Four hundred years ago, an Englishman named Thomas Harriot turned a telescope on the Moon and marvelled at its rugged, cratered surface. The drawing he made that night is the oldest known depiction of a celestial object as seen through a telescope, beating Galileo by four months.

This is your chance to win FREE tickets to the Telescope400 event celebrating the 400th anniversary of Harriot’s achievement. Telescope400 is an exciting astronomically themed day for space enthusiasts young and old taking place at Syon Park, West London on Sunday 26 July 2009.

"What Would Harriot Tweet?"twitter competition

We have five sets of family tickets (2 adults + 2 children) to the daytime event, as well as two pairs of tickets for the evening lecture / reception to give away. In addition, each winner will receive a special edition New Moone Catalogue print. How do you win these great prizes? Simple; put yourself in Thomas Harriot's shoes. Imagine being the first person ever to observe the moon through a telescope. Then imagine that Twitter was around 400 years ago! How would you announce your observations to the world in 140 characters or less?

Just send a tweet to @astronomy2009uk and include the hashtag "#harriot", plus your message.

i.e. "@astronomy2009uk [this is what I think Harriot would have tweeted] #harriot"

Your message can be funny or serious, you can write a poem or tell a joke, as long as it's related to Thomas Harriot's first observation of the Moon through a telescope.

The entries will be judged by the Telescope400 project group, and we'll announce winners next Tuesday 21 July 2009.

Not on Twitter? Join here

Please note: the Thomas Harriot event takes place at Syon Park in West London on Sunday 26 July. The prize for this competition is tickets to enter the event, and will not cover any other costs such as transport / accomodation etc.

To find out more about the event, visit www.telescope400.org.uk