Moon landings 50th anniversary marked by stargazers in Thanet
10:42, 22 July 2019
updated: 11:11, 22 July 2019
Stargazers celebrated the 50th anniversary of the first moon landings at the weekend.
Youngsters visited Thanet Observatory in Monkton for two evenings to mark the occasion on Friday and Saturday.
The events, hosted by The Monkton Stargazers group, featured activities for children to learn more about the Moon.
They were held by the STEAMette girls using education, arts and music to teach more about the moon.
Despite a cloudy evening on Friday hampering efforts to view the moon, visitors were handed booklets, stickers, poster about the moon.
The improved clear weather on Saturday - the exact anniversary of the first landings by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin - gave people the chance to view the moon rise and view it through telescopes and binoculars.
Workshops helped people learn about how craters form on the lunar surface, investigating samples of moon rock and displays about where to look for the Apollo landing sites on the moon.
The STEAMette girls performed an adaptation of Katie Parterson's Earth-Moon-Earth with a twist making it the Earth-
Moonkton-Earth show.
Their second show called By the Light of the Moon used moonlight to control a microprocessor to play Happy Birthday, listened to lunar-themed poetry.
Events to mark the historic landings will continue this weekend at the Micro Museum in Ramsgate.
The venue opened an exhibition on Saturday called Knitting to the Moon which will explore more about the computers helping to put men on the moon.
A display of models and space craft used during the Apollo missions are also on show along with videos from NASA and explore the Stellarium - a display by the Thanet Astronomy Group showing visitors more about the moon.
The exhibition will resume on Friday from 12.30pm to 4pm closing on Monday.
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