PUPILS at a Hereford school will have stars in their eyes following with the arrival of a free telescope.

Pupils at Aylestone Business and Enterprise College has received the telescope as part of the International Year of Astronomy.

The donation materialised after a request to the Society for Popular Astronomy from science teacher Zoe Tonge and will be used to teach GCSE astronomy after school.

“We are incredibly grateful for this wonderful donation - it will make a huge difference to existing GCSE pupils and encourage others to learn this fascinating subject too,” said Ms Tonge.

The telescope will make the moon appear 60 times closer and can reveal galaxies at least 50 million light years away under good conditions. It will also show the rings of Saturn and the major satellites of Jupiter later in the year.

The school also hopes to stimulate interest in astronomy in year seven by organising events offering pupils the chance to observe celestial objects and make sketches of them.