Our Aurora Hunting events are based at the Battlesteads Observatory.  You can see the dates we're leading them on our website calendar or you can look at the observatory calendar for all available dates led by the Astroventures team.  If you'd like a bespoke stargazing/astronomy event please contact us on 01670 827465 for details of what we can do for you.

The Aurora Borealis (also known as Northern Lights) are magical and inspirational phenomena that grace the Northern night skies.  What are they and how can you go hunting for them successfully?

Aurorae are now very well understood by physicists around the world but for thousands of years and for many communities, they played a part in religions, fairytales and folklore.  Join us on a journey that begins with the history of the social and cultural impact of the Northern Lights through to our scientific understanding of the Aurora today.

At Battlesteads Observatory we aim to give our guests the knowledge and understanding you will need to hunt the Aurora Borealis for yourselves and hopefully photograph them.  You'll learn the basics of the science behind how they are created, how to find them, which apps to use and then how to photograph them.  After the workshop we'll show you round our observatory, introduce you to our telescopes and we'll show you how to use them.  Questions are welcomed and our team will be on hand to help you with anything we are able to.

If the skies clear for us, we'll take a short tour of the universe in ever-increasing distances from our home the earth, including the moon, the planets, any comets that might be about and then further into the depths of the Milky Way to view star clusters, nebulae and any supernovae that happen to be about.  You'll then be taken beyond the boundaries of the milky way and across the vast expanse of space to see other galaxies containing billions and billions of stars.

The Battlesteads Observatory is a gateway to the Northumberland Dark Sky Park and enjoys skies as dark as much of the park itself so later on, why not join our team in one of our many observing areas, where the twinkling stars of the milky way can be seen with the naked eye in all their glory, and perhaps an impromptu binocular tour from one of our team.

As of yet, we're unable to control the weather, so observing the skies can only go ahead if it's clear but you'll be pleased to know that all events go ahead in any weather conditions.