AN ASTRONOMY-LOVER is inviting residents to explore the heavens after reviving a society dedicated to the activity.

Carl Dingsdale, 62, has brought back the St Helens Astronomical Society which will meet each month.

The society had an original incarnation in 1999 before disbanding and Car says he wanted to relaunch the group dedicated to his "lifelong interest".

"I just felt like I wanted to bring it back," said Carl, a former operating theatre technician.

"It has been a lifelong interest of mine. I was about five years of age when I first became amazed at the night sky when I lived on Harris Street.

"This was when the streets were still cabled with gaslights standing on our pavements and there was hardly ant light pollution in those days."

Carl, who now lives in Thatto Heath, added: "An uncle of mine often visited our home. I used to insist that he come outside with me on clear nights to tell me the names of the stars and vaguely I can still remember him pointing them out to me and remember the smell of his pipe as he did so."

Carl's parents bought him his first telescope as a child before he got a bigger one aged 11.

"I was amazed when I first looked at Saturn, it looked just as it does in my astronomy books with its pale yellow disc surrounded by its system of rings and its moons, it just looked like a child's toy hanging in the sky."

He said: "I just thought I'd bring it back to see if there's any interest out there.

"'Naked eye astronomy' on a clear dark night is a perfect way to start a hobby. All you need is the desire to learn, a clear sky and a star chart or planisphere and away you go."

The society will meet on the last Sunday of each month at the back room in the Springfield Hotel, Thatto Heath at 7pm to 9pm.

The next meeting will be held on Sunday, July 29 and will discuss the Total Lunar Eclipse which will take place on the Friday night before, as the Moon will enter the Earth's shadow from 8.49pm and will appear a red-like colour.

The eclipse will last for an hour and 43 minutes.