{"id":933,"date":"2026-10-04T20:52:48","date_gmt":"2026-10-04T19:52:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/selectsidmouth.com\/?p=933"},"modified":"2026-10-04T21:02:27","modified_gmt":"2026-10-04T20:02:27","slug":"stargazing-in-sidmouth-a-night-at-the-norman-lockyer-observatory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/selectsidmouth.com\/de\/days-out\/stargazing\/stargazing-in-sidmouth-a-night-at-the-norman-lockyer-observatory\/","title":{"rendered":"Stargazing in Sidmouth: A Night at the Norman Lockyer Observatory"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Part of our days-out series for visitors based in Sidmouth who want to explore further afield.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>When the shops close and the sea fades to a dark line, Sidmouth has one more attraction waiting on Salcombe Hill. The Norman Lockyer Observatory is a working centre for amateur astronomy, and for visitors it is an evening out like no other in the town.<\/p>\n<h2>A scientist&#8217;s retirement project<\/h2>\n<p>Sir Norman Lockyer founded the observatory in 1912, after retiring to Sidmouth. It was first called the Hill Observatory and took his name after his death in 1920. Lockyer is remembered for pioneering work on the temperature of stars, which contributed to the foundation of astrophysics, and for his part in the discovery of helium in 1868.<\/p>\n<h2>Telescopes, a planetarium and public evenings<\/h2>\n<p>The site has historic telescopes dating from the 1870s to the 1890s, along with domes housing reflectors. A planetarium opened in 1996. Today the observatory is run by volunteers through the Norman Lockyer Observatory Society, and it opens to the public on scheduled evenings and summer open days. It is described as particularly good for families on holiday.<\/p>\n<h2>Planning your visit<\/h2>\n<p>Public events are listed on the Go Stargazing website and on the Sidmouth Town Council events page. Dates change and weather affects what you can see, so check before you go. We could not confirm admission prices or booking arrangements, so contact the society directly. Wrap up warmly, even on a summer evening, because Salcombe Hill is exposed.<\/p>\n<h2>Where to stay and eat<\/h2>\n<p>Compare hotels, guesthouses and holiday parks on our <a href=\"\/de\/places-to-stay\/\">Unterk\u00fcnfte<\/a> page.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Part of our days-out series for visitors based in Sidmouth who want to explore further afield. When the shops close and the sea fades to a dark line, Sidmouth has one more attraction waiting on Salcombe Hill. The Norman Lockyer Observatory is a working centre for amateur astronomy, and for visitors it is an evening&#8230;<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-933","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-stargazing","pmpro-has-access"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/selectsidmouth.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/933","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/selectsidmouth.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/selectsidmouth.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/selectsidmouth.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/selectsidmouth.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=933"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/selectsidmouth.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/933\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":936,"href":"https:\/\/selectsidmouth.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/933\/revisions\/936"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/selectsidmouth.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/selectsidmouth.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/selectsidmouth.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}