STARGAZERS at Crosland Moor are bringing the night sky into even sharper focus with their new telescope.

Huddersfield Astronomical and Philosophical Society has installed the high-tech instrument in time for National Astronomy Week.

That begins on Saturday, August 23, when the public are invited to the observatory to check out galaxies, stars and planets for themselves.

The new telescope can magnify celestial objects several hundred times.

"It's excellent," said society treasurer Paul Harper. "We are very lucky. This telescope is probably as good as, if not better, than those in universities.

"Leeds University has got the same make of instrument, but ours is brand new.

"I don't know of any other society in the country that has got what we have got," he added.

Salendine Nook man Graham Mitchell last year left a legacy to buy the telescope.

The society has also been supported by the Cuckoo's Nest charity shop in Marsden, the Crosland Moor Community Shop and Huddersfield Pendragon Round Table.

The observatory, off Blackmoorfoot Road, will be open to the public from August 23 to Saturday, August 30, between 10pm and midnight.

Mars will be comparatively close to Earth. Viewers using the telescope should be able to see its polar ice caps.

Entrance costs £2 (£1 concessions). The observatory will not be open on cloudy nights.

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