Just hours after the space shuttle left the Earth's atmosphere and North Korea test- fired some of its arsenal, young rocketeers from Dundee were making their own bid to reach the stars.
The group of eight youngsters, aged between eight and 12, were taking part in a workshop at the Mills Observatory at Balgay Hill, Dundee, and creating their own water rockets. City astronomer Bill Samson helped the group half-fill large plastic drink containers with water, and attach a special nozzle to a foot pump, before filling the bottle with air, building up the pressure and watching them fly off up to 130ft in the air.
"We were also able to show them an image of the sun, projected on a screen using a special telescope. If there is any solar activity like flares or sun spots you can usually see them with it, but the sun has been quite quiet recently. It is a perfectly safe way of looking at the sun, and although we have a solar telescope at the observatory, we don't let the children use it, in case they decide to look at the sun later in an unprotected way." - Bill Samson
The workshop is one of a series to be run at the observatory each week during the school summer holidays, and other activities to feature later in the programme will include model making. Each session costs £2 and bookings can be made by contacting the observatory on 01382 435967.
