Thousands marvel at Southampton’s astrodome at the Big Bang Fair

Thousands of people discovered the wonders of the night sky inside the University of Southampton’s Astrodome at this year’s Big Bang Fair.

Visitors to the Physics and Astronomy stands marvelled as the secrets of the Universe were unveiled by astronomers in a series of shows in the Soton Astrodome.

The shows were just part of the range of activities at the exhibition in Birmingham showcasing the innovative research being carried out by Physics and Astronomy at the University.

The highlight of the event were the planetarium shows with hundreds of people queuing to book their places.

Dr Sadie Jones, Outreach Leader in Astronomy at the University, said: “The number of school children wanting to sign up for the shows was vast so we doubled the number of shows we were putting on to keep up with demand. We also ran mini astronomy shows on the screen outside the planetarium so people could find out more about our research.”

Families and schoolchildren who visited the stands could also discover more about the University’s research using the INTEGRAL gamma ray telescope by guessing the weight of the tungsten block. They also learned how the SCFED Project is developing supercritical fluid electrodeposition as a new way to produce nanowires that could be used in creating future types of transistors. Dr Kristian Thaller, the SCFED Project Programme Manager, said: “Knowing that so many people were able to share in research that may become the basis of every computer chip is very exciting for the entire team.”

Pupils from the Thomas Hardye School, in Dorset, joined researchers on the stand to share with young visitors the work they had been doing with the University of Southampton and the CERN@school project on transistor radios.

Sadie said: “We were overwhelmed with the amazing response we had to our demonstrations at the Big Bang Fair. Over the four days we had thousands of people and families enquiring about our research, taking part in our activities and watching our shows.

“We hope that by sharing the innovative research we are doing at Southampton we will spark an interest in more young people to apply to study Physics and Astronomy in the future.”