Luna Astronomical

Luna was set up in the Spring of 2009 to provide a practical, friendly and relaxed environment for local astronomers, enthusiasts and the public at large.

We organise public access events that are designed to help members of the public experience astronomy first hand. We visit schools and local societies where we talk about astronomy, what you can see in the sky and how you can go about seeing the heavens first hand. Our Ask an Expert sessions are an extremely popular feature of these talks and they give children and adults alike an opportunity to ask all manner of interesting and thought-provoking questions.

If you're a teacher and you would like us to visit your school and talk to your pupils about space, science and astronomy then get in touch and we'll arrange a convenient time to come and visit.

We're based in the North-East of England and our patch includes the City of Newcastle upon Tyne and the surrounding areas. We're working closely with most of the local societies and, in particular, with the Sunderland Astronomical Society and the Centre for Life in Newcastle.

Luna is also dedicated to the memory of two of our region's most talented and original astronomers.

David Sinden was an expert in scientific optics and a skilled craftsman who dedicated his life to creating beautiful, practical objects with a precision that is hard to match. He was an enthusiastic man, energetic and passionate in what he did, if occasionally more than a little overwhelming. However, he was also astonishingly modest despite his numerous achievements, which were considerable.

David was born in Hartlepool in 1932 and left school at 14 with little formal education. He did however develop a passion for astronomy and optics and, when he became an apprentice fitter at ICI, used his newly acquired engineering skills to fashion his first telescope. Later, he sent one of his mirrors to Grubb Parsons in Newcastle - then one of the biggest telescope manufacturers in the world - for an evaluation. Optical shop manager George Sisson was so impressed with the mirror's figure that he offered him a job immediately.

David then worked his way up to the very top of his profession, becoming a world authority on large mirror design. Along with David Brown, he worked on numerous instruments including the highly-respected Anglo-Australian Telescope.

Equally at home on a shopfloor as he was in his laboratory, his twin mantras were "Good enough is NOT good enough" and that "Quality IS everything".

Here's a video of David which appeared on BBC Look North in 1985. Here, he talks about the restoration of an original Sir Howard Grubb telescope. His passion and enthusiasm for his craft and profession is immediately obvious.

Video originally converted by David Nichol

Joe McKie was another major personality with a unique, highly unconventional take on life. His energy and enthusiasm, not to mention his wonderful sense of humour are still missed 10 years after he went to the great optical workshop in the sky.

We've been thinking about Joe a lot lately. Joe had been researching a book on large scale telescope optics for the last 20 years of his life. As part of his research, he spoke to a number of highly skilled, high capable scientific opticians who were happy to discuss manufacturing techniques from a time before everyone had a personal computer on their desk, and the best tool for the job was often nothing more than a pencil and paper.

Recently, a collection of cassette tapes turned up featuring interviews conducted by Joe with some of the world's foremost experts in manufacturing telescope mirrors and lenses. The tapes were recorded around 1978 and their contents are remarkable - a real treasure trove for anyone into building their own telescope, whatever the size. We've digitised the recordings and uploaded them to the internet where they will be safely stored forever. Once we've edited out some of the unwanted artifacts, we'll make these recordings available to everybody.

Both of these remarkable men had a profound and lasting effect on the founders of Luna, which is why our schedule features an annual lecture dedicated to the memory of David and Joe. We hope that some of their wit, wisdom and enthusiasm will have a similar effect on a new generation of astronomers.