College allows visitors to follow in footsteps of Galileo

The special event was designed to celebrate the opening of the college's new observatory as well as moon week and the international year of astronomy.

Those who went along on the clear first night were rewarded with close-up views of the moon and Saturn thanks to the dark skies above the site and its commanding views of the coastal plain.

The second night saw a sea mist restrict the sights to just the moon.

But even that left those who were glimpsing its surface for the first time happy.

Dr John Mason, principal lecturer at Chichester Planetarium, organised the event with his wife, Jane. She is the college's head of boarding and also teaches science and astronomy.

Dr Mason said: "A lot of people who came along had never looked through a telescope before and that was the whole idea of the event.

"One older man said he had looked at photos of Saturn in books all his life and never expected to be able to see it for himself."

More than 200 people turned up during both nights. They had 12 telescopes available on the first night and 15 on the second as well as those they took along.

They were following the example of the likes of Galileo who first looked through a telescope 400 years ago.

A large reflecting telescope has the pride of place in the college's new observatory.

The telescope belonged to astronomer Henry Brinton who lived and watched the night sky from Selsey.

The coastal town's other famous astronomer, Sir Patrick Moore, the star of the BBC's Star at Night programme, officially opened the observatory.

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