Halloween at Herstmonceux

Today was another gorgeous autumnal day so we packed a picnic and went to the Jubilee green while Rhods was out on his bike.

We relaxed a bit in the afternoon before the full evening of Halloween events kicked off!
This year for Halloween we did not go trick-or-treating, but we did watch the final match of the rugby World Cup (New Zealand vs Australia) while Rhiannon went to a birthday party, then we all went to the Herstmonceux observatory which is about 45 minutes away from us. I've been wanting to go here for awhile but tonight the big telescopes were available for an open evening AND for once we had clear skies!

Taken with my iPhone through the eyepiece of a small telescope

There were loads of science exhibits which could have taken our attention all night, but we pried ourselves away so that we could look into the amateur telescopes that were scattered around the lawn and also go into the BIG telescopes. The most impressive one was the Thompson 26-inch Refracting Telescope

Inside Dome E with the Thompson 26-inch Refracting Telescope which is 125 years old!
The floor moves up to the eyepiece for the telescope rather than the telescope moving. 

It was a beautiful night and also was so lovely to do something a bit different for Halloween and Grandma Debi's last night.