The Schools' Observatory News
September 2025
New: Cultural Astronomy Section
We’re thrilled to launch our brand-new Cultural Astronomy section on the Learn pages of our website! This update is part of a long-term anti-prejudice project funded by Liverpool John Moores University.
Over the past year, we’ve been reviewing how we can make our online space more inclusive, accessible, and welcoming to all students and educators.
People around the world have looked to the skies for thousands of years. From using the Sun and stars to guide journeys, to telling stories through constellations, sky knowledge is deeply embedded in every culture. Our new section brings together beliefs, traditions, festivals, and stories from across the globe, highlighting the shared human experience of observing the skies.
Explore 5 fascinating themes:
- Calendars and Timekeeping
- Astronomy and Belief
- Star Stories
- Navigation and Wayfinding
- Festivals and Celebrations.
You’ll find well known sites like Stonehenge, and lesser known gems such as Aboriginal sky stories, all in one place.
We hope this section helps learners see the skies in new ways and feel a stronger sense of belonging in science. This is just the beginning. We are still learning, and always striving to improve.
If you know a sky story or tradition that we’ve missed, we’d love to hear from you at SchoolsObs@ljmu.ac.uk.
New Career Heroes to Inspire!
We’re delighted to share another update, and this time to our Career Heroes section! As part of our ongoing project to break down prejudice and make STEM feel more inclusive and welcoming to all, we’ve expanded our list of role models. Our latest additions celebrate even more brilliant scientists and engineers from the Global South.
Meet some of our newest heroes:
- Enrico Ramirez-Ruiz, a theoretical astrophysicist passionate about mentoring students from underrepresented groups
- Noelia González, a science communicator working to make astronomy accessible in Spanish-speaking communities
- Farouk El-Baz, a geologist and lunar expert who helped NASA identify landing sites for Apollo missions
…and many more!
Our Career Heroes section is designed to show young people the wide variety of interests and skills that lead to careers in space. Whether they're passionate about maths, technology, the environment, or even communication.
Explore our New Career Heroes and inspire your students!
New Biographies to Celebrate!
As part of our commitment to building a more inclusive and inspiring space for learners, we've also expanded our History section with a brand-new set of biographies. These short, accessible profiles celebrate scholars from a range of cultures and time periods, highlighting the global heritage of science and astronomy.
These figures paved the way for many of the discoveries we rely on today, yet are often left out of mainstream narratives.
Meet some of the remarkable minds we've added:
- Abd al-Raḥmān al-Ṣūfī, the Persian astronomer whose star charts influenced science for centuries
- Aryabhata, one of India’s first great mathematicians and astronomers
- Mariam al-Ijliya, a skilled maker of astrolabes in 10th-century Syria
- Shen Kuo, the Chinese polymath who proposed early theories about climate change and the compass
…and many more!
Explore our New Biographies and help your students to see themselves reflected in the rich, global story of science.
New for Educators: Get Inspired!
We’re also excited to launch a brand-new section just for educators: Get Inspired. This is your go-to space for real stories, creative ideas, and practical support.
In this new section, you’ll find:
- Stories from Schools: Creative ways teachers have used our resources and telescopes
- Memorable Projects: Highlights from projects and outreach we’ve been part of
- Grants and Opportunities: If you are an educator in the UK or Ireland, you can find in this section some of the support you can get to kickstart your own ideas
Whether you're after fresh classroom inspiration or thinking of starting your own project, this space is built to celebrate educators like you.
If you’ve used our resources in your classroom, we’d love to hear from you! Share your story by filling in this form and sending it, along with any photos or media, to SchoolsObs@ljmu.ac.uk.
Grow Your Skills: New CPD Course!
We are delighted to announce our free CPD (Continuing Professional Development) courses including our brand-new secondary CPD course 'Introduction to Space Physics' and our popular primary CPD course 'Our Place in Space' for educators in the UK and Ireland who have registered with The Schools' Observatory.
The new materials are interactive, flexible, and tailored to your curriculum. You can explore a wide range of resources to utilise in the classroom, including topic knowledge and common misconceptions. You can explore these resources at your own pace and convenience.
Take a look at our Grow Your Skills page for more information!
We hope you enjoy the courses, and if you encounter any issues or have queries about either course, please get in touch at SchoolsObs@ljmu.ac.uk — we’d love to hear from you!
New: Keep Watch on Asteroids!
Did you know that some asteroids travel close to Earth? These are called Near Earth Objects (NEOs) and astronomers all over the world are keeping an eye on them. Now, you can too!
Explore our new Things To Do: Keep Watch on Asteroids, where students can learn how to track asteroids just like real scientists.
In this new observing project, students will:
- Use Go Observing to request observations of a real NEO
- Learn how to open and analyse telescope images to search for asteroids in their data
- Measure their positions across a sequence of images
It's a great way to build practical science skills, while helping keep a cosmic eye on our corner of the Solar System!
Look to the Sky!
Plan your stargazing adventures with our November astronomy calendar! Download it to display at home or in the classroom. Get ready for an exciting month of celestial events, including meteor showers and conjunctions between the Moon and some of the Solar System’s most impressive planets. Don’t miss out on what the night sky has to offer!
Download and display November's astronomy calendar!
