Astronomy looking up thanks to star Brian Cox

From the Ancient Egyptians to Copernicus and Star Trek, man has always been fascinated by the Final Frontier and the mysteries it holds.

And on the back of TV programmes such as Prof Brian Cox's Stargazing Live and Wonders of the Solar System, as well as Patrick Moore celebrating 700 episodes of The Sky At Night last year, there is now a resurgence of interest in all things astronomical.

The 'Cox effect' is so marked that this week sales of telescopes on Amazon soared by 491 per cent. Such is the enthusiasm of the 43-year-old, together with his knack of making the complicated sound simple, that he is not only a polished broadcaster but commercially valuable as well. Around four million tuned into Stargazing Live this week and millions have read his books on astronomy and quantum physics.

Locally, an event held at Walsall's New Art Gallery this week in conjunction with the BBC attracted thousands of sky-watchers, with a three-mile queue snaking out the door and down the street.

Members of the Penn-based Wolverhampton Astronomical Society say the number of people showing an interest has risen sharply in recent months.

And dozens of people attend regular stargazing events at Perton Library in South Staffordshire, after bosses bought a state-of-the-art new telescope in 2009.

Library development officer Scott Whitehouse, helped win £1,200 funding from the Royal Astronomical Society after writing a bid based around founding member Lord Wrottesley, who lived in the South Staffordshire area and was a well-known astronomer in the mid-1800s. That money was spent buying the telescope equipment, as well as two sets of powerful binoculars and stocking up on space-related books.

"From watching shows like Stargazing, there does seem to have been a surge in interest from the public at large," he said.

"Having the telescope here is a great way to encourage people in – and when we found out about the connection with Lord Wrottesley even more were interested."

The library has signed up to the Faulkes Telescope in Hawaii, which can be controlled remotely via the internet to capture images of far away galaxies.

Manning the Faulkes Telescope during a special astronomy event this week was Wolverhampton Astronomical Society member Steve Wootton. During the afternoon session, Mr Wootton managed to capture three galaxies at known as the NGC3190 group. The trio are a mere 60million to 90million light years away.

"I like getting an idea of the size and scale of everything - how big it all is and how far away," said Mr Wootton, aged 55, of Wednesfield.

"Being able to click a button and get a clear picture of something as amazing as a distant galaxy is quite something. There's the element of excitement in getting hold of a telescope – you hear about amateur astonomers discovering new stars or meteors, and people like to think they could do that as well."

Year Two pupils from Perton First School were among those at the library in Severn Drive to learn about space this week.

Rian James, seven, has made astronomy his hobby after watching a Blue Peter report on space. He said: "I like learning about space. It's interesting – you can see a few stars but there's a lot more you can't see."

His classmate Jenny Chan said: "You can see stars at night but not in the day, and they are pretty. It's fun to learn about other planets as well."

And six-year-old Luca Marandola added: "I like that you can see different planets and learn about them. It was really exciting to look through the telescope. I always watch programmes on TV about outer space. It's interesting."

The class teacher, Claire Foreman, said the school often linked up with the library, particularly to teach the youngsters about space.

"Because the Stargazing programme is on TV it's quite current at the moment," she said. "The kids always really enjoy it as well. They like their science."