Pupils in South Molton will learn about space telescope

South Molton pupils will learn all about the new Herschel space telescope on Friday. Science communicator Huw James is bringing his interactive show about it to the community college. He is part of Science Made Simple, an innovative science communicatio

South Molton pupils will learn all about the new Herschel space telescope on Friday.

Science communicator Huw James is bringing his interactive show about it to the community college.

He is part of Science Made Simple, an innovative science communication company, which uses fun demonstrations with everyday objects to inspire students about science and engineering.

He will show how the telescope - launched this year by the European Space Agency - operates and how different kinds of light can be used ti observe the universe.

Pupils will look at how different kinds of telescopes work and how they can let us see what the universe was like 10 billion years ago.

Huw said: "Herschel's telescope is the largest space telescope ever launched and will allow scientists to find out more than ever before about what our universe looks like.

"This show brings some of this fascinating research into the classroom and gets students thinking about some of the fundamental aspects of physics - like gravity and light - in the context of one of the most cutting edge areas of research around.

"Physics suffers from a bad image, but research like this demonstrates just how exciting it can be and helps to inspire more students to consider physics and astronomy as a future career path.