FT at Bristol Festival of Nature
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This weekend saw the FT’s first appearance at the Bristol Festival of Nature, held at the Millennium Plaza near the Explore@Bristol science centre. Despite the sometimes stormy weather, over 1,000 people visited the FT display in the Astronomy Tent.
The FT team brought along a selection of images from the telescopes, but the main focus this year was on the “Down to Earth” project. D2E is funded by STFC, and uses meteorites, impacts and dead dinosaurs to interest school students and the general public in science.
STFC has just agreed to fund an extension of the D2E project (previously concentrated mainly in Wales, with FT partnering with geologists at the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff), allowing the loan boxes and resources to be used in nearby parts of England – so Bristol was the ideal venue to start generating interest in the programme.
Over the 2 days of the festival, visitors were able to examine real meteorites, including rare Lunar and Martian specimens, and a variety of dinosaur fossils. The star of the show, as always, was the coprolite (or dinosaur poo as it is more commonly known!) sample. The FT team also demonstrated the Impact Calculator, where visitors were able to construct a virtual impactor before slamming it into the Earth – and using Google Maps to blow a big hole in the target area of their choice!
