The Monkton Stargazers visited Year 1 classes in Bromstone Primary school and took them on a journey to the Moon.
The children were thrilled to see the principle of rocket motion as a balloon shot across the classroom riding on a straw attached to string. They were not so keen to sample some recycled water though.
On the way to the Moon the pupils stopped at the International Space Station and one pupil acted as either astronaut Tim Peake or Peggy Whitson. They answered questions from the rest of the class, such as ‘how do you cook food?’ transmitted across space by radio and remembering to say ‘over’ at the end.
When they reached the Moon they found lots of craters so carried out an investigation to see how they were formed. They also had fun dropping marbles of different sizes into a dish of flour.
To understand how we only see the near side of the Moon, an inflatable moon was passed around the class in a circle, always keeping that face towards the Earth at the centre of the circle. After spending a week in constant sunshine it was time to return home.
To find out more about visiting the Thanet Observatory contact the Monkton Reserve on 822666.