Greenock<\/a> two years ago to take part in a star-studded conference at the Beacon organised by the Skywatchers founder Marion McNeill.\n<\/p>\n\n ![]()
The Inverclyde Skywatchers team ran a recent Telescope and Observing School for local enthusiasts (Image: George Munro)\n<\/p>\n
\n Her endorsement is the latest milestone for the grassroots group, which is giving local people the chance to explore the skies above.\n<\/p>\n
\n The skywatching group has been helping to turn the area into a top spot for astronomical activity, having overseen the installation of a research camera called Scamp in the area to track fallen meteorites as part of a global programme.\n<\/p>\n
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Professor Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell Andrew Matthews\/PA Wire (Image: Andrew Matthews)\n<\/p>\n
\n Marion, who set up the group ten years ago, said: “It is a real honour to have Dame Jocelyn as our patron, she is an amazing lady and she is coming back to visit us next year.\n<\/p>\n
\n “We are delighted to have her on board and it is great recognition for the group.”\n<\/p>\n
\n The exciting announcement comes as the group continue with their usual programme, recently hosting one of their telescope schools at their base in the Inverkip Hub.\n<\/p>\n
\n Marion added: “We had a great day at the telescope school, there are so many people out there with telescopes in their house, but they don’t know what to do with them.”\n<\/p>\n
\n ![]()
The Inverclyde Skywatchers team ran a recent Telescope and Observing School for local enthusiasts (Image: George Munro)\n<\/p>\n
\n ![]()
<\/p>\n
\n ![]()
<\/p>\n
\n Since setting up as a small group in Greenock’s South West Library, Inverclyde Skywatchers has gone from strength to strength and is now regarded as one of the top community astronomy groups in the UK.\n<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
\n The group’s growth saw founder Marion win the Sir Patrick Moore award from the British Astronomical Association in 2024 for her outstanding work.\n<\/p>\n
\n The Inverclyde Skywatchers meet every Monday from 3pm to 5pm in the Inverkip Hub and all are welcome to come along.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Inverclyde Skywatchers are over the moon at being backed by renowned scientist Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell. The 82-year-old…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":436462,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[90,416,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-436461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-science","tag-space","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=436461"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436461\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/436462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=436461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=436461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=436461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}