Starlearners land on Mars

Incredible - but true.  Starlearners are on board Curiosity.  Over two years ago NASA invited people to add their names to a list to be placed on a microchip on board the craft.  I added my name and Starlearner students to the list - and we arrived on Mars this morning.  Here's my certificate.

Well done to NASA for a great landing and for the first images sent back to Earth.

                                Curiosity on the end of a parachute

                                A wide angle view around Curiosity

Pictures : NASA

Olympic STARS

As part of Team GB, we were at Weymouth to see Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson claim the silver medal in the STAR class that started our sailing medal haul.  Well done to them.  Our photo shows the pair in action on the Nothe course.

Then the star Ben Ainslie claimed gold.  An incredible four golds in four Olympics (not forgetting a silver as well).  Ben is seen flying the flag high after a very tense medal race.

If we have been a little slower than usual replying, please forgive us.  Normal service will be resumed after the Olympics.

Astronomy in the Olympics!

Did you see the amazing cross country course at Greenwich Park?
Overlooked by the Royal Observatory

The course had some terrific jumps

Awesome.  We have some great course designers.

Images:
www.london2012.com - Official site of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games

The Transit of Venus - with no clouds!

I was up in good time this morning - 04.20!  Opened the curtains.  Just like for the street party in our road - totally cloudy.  The only difference was that today it was not pouring down.  So along with 2.2 million others I watched the live feed from NASA Edge.  A great view of the Sun and Venus from above the clouds in Hawaii. Here is the view of the Sun at sunrise for the south coast, showing Venus and many sunspots. 

Near to the end of the transit - viewed from Mauna Loa - with thanks to NASA EDGE

The Star Learner UK tour for writing up controlled assessments is complete!

Well done to our distance learners!  Our days for writing up controlled assessments have gone so well.  We travelled the country to keep the distances down that our students had to travel.  There are some great pieces of work to mark -

             Looking at sunspots to work out the rotation period of the Sun

             Superb images of the features of the Moon and the Messier catalogue

             Stellar density readings across the Milky Way

             Meteor shower observations, constellation drawings...  the list goes on!

The picture below shows our students hard at work near Andover, Hampshire at Farleigh Preparatory School.  Thank you to Father Simon, Head of Farleigh, for letting us use the outstanding facilities.                      

Star Learner relocates to Poole

After perfect night skies in Herefordshire, we have now set up just a mile and a half from the centre of Bournemouth.  Having written monthly night sky articles for the Docklands area of London, we will be enjoying viewing in town and out over the sea at the promenade.  The spring skies have seen some superb views of Venus and Jupiter in the western sky.  Now that all the internet connections, computers and office equipment is up and running - not to mention our webman David back from honeymoon with Shona (congratulations!) - expect to see changes soon to the Star Learner website.

Rest in peace Steve Jobs.

We are very saddened to hear the news of Steve Jobs' passing. He was a true visionary and his Apple products have revolutionised the way we work and communicate with each other.
Last year we made Starlearner completely compatible on Apple's and PC's, and it was only when I'd bought my first iMac that I really appreciated what Little Miss M had been raving about for years...
He had a unique insight to forsee what people would need before they realised it themselves - he created the technology to make our lives more creative and interesting.
Our thoughts are with his family. Rest in peace Steve Jobs.