The University of Southampton is hosting a special ‘Stargazing Live’ event for all the family.

On Wednesday 11 January from 17:30 – 21:00, members of the public are invited to see the stars either from the comfort of the two Soton Astrodomes – the University’s inflatable mobile planetaria – or from the rooftop observatories.

This year also sees the launch of the University’s new Planeterrella, an incredible artificial demonstration of the Northern Lights.

The Astrodomes will be running planetarium shows during the evening and there will be a number of tours to view the stars and planets through the roof top telescopes. There will also be informal astrophotography workshops and talks from astronomy and space physics lecturers and academics on black holes, the Earth’s aurora and the life and death of stars.

The roof tours and planetarium shows are free but require tickets, which you can book by clicking here.

There are other free activities throughout the evening that do not require tickets. These include the hands-on activity ‘play doh planets’.

For those who can’t get a ticket for the roof observations, members of the Southampton Astronomical Society (SAS) and the South Coast Astronomy Group (SCAG) will also be outside at foyer level with their telescopes.

Dr Sadie Jones, Outreach Leader in Astronomy at the University said: "This free event provides a great opportunity to investigate our local night sky and encourages the public, young and old to discuss the big questions of the Universe with our astronomy academics."