New interactive astrophotography exhibition launches at Rheged on 23 October, bringing together spectacular images of the Cumbrian night sky and the wider universe.
Penrith is getting ready for a journey into space — without anyone having to leave Cumbria.
A new interactive astrophotography exhibition is set to launch at the Rheged Centre on 23 October, taking visitors from Earth through the Solar System and the Milky Way before heading out into the distant universe.
Cosmic Cumbria has been organised by the Eden Valley and Penrith Astronomy Group (EVAPAG) and has been programmed to coincide with the Cumbria Dark Skies Festival and the North Pennines Stargazing Festival.
The exhibition will bring together astrophotography from across the region, showcasing the work of EVAPAG alongside contributions from Penrith & District Camera Club, Cockermouth Astronomical Society, Eddington Astronomical Society in Kendal and Furness & South Lakeland Astronomical Society.
Visitors will be able to follow a cosmic journey beginning here on Earth, travelling through our own Solar System and onwards into the Milky Way before reaching other galaxies far, far away.
And there will even be an AI guide to help visitors along the way.
Zak, described as a state-of-the-art AI guide created for the exhibition, will help bring the images and the science behind them to life.
The exhibition isn't just about looking at spectacular photographs, however, with the launch evening also offering visitors the chance to see the Cumbrian night sky on the big screen.
The event will include the first public screening of Cumbria Night Skies, a spectacular walk-through film of space captured by local astronomers whose work is featured in the exhibition.
Following a short interval, the evening will then turn towards some of the biggest questions being explored by astronomers around the world.
Professor Roger William Lewis Jones, Principal Investigator of the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (UK) project and Head of Physics at Lancaster University, will give an insight into the Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile.
The observatory houses an enormous 8.4-metre telescope and the world's largest digital astronomical camera, which will repeatedly scan the sky in extraordinary detail over the next ten years.
Its observations will help scientists investigate some of the biggest mysteries and questions in astronomy, from dark matter and the evolution of galaxies to asteroids and objects that pass relatively close to Earth.
Despite the project being in its early stages, it has already produced some striking results.
Professor Lewis Jones will also explain how a particle physicist such as himself has come to play an important role in the project, giving visitors an opportunity to look beyond the spectacular images and discover more about the science behind them.
Cosmic Cumbria will remain at Rheged until February, giving visitors several months to explore the exhibition and discover more about the skies above Cumbria and the universe beyond.
The exhibition has been made possible with the kind support of Cumbrian Stone, Lakes and Dales Co-op and the former Penrith Lottery.
The launch evening takes place at Rheged on 23 October, with tickets available through TicketSource.
Get tickets for the Cosmic Cumbria launch evening
For anyone who has ever stood outside on a clear Cumbrian night and looked up wondering what lies beyond the stars, Cosmic Cumbria promises the chance to take a much closer look — and discover just how much of the universe can be seen from right here at home.
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