Stars: questions and Band 8 answers

Yes, definitely. I find it really calming to just step outside and gaze up at the night sky after a hectic day. A couple of months ago, during a camping holiday in the countryside, I spent hours just lying on a blanket spotting shooting stars.

Not really, to be honest. I live right in the city centre, so there is an awful lot of light pollution from street lamps and high-rise flats. On most clear nights, you can barely make out more than a handful of the brightest ones.

A little bit back in primary school, actually. We did a short science project on the solar system, and I remember building a little cardboard model of the planets. Other than that, though, I have not really studied astronomy formally.

I did, yes. My grandad had a small telescope in his back garden, and whenever I stayed over, we would try to find the moon's craters and well-known constellations. It always felt like a proper adventure to stay up late and look at them.

I suppose so, yeah. It is a fascinating subject, and I would love to visit a proper planetarium or buy a decent pair of binoculars. Understanding how the universe works has always intrigued me, even if the physics side of it seems quite daunting.