The Observatory
If the weather permits there are observing sessions open to the public on a Friday evening.
Details of opening times and the site’s location can be found on the Observatory page.
The observatory also opens on the first Sunday morning of the month from 10am until 1pm in support of Abbey Leys Farmers’ Market – again, weather permitting.
Recent Images
August 2025 Training has begun on the new telescopes.
The Crescent Nebula was the first object imaged.
Meetings
HLCO holds meetings on the second Thursday of each month in St John’s church room (location details here). Talks in astronomy and space research are given by invited experts or members of the HLCO team themselves. A small charge is made for these events. See below for details of future meetings.
We are always on the lookout for speakers. If you have an astronomy-related topic you’d like to share with a group of like-minded individuals, please get in touch by emailing hlco.steering@gmail.com
Upcoming HLCO Meetings
- October 9th 2025
Some Strange Characteristics of Gravity
Andy Verwer of MaccAstro will present a two-part talk to answer the questions:
a) Why do we get two identical high tides per day?
b) Lagrange points: what are they and why are they useful in space flight?
Image : Open University 
Image : Open University 
Image : Wikipedia