Wednesday 12 September 2012

Welcome to Galactic Orchids!

Thanks for visiting! This is the website for a public astronomy talk series to raise funds to fight female genital mutilation. Please have a browse around the site to look in more detail at the talks and the cause.

From October onwards, every 2nd Wednesday of the month, a talk on a different astronomical topic will take place at the Newington Green Unitarian Church. They'll be aimed at aimed at astronomy beginners, enthusiasts, and completely new folks - you don't need to know anything to come along!

I'm raising money for the Orchid Project and Daughters of Eve, two charities that campaign to end female genital mutilation and support victims of the practice. I hope representatives from these and similar charities will be able to come along and talk to you.

My name's Alice Sheppard. I'm a 30 year old astronomy nut, who has moderated the Galaxy Zoo Forum, a public astronomy project, for the last 5 years. I have mostly been learning astronomy on my own, with fellow amateurs, but last year I moved to London to start an MSc in Astrophysics. I blog at Alice in Galaxyland and am on Twitter as @penguingalaxy.

Huge thanks to Newington Green Unitarian Church for offering me their lovely venue in support of this cause!

I hope to see you there - please feel free to send me any questions. (This blog is under construction right now and will have a lot more information over the next few days.)