Mars Curiosity and *the* Space Book for Kids (by sarah)

I spent last week working at the Times Cheltenham Science Festival and as part of it I got to go and see a few of the talks which was brilliant. The first one I selected was Mars Curiosity as I spotted it had my old personal tutor Sanjeev Gupta in it. I also got a ticket for Jeany even though at 7 I thought she might be a bit young but she would never have forgiven me if I had gone to see such a talk with out her!

Sanjeev taught one of my favourite subjects at uni Earth Surface Processes so I was very excited to see how Mars research was going especially after seeing the prototype with Jeany earlier in the week. He looked basically the same but has grey hair! He still moves around far too much for a decent photo but that is what energises his talks (of course he didn't recognise me when I said hello - boo hiss but it has been ten years).

The other talker was Lewis Dartnell who was very engaging and handled the childrens' questions brilliantly at the end including the sad, 'When is it coming home?' Jean has been going on about forever vacations on Mars ever since!

Jean did get a bit confused about the fact the robot is ingesting Mars and yet needed batteries! I explained in whispers that it was eating the rock to see what it was made off and not as food. I was impressed she knew what ingesting ment to be honest. They went through the grissly details of man missions and radiation sickness and stuff Jean is still determined to go to Mars if she can or failing that she asked me if she could build a robot to go and then worked out that the 2030 mission would be a good one for her (she'll be 24).

After the talk I had to head over for a meeting but took Jean to Alaric and Mum and Dad to get the book she wanted signed. My meeting ended really quickly and just as well as I received a phone call from Al saying they couldn't find the book! I asked and was told it had sold out but then I saw a copy on the signing table and ended up talking to a lady who turned out to be the authors wife! It was the last copy!

Jean went and got it signed and I felt an ache of sadness for my impact lithologies and endolithic organisms and a moment of doubt about science communication instead of trying to go back but I missed that boat a long time ago. Jean was instantly obsessed by the book and Alaric and Lewis had a conversation involving lots of hands about space ship design. We had to drag the still reading Jean away from the table so that he could go home!

Jean has had her noise in the book ever since, it is a good childrens' book, informative, fun and easy to read but also it is gamified - the kids get to choose where they go on a stella holiday - Jean has always loved books like You Choose so this is right up her street. The illustrations are lovely and colourful, some simple and some intricate giving it a wide appeal to kids as it has different levels you can appreciate it on. It is one of the best I have seen recently and Jean took it into show and tell at school this week along with her cave man stickers and her t-shirt saying Question Everything. She proudly showed the other kids that it was signed with her name in as well

Jeany was very excited that they had mentioned Liecester as we had spent the previous week going around the space centre there etc... with my friend Becca (still need to process the photos and blog about all of that!)

Here is me and Jeany in our festival t-shirts - I'm hiding it at the end as it isn't that flattering of me! hee hee!

Easter Egg Hunt With Cranham Scouts (by sarah)

Wednesday evening I organised an easter egg hunt for the Beavers, Cubs and Scouts. The Beaver leader organised games and Alaric sorted out camp stuff with the parents.

I put chocs and chicks and stickers into plastic eggs.

I also made dairy free chocolates for the children with special dietry requirements.

We had a campfire for the Scouts and their's was done in the dark after the two younger sections had gone home. I had rabbit and duck marshmallows for toasting, hot cross buns of various varieties - again toasted on sticks.

Then I had creme egg splats and as it is Nation Science and Engineering Week and I had gone in to help with their astronomy badge a few weeks previously I created a came called Splats for Facts. They loved this game even though I had inflicted The Little Chicken Song on them all whilst their egg trail was being laid (some of the eggs where in the trees!).

I ended the night by telling Jean a Horice The House Dragon story - it was a continuation of one I've been telling her for a while but off course all made up on the spot. To my amazement I ended up with a group of teenagers all sitting around listening to it and even those I thought weren't listening were as they answered questions about what the story was about to those who arrived back a bit later from the hunt. They seemed very impressed that it was made up of the top of my head

It was a lovely evening and I took video of the fire and played with my camera in the hope of using the footage for something arty later on!

I took lots of low light level pictures of trees

Astronomical Fun (by sarah)

The last few weeks have seen me going in to help with the scout group for their astronomy badge - I took in my old Astronomy Now mags and some old lab books and mission cloth badges I was given at the museum when I worked there and the stuff I won with Celestial Montage from ESA.

Oh and one antique telescope our lovely friends bought us as a wedding present - this is the fourth time it has had an outing to help infuse you people with the joys of space

I didn't have time to plan a talk so had to wing it - this was made extra interesting due to the meteorite air burst over Russia and the near miss asteroid which the kids were a little confused over. So I waffled at them and gave them stuff to look at and asked them questions which showed that some were confused over the difference between America and Russia but that they have brains enough to deduce impact behaviour which was interesting.

