Don't believe everything you see...

Photographs can be misleading: the photo behind the title of this page was of a cloud formation above my house.

Look to the left you might see Santa Claus looking down, although why he was sticking his tongue out I've no idea.

The photos below might all have been taken using a powerful telescope

- you decide what they are then click the button to see if you were correct.

And don't believe everything you hear either: the clip below is an extract from a TV documentary on canals.

The presenter visited an old mill where a worker quantified the amount of textile the mill used to produce every year: 8250 miles which is perhaps quite impressive but unfortunately the worker went on to attempt to put 8250 miles into terms that we might be better able to understand.

For reference the average distance from the Earth to the Moon (centre to centre) is about 239,228 miles so we should perhaps subtract 5,042 miles (to account for the radii of both bodies) giving us an average surface to surface distance of 234,186 miles.

"To the Moon and back, twice, and then halfway there again" is therefore 4.5 x 234,186 = 1,053,837 miles, which is quite a bit further than 8250 miles.

(As it happens, 8250 miles is almost precisely 1/3 of the Earth's equatorial circumference, although if he'd said that we'd have had nothing to laugh at here eh?)

There's lots to love about operating a mobile planetarium, but one of my favourite parts of the job is answering the questions, as you never know what's going to crop up.

Children are mostly very free and easy with their questions and comments, much moreso than adults actually who often refrain from asking what they worry might be seen as a silly question. However, sometimes the younger children don't actually have a question but simply want to make a contribution to the session by saying something... anything at all:

“My brother's tooth came out last night.”

“My dad says that in Scotland everyone goes to sleep after lunch.”

“Did you know, some bats don't like eating salad.”

“My daddy's got to take his motorbike in.”

After a few years of these things going in one ear and out of the other I decided to make a note of any particularly memorable ones, just to give me a smile one day after I've packed the dome away for the last time. :(

However, a lot of the material is 'comedy gold' and I've decided to share some of it here.

Picture yourself in a darkened dome with a session in full flow and an attentive Primary School class hanging on your every word: little hands are going up, questions and comments are coming in thick and fast...

Having opened with a beautiful photograph of the Sun, I pointed to the image with my laser-pointer and asked, “What are we looking at here?”

With a completely straight face came the response, “A red light.”

Sometimes there are misconceptions to deal with:

“Is it true there are planets where only dwarfs live?”

“Can you work out how old Saturn is by counting the rings?”

“You said that the stars move but that's not true because Peppa Pig says they don't.”

“I know where the closest place to the Sun is... Florida.”

Having explained that the astronauts who walked on the Moon had to carry their oxygen supply with them in order to breathe as there's no air on the Moon, just as divers in the sea have to take their oxygen supply with them as they can't breathe underwater, somebody asked:

“But couldn't the astronauts have used snorkels?”

I once displayed a photograph of Pluto and asked if anyone could name it?

A hand went up... “Is it called Richard?”

Most children are very good at identifying planets these days, but once I displayed a picture of Saturn with its unmistakable rings and asked, “Where's this?”

Unusually there was complete silence, but then a hesitant little voice asked, “Is it France?”

Whilst talking about the Full Moon, occasionally somebody will mention wolves howling...

“When we were on holiday, we heard wolves howling”

Me: “That sounds exciting, where were you? Somewhere in Central Europe?”

“No, we were watching a film!”

Having shown a photo of the Full Moon and then gone on to examine an image featuring Apollo 15's lunar rover, complete with tyre tracks and footprints, somebody asked me to go back to the Full Moon photo and drew my particular attention to the splodgy grey patches we're all familiar with...

“You said only 12 men have walked on the Moon... but how did just 12 people make all that mess?”

Somebody else whilst looking at the photo of the lunar rover with its antenna declared...

“You see that 'umbrella' thing? That's so they could get the internet.”

Whilst dealing with the phases of the Moon in Years 5 & 6 I explain how a 'First Quarter Moon' appears to be lit up on the right (as we look at it from England) whilst a 'Third Quarter Moon' appears to be lit up on the left. Whilst explaining this I ask the children to raise their left arms, just to ensure everyone knows their left from their right and usually at least 95% of the class are correct. On one occasion there was just one mistake but as I tactfully put him straight, his friend rose to his defence declaring,

“...but he's left-handed!”

I don't just talk about space though, I also cover the National Curriculum subject of “Light”.

Having explained how sunlight and raindrops can sometimes form rainbows in the sky somebody asked:

“But why doesn't the rainwater put the Sun out?”

Sometimes there are profound questions:

“Where does gravity come from?”

“Can blind people go to the Moon?”

Occasionally there are awkward moments:

“My grandad died and my mummy says he's now the brightest star in the sky: IS THAT TRUE?”

“Some people think the universe started with a Big Bang but that's not true because God made everything.”

And finally, sometimes I get moments like this:

Occasionally a child will give me a spontaneous hug as they exit the dome (always a slightly awkward moment but I'm afraid there's nothing that can be done as I'm standing at the dome entrance zip holding the fabric open with both hands).

Anyhow, I'd just completed a session at a school in what was a very deprived area and the children were leaving the dome, when a small boy gave me a quick hug then looked up at me and said...

“Thank-you. This has been the best day of my life!”