Description:

Once again, the third and final day of our trip involved an early rise in order to catch the 7am ferry across to the Island of Mull, and then a 40-mile drive to catch the 8:45am ferry to Iona (pictured above). It was a sunny, but windy day, and during the 10-minute crossing we caught a brief glimpse of two dolphins making their way up the Sound of Iona. The island only has a population of around 120, but has a thriving primary school with around 21 pupils. The day started with a look at the ‘Solar System’ for all pupils, and then we teamed up older and younger pupils to create models of the 8 planets. After the break, we ran the ‘Nature of Light’ module, which looks at how astronomers use different types of light, many invisible to our eyes, to explore the Universe. To take us up to lunch, we took the older pupils aside and had them looking for asteroids, and also explained how astronomers around the world are constantly on the look out for rogue asteroids heading our way, and inventing various ways to deal with them if we find any.

After a good lunch, we ran parallel sessions with P1-3 (Earth, Sun and Moon) and P4-7 (Star and Constellations), before it was time to head off a little early to catch the 14:30 ferry back to Mull and another 35-mile drive to catch the 16:30 ferry back to Oban and then home. The drive during daylight meant that we got to see the spectacular scenery across the southern end of what is a pretty big island.