Star Seekers - New Frontiers

Our project will;
- Provide access to a new Herschel planetarium experience
- Upgrade the museum star vault for live streaming of lectures, talks and workshops
- Develop new content that connects the Herschel story with modern developments in astronomy
- Build partnerships with institutions, organisations, staff and volunteers in astronomy, connecting them with new and diverse audiences to inspire, inform and excite them about the subject of astronomy.

Using the unique location of the museum, the very spot where William Herschel discovered the planet Uranus, we will bring novel, high-quality public engagement activities to a wide variety of audiences including visitors, community groups (including mental health support organisations), academic groups and students at both primary and secondary stages of their education. We will uniquely highlight how the sky as it was perceived by William and Caroline Herschel during the Georgian era, can be seen today and how it differs thanks to modern developments in technology and scientific understanding. Through this work we will involve our target audiences with stories of STFC science and technology, also looking to inspire them to make personal connections with the subject matter and develop their own interests in astronomy.

This key element of the project addresses a need in the South West of England, where there is limited access to planetarium experiences. Schools and groups we have not previously engaged with through our educational workshops and outreach, have expressed an interest in this unique opportunity and have confirmed they would host planetarium sessions in their schools. Through our schools programme we are already engaged with many of the local Bath schools, including those whose pupils come from areas within Bath that are included within the 10% most socioeconomically-deprived areas of the UK. Many of these pupils do not have English as their first language and this project presents an opportunity to bring astronomy, solar and planetary science to life for this audience and provide new, direct engagement through exciting new technology to which they can relate.

Upgrading our equipment would enable us to develop a new event programme in the star vault so that we can reach new audiences in the Museum itself. It widens the scope of our event programme, providing opportunities to build a regional audience for academic lectures, live streaming and talks in Bath from other national and international locations, for which the Royal Astronomical Society will partner with us.

This project would also enable live streaming during workshops in the star vault with colleagues in the field around the world, bringing them into the room to engage with our diffferent community and education groups. Colleagues at the European Space Agency have indicated their interest in taking part in this initiative. This new equipment would enable streaming of live star gazing events in the star vault when bad weather prohibits live viewings from telescopes, as well as displaying new digital content that addresses different themes depending on our audience, exhibition or access to new research as it becomes available.

Through the key project elements (planetarium experience, star gazing and astronomy events, lectures, talks and live streaming in the star vault), we are striving to bring astronomy and solar and planetary science to life in a way that is exciting, relevant and inspiring to a wide variety of audiences. We seek to do this through the provision of 'wow' moments driven by an audience led approach that is also supported with carefully considered content, delivered with academic integrity in engaging ways. We will endeavour to use this project to highlight the achievements of STFC science and technology, demonstrating the excitement of research and the value of STEM to the UK, as well as its wider impact on society.

Our content will be distributed in the following ways;
- In situ for audiences
- Online via downloadable resources

We will inform others of our success in the following ways;
- PR strategy
- Award nominations
- Submission of articles in journals as appropriate
- Regular verbal and written updates to partners, for diseminating amongst their wider memberships. This includes our partners in the fields of industry, academia, education and community specialist groups, as well as our own members
- Regular reporting to STFC as the project progresses