More than 500 people peered through telescopes to gaze at the moon as part of the University of Reading’s sold-out Observe the Moon Night celebration. 

Stargazers from the local community battled Storm Amy’s strong winds to gather at Whiteknights campus on Saturday, 4 October and look up at the night sky. 

Before heading out to the outdoor observatory, attendees were greeted with presentations from various speakers - including Daniel Tani, a NASA astronaut who conducted the 100th spacewalk on the International Space Station in 2007. His livestreamed message was watched by attendees on campus and an extra 700 people online.

He said: “Very soon, NASA’s Artemis programme will return people to the surface of the moon. This time, we intend to stay longer than we ever have before and do much more research and science so we can prepare to take the next big step - to Mars.

“I’m hoping that the children of today can use the moon as their source of inspiration, dreams and motivation. The young people gathered here tonight might even be part of this amazing mission. Maybe building parts for the spaceship, writing computer programmes or doing the research. It may sound like an impossible dream for the children living in Reading, but it was also an impossible dream for me growing up in Chicago. 

“Hopefully you can look up tonight and see our beautiful neighbour and remember that twelve people have walked on that surface. In a few years, we are going to add some more people to that list, and more years after that, maybe one of you will be stepping off the rocket and onto the surface of the moon.”

Organised by Dr James O’Donoghue from the University of Reading’s Department of Meteorology and the Reading Astronomical Society, the event saw 500 members of the community, volunteers and students look through telescopes to observe the Moon, Saturn and Titan (Saturn’s Moon). 

Watch: International Observe the Moon Night – Live from Reading & Cyprus