Star Struck

Luderitz had another exciting visitor this month, in the form of an astronomy volunteer visiting from America named Brandon Horn. Brandon is travelling to various countries around the world for a year teaching astronomy to primary school children. He is six months into his tour already and has so far visited China, Mongolia, and now Namibia. He is in Namibia for a month and a half and will be travelling around the country to various schools.
At each school he gives a talk on the stars, then does a night time astronomy session and leaves a telescope with the school, so the children can continue experiencing the subject. Brandon is funded by the Watson Fellowship, who give him money to purchase telescopes, travel to and in countries and provide him with a schedule. After Namibia Brandon will visit Sweden, Chile and Puerto Rico.
On the 9th of October Brandon taught for six hours at Diaz Primary school to different classes, and invited them all to come to the mountain between town and Benguela at 8pm so they could take a closer look at the stars and planets they’d discussed that day.
About twenty five children from the school turned up from grades 5, 6 and 7, and they all got to look at Jupiter and its four orbiting moons, as well as star clusters, the Milky Way and new born stars. The group was mainly boys, but there were a few girls who turned up and they all were very inquisitive about the night sky, asking numerous questions and reiterating what they’d been taught during the day.
Hopefully Brandon has sparked an interest for these learners and they will continue to use the telescope they have been provided with to experience and learn a lot more about astronomy.•