ed Harrison, of Harrison Telescopes and Brian Howes, an amateur astronomer, which speak for themselves.

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Please approach us and Contact if you would like to join the Rawcliffe Astronomical Society or would simply like to see space through a professional telescope for no charge at all. 

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In 2018, James wrote and had published an article in the U.S. The article is an historical account of a  U.S  company called `Vernonscope llc' formerly Known as `Vernonscope & Company'. The aim of the article was to both promote, and look at the historical background to their Astronomy  products,  namely the  `Brandon ocular eyepieces' for  planetary refractor telescopes, and their vast astronomical accessories. Read this article here.

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If you would like an accurate prediction on astronomy visible on a day to day basis, head over to TimeandDate.com. For a handheld astronomy companion we highly recommend you download Google Sky on your smartphone, which presents real time positions of stars, planets and constellations.​

 

Due to Covid-19 we will not be able to launch our group Astronomy gazing until further notice - however please continue to express interest, engage with us and send in your pictures!

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Click on the photos for more info and credits.