Dark Side of the Dome: Planetarium's sell-out Pink Floyd event shines spotlight on unique astronomical experience near Ripon

Suitably titled, ‘Dark Side of the Dome’, the sell-out event was extended to provide for growing interest.

The animation, which took 10 months to complete, is an ode to Pink Floyd’s original album, released in 1973, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year.

Martin Whipp, John Roberts, and Chris Higgins, are three astro enthusiasts who joined forces around five years ago and remarkably hand built the entirely unique planetarium on Lime Tree Farm, in Grewelthorpe.

The original Observatory opened in 2016 after they salvaged a very large telescope that was under threat.

Mr Whipp, who created the animation using 3D software, is a volunteer who is often referred to as the observatory’s director.

He said:“John Wall, the chap that built the telescope was afraid it would end up in a skip.

“We dismantled it, and brought it back here.

“It was used to build our observatory.”

In 2018, the farm's landowner, Peter Foster decided ‘he wanted to do something different with his disused barn’ - and the inspiration to build the Planetarium began.

Mr Whipp said:“It was then we had the idea to build the Planetarium.

“We are just local volunteers, I’d had the dream for about 25 years.

“Chris and John share that passion and interest.

“It’s taken about four years to build between us.

“We never had any idea where the funding would come from.

“We’ve been active fundraisers, and had a few donations.

“We’d always had a good relationship with the AONB, who helped with social reach.”

They discovered building the dome between them would almost half the cost and applied for a Government funding pot called FiPL, which supports ideas that provide opportunities for people to explore, and understand the landscape.

The Yorkshire Dales is home to some of the darkest skies in the country, and is an official Dark Sky Reserve.

Mr Whipp said: “We’d had thousands of visitors up here coming to see the dark skies.

“We aren’t always gifted with clear skies so the Planetarium is a great plan B.

“We can simulate the night sky anytime we want now.”

The planetarium caters for a variety of different groups with different levels of knowledge.

Mr Whipp said: “We’ve had everyone from Rainbows or Scouts, to an 80th birthday.”

“Sometimes I’d get questions I couldn’t explain so I made an animation for it.

“One of them explains the size of stars, it's only a minute long but it demonstrates how tiny our sun really is.”

On a typical night, star gazers will spend half the night inside the Planetarium, and half outside with telescopes.

Mr Whipp said:“All we are doing is sharing our knowledge with those who want to learn.

“Arguments can pale into insignificance when you realise our place in the universe.

“People leave with a more optimistic outlook, a better perspective.

“We want to convey our enjoyment and encourage curiosity in the landscape.

“Like Radio 4’s The Infinite Monkey Cage with Brian Cox, it's important to have fun with it.

“We’ve had teenagers saying they wished their science lessons were as fun as this, which makes it all worth it.”