Stargazing without stars

Even if clouds stop play, you can still make a cosmic connection, says Eva Adorisio

- Eva Adorisio

Balancing on tiptoes, I peer into the aged metal telescope, its sheer size acting as a centrepiece in the small room that makes up the observatory. I squint, focusing on the bright-white planet that peeps through the slit in the building's dome. Despite the continuous sheet of cloud blocking most of our starlight, Jupiter shines proudly through the field of view. Seeing this gas giant, I'm amazed that we're able to see the Universe as if it's in arm's reach.

At the Jeremiah Horrocks Observatory in Preston, fellow passionate stargazers are taking their seats around me for the annual Forest of Bowland Dark Skies Festival, a week full of astronomy-themed evenings and, in an ideal world, plenty of stargazing.

Unfortunately, this evening's dark sky is obscured by an opaque blanket of thick cloud.