The Astronomer was Dr Rob Cockcroft, a Yorkshire chap who had ended up at McMaster University in Ontario. In the end, the skies were very clear, and the moon was almost exactly half full, so we could see Jupiter, Sirius, Orion, and many more stars than we can usually see in York. He focused his telescope on some interesting things, and had a useful little mini-laser for pointing things out.

After the food, he talked about our solar system, and the search for exo-planets, and how likely there is to be intelligent life anywhere else in the galaxy.

And then there was a “wide-ranging” question & answer session.