30th September 2025
This month the British Science Association brought its annual British Science Festival (BSF) to Liverpool. From 10th to 14th September, across many different institutions, the BSF attracted people from far and wide to learn about science in Liverpool.
The LJMU NRT team, in collaboration with the Liverpool Telescope and The Schools' Observatory, were involved in three big events designed to educate, inform and inspire a range of people from different backgrounds.
The first was a huge mural (5x7 metres) of the Liverpool Telescope, hand-painted by famous street artist Paul Curtis. This was a first for Paul who usually paints directly onto wall surfaces: for this project he was tasked with painting the mural on boards on the floor of the LJMU sports centre gym before it was transported to Liverpool One shopping centre to be fixed to the wall. This beautiful mural was inspired by a video by Daniel Lopéz showing a timelapse of the LT taking observations during the night. The beautiful Milky Way is the backdrop as the telescope tracks and slews to different objects.
The WIP: The LT mural being painted by Paul Curtis at the LJMU sports centre
A passerby stops to enjoy the Liverpool Telescope mural in Liverpool One shopping centre; part of the British Science Festival.
The LJMU NRT team also took part in the Liverpool Space Expo: an opportunity for the academic members of the Liverpool Space Partnership (part of the North West Space Cluster) to showcase their different areas of research. At the LJMU Redmonds Building on Thursday 11th September, the expo saw researchers from Liverpool John Moores, Liverpool Hope and University of Liverpool gather to talk about a range of topics from satellites to telescopes and situational awareness and microaging.
In addition to the mural and the exhibit, the NRT and LT team joined forces with The Schools' Observatory to deliver a brand new session designed especially for the festival. The 'Coding Robotic Telescopes' session was developed to encourage members of the general public to learn new skills in coding and observational astronomy and work in teams to program a robotic telescope model using scratch coding.
The 'Coding Robotic Telescopes' session at the British Science Festival. Led by The Schools' Observatory with support from NRT and LT staff
