Astronomer Royal visit

Pupils and staff were delighted to receive a visit from Professor John C Brown, 10th Astronomer Royal for Scotland. He gave two presentations, one to Dalmellington Primary School and one to Doon Academy pupils.

The presentation to the primary pupils was on "Abra cad Astra - The Magic of the Cosmos". Professor Brown talked about planets, stars and the sun and illustrated his talk with some wonderful magic tricks. He demonstrated reduced gravity with magnets, Jupiter’s moons with a magic ring trick and black holes by making a fifty pence piece disappear through some rubber and reappear on the other side! In addition, Professor Brown explained how he did some of the tricks, but some remained a mystery to the enthralled audience.

His talk to the Doon Academy Astronomy group was similar but with more science and different tricks. Both groups were hooked by Prof Brown’s magic colouring book at the start of the show. After the talk, Professor Brown had a chat with the Astronomy group and promised to return next year when the Dalmellington Observatory is up and running.