Moonstruck

About this event

In a nutshell... or in a moon shaped sphere if you prefer; unlike the Earth which is more of an oblate spheroid that is flatter at the poles and rounder in the middle (see what you can learn in the Planetarium!).

Moonstruck explains that the brightest and most visible object in the night sky and a source of wonder, myth, superstition and even romance, is ‘recycled' sunlight, reflected from its surface, which takes eight minutes to saunter past the Earth, before it reaches the moon and bounces off. “From Earth, the moon looks glaringly bright, almost white. But up close, it's more like... well, Tarmac, actually” explains Radio 4’s science comedian and narrator Helen Keen. “The illusion of the moon as a gleaming white ball is just that, an illusion, caused by looking at a dark object that is very brightly lit by the sun”. Learn more about the Moon than you ever thought possible!