The some of the girls meticulously pawed over my old note book and I explained abit about blasting rocks with lasers to see what they are made of. One boy shyly asked to keep an Astronomy Now and I think he would have taken more if he could have

Then they all toddled off to look at the night sky as it had cleared up nicely.

Yesterday I bought in stuff for them to make little models of the Hubble Telescope out of loo roll middles and serial packets - this seemed to go down really well and ended up in interesting conversations about space probe design.

I really enjoyed it

Patrick Moore RIP (by sarah)

Yesterday I heard the sad news that Sir Patrick Moore had died. He would have been 90 next year but didn't quiet make it. I feel there is very little point in giving an over view of his life and triumphs but instead I feel very much that I need to say what he ment to me and others like me.

I remember as a child being excited if I got to stay up and watch Sky At Night, I remember being plucked out of bed to watch the most amazing meteor shower ever with my father - because he had been watching The Sky At Night. I was so small I had to be carried out and I remember it! Along with the moon eclipse and looking at creators on the moon with my uncles telescope.

But this is standard - this is what everybody has as memories of him. But we were fortunate enough to have met him, to have had a conversation and to have been inspired more. He was giving a talk somewhere in Croydon - I can't remember explicitly where but my friend Becca worked there part time and so we had discounted tickets and we got together a huge group of us, from Imperial College and Alaric's friends from various mailing lists.

This was pre-blog days so I've had to look it up in my diary Below is the book I got him to 'sign'. There was no photo as as we didn't have the digital camera either.

The talk itself was interesting though we did struggle with understanding everything that was said - this was less than ten years ago so he was already an old man. He sat there like the typical eccentric English gentleman and pulled off stunts like inflating balloons and sending them whizzing around to demonstrate the physics of rockets

Alaric's party piece for many years was a demonstration of this!

During the break we went and purchased books and I was barged out the way by some ingnoramous who had to have his book and NOW! I was awaiting the first lot of back treatment and it put my shoulder in spasm. I couldn't stop shaking with the pain but I went back for the last half none the less and then I asked a question which got answered and was really chuffed. It was at the point were I was getting into the meteorites at the Natural History Museum and was attempting to find a PhD.

Me and Becca wondered down to queue to get our books signed, but when we got there it was obvious he was in a lot of pain, his fingers where in a dreadful state from the arthritis and too my horror I watched the guy who had barged me out of the way earlier on, grab his hand and shake it!

The poor man was now in even more pain and yet he then stopped to talk to me and Becca when there was alot of people to get through still. We told him how much he had inspired us and that we were both going into related fields. He gave us lots of encouragement and the fact I was ill suddenly seemed a very small barrier, he had had medical stuff all through his life too. He then tried to introduce us to same people he thought would be useful for us to know but they had had to leave already to get trains etc...

I have not gone on to have my career but I am writing scifi and that is something else he has inspired me in. Becca on the other hand is working her socks off getting informations about space and science and what not out there to the public!

We will miss him and as I delve further into the realms of science communication I realise that he was perhaps the first in the age of the T.V.

p.s. the signature in the book was done by Patrick Moore but using a stamp and ink pad as his arthritis made holding a pen impossible.

Father Day 2012 - Science Festival (by sarah)

Jean woke me up at 8 o'clock to make Daddy breakfast in bed for Fathers Day. I was already awake thanks to creative insomnia. We made him breakfast and presented it too him (not entirely sure he was initially chuffed to be awoken early on a Sunday!).

The baby instantly stole his yogurt (it's an alpro one so she can actually eat it and she did!).

We had also made some planet/space cupcakes for him which Jean gave him I bet you can guess which two the baby decorated!

The we were off to the Cheltenham Science Festival for the day. Above is me and Jean pestering the guy from the Cotswold Astronomical Society.

Jean again spent an age looking through microscopes and prodding things. The main phrase I heard through out the day was, 'I see you have a budding scientist there!'

Alaric found electronics and was happy He also found a picture of Alan Turin and thus told a very interested (and I mean it) Jean about the origins of computing.

Mary entertained herself for a huge chunk of time with reading the science festival programme

I found pretty lighting to take photos of!

Jean found an entity called Keji. She got to generate her own little creature who's bounciness was based on her heart rate. Meaning she got to bounce on a trampoline

She then helped the Sustainable Chemists with their experiments Though she did inform one Chemist that she didn't want to make a rubber ball because she wanted to explode more things!

Oh yes! She also wanted to start a fire with the telescope once I explained we mustn't look directly at the sun.

We then went to The Aviator at Staverton airport for dinner which everyone loved