Monday, 11 November from
1.00 to 2.00 pm for the transit of Mercury across the face of the Sun. Click here
for a press release, including interesting facts about such transits and an
image of the 2016 transit.
The
Section’s annual Sagittarius
newsletter has been issued and is available here.
A Beginners Night Sky course is being run by Elaine Mahy for members of the
Astronomy Section. See the members’ Facebook page or contact Elaine at elaine.mahy@gmail.com.
LECTURES
Dr
Robin Catchpole (Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge) will be giving a talk
entitled Eclipse 1919: That changed the way we see the world, at 7.30 pm on Thursday, 17 October at the
Frossard Centre, Candie Gardens. Click here
for a poster.
Notices
of any other public lectures will appear here and will be issued through the
media.
David
Le Conte gave a talk entitled Man on the
Moon, on Tuesday, 16 July at the Frossard Centre, Candie Gardens. Following
the talk members observed the start of the partial lunar eclipse with
binoculars from Candie Gardens.
On
Saturday, 06 July at 8.00 pm at the Observatory Claudio Dandolo
of Telescopi Italiani (www.italiantelescopes.net) gave a
talk about his design of astrographs and on research possibilities that are
within the reach of amateurs with small and medium sized telescopes, especially
in the identification of exoplanets.
Bank Holiday Monday, 27 May
from 10.30 am to 12.30 pm, to observe the Sun using safe equipment, including
the Observatory’s special heliostat. There will also be talks and PowerPoint
presentations.
Thursday, 25 July from 9.00
pm.
Thursday, 01 August from 8.30
pm.
Thursday, 08 August from 8.30
pm.
Thursday, 15 August from 8.30
pm.
Thursday, 22 August from 8.30
pm.
Friday, 23 August, 10.30 am
to 12.30 pm: Solar Open Day.
Thursday, 29 August from 8.30
pm.
Thursday, 31 October from
6.30 to 8.30 pm, with a Halloween theme. Click here
for a poster.
Monday, 11 November from 1.00 to 2.00 pm for the transit of Mercury across the face of the
Sun. Click here for a
press release, including interesting facts about such transits and an image of
the 2016 transit.
One or two open evenings may
be held during the winter and will be announced here and in the media.
TBA
SATURDAY MEETINGS
Meetings
are held on the last Saturday of the month, if clear, for observing and
imaging.
GROUP VISITS
The Astronomy Section welcomes
a limited number of group visits, by prior arrangement. See our introduction page for details.
STAR GAZING COURSE
The
six-week WEA Star Gazing course was held at the Observatory in February and
March. This is the 18th year of the course, and it was again fully
subscribed.
It
is planned to run a similar course under different auspices in 2020. Details
later.
ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY COURSES
A Deep Space DSLR imaging course will be held on
Saturdays at 8.00 pm, 2, 9 and 16 November at the Observatory. Contact Jean Dean. She led a beginners course in
March and April 2019.
The following is a list of
topics previously discussed (in reverse chronological order).
2019
04 June From Mars to the Multiverse (Lord Martin Rees on YouTube video)
09 April Dark skies and light pollution (led by Peter Langford and Jean Dean)
12 March SpaceX Demo-1 mission to the ISS, Dragon docking and splash-down videos
5 March 'BBC The Sky at Night 2018 - Guide to the Galaxies' video
26 February 'Mars: Inside SpaceX (National Geographic 2018 Documentary)' video
2018
17 April Discussion about astrophotography
workshop
10 April General discussion
03 April Astronaut Mike Massimo. Royal
Institution interview.
27 March Newtonian cosmology (led by Peter
Langford)
20 March The Saros (led by David Le Conte)
13 March Observing (Ceres)
06 March Next generation space vehicles (led by
Frank Dowding)
27 February No meeting because of snow
20 February Astronavigation (led by Jason Hill)
13 February Annual Business Meeting
06 February Launch of SpaceX Falcon Heavy
30 January General discussion
23 January The Concept of Mass. Royal Institution
lecture by Jim Baggott
16 January General discussion
09 January The Bethlehem Star (led by David Le
Conte)
02 January No meeting
2017
26 December No meeting
19 December No meeting
12 December The Planets. Royal Institution Christmas
Lecture No.6, 1977, by Carl Sagan
05 December Christmas dinner at La Grande Mare Hotel. No
meeting.
28 November The Planets. Royal Institution Christmas
Lecture No.5, 1977, by Carl Sagan
21 November The Planets. Royal Institution Christmas
Lecture No.4, 1977, by Carl Sagan
14 November Some old astronomy books (led by David Le
Conte)
07 November The Planets. Royal Institution Christmas
Lecture No.3, 1977, by Carl Sagan
31 October Administrative discussion
24 October Molecules with sunglasses – third form of carbon (led by Colin Spicer)
17 October The Planets. Royal Institution Christmas Lecture No.2, 1977, by Carl Sagan
10 October The Planets. Royal Institution Christmas
Lecture No.1, 1977, by Carl Sagan
03 October Reorganisation of La Société (led by Colin
Spicer)
26 September The Great American Eclipse (David Le Conte,
Elaine Mahy, Jason Monaghan, Tim Langlois)
19 September Astronomy Section website (led by Tom Harvey)
12 September A Journey to the centre of the Sun – Lucie Green at the Royal Institution answers questions
(Colin Spicer)
05 September A Journey to the centre of the Sun – Lucie Green at the Royal Institution (Colin Spicer)
29 August General discussion
22 August A Journey to the centre of the Sun – Lucie Green at the Royal Institution (Colin Spicer)
15 August General discussion.
08 August Summer skies (led by Geoff Falla)
01 August Cassini and Huygens at Saturn (led by
Frank Dowding)
25 July Power cut!
18 July Space tracking in the Apollo era (David Le Conte)
11 July Video: Sean Caroll
& Jennifer Oulette: Black hole firewalls, part 2
04 July General discussion
27 June Video: Sean Caroll
& Jennifer Oulette: Black hole firewalls, part 1
20 June Discussion and observing
13 June Discussion and observing
06 June Orbital Elements (led by David Le Conte)
30 May Discussion and observing
23 May Newton’s
Laws of Motion and Classical Mechanics (led by Colin Spicer and Jason Hill)
16 May YouTube Richard Feynman lecture
09 May Liberation Day – Meeting but no discussion
02 May Observing
25 April Globular Clusters (led by Frank Dowding)
18 April Observing
11 April Observing
04 April Visit of His
Excellency the Lieutenant-Governor Vice-Admiral Sir Ian Corder
and Lady Corder
28 March Mini-Messier
Marathon
21 March Observing with
the new equipment: Go To Mount, All-Sky Camera, and Planetary Camera
14 March NASA ScienceCasts (see www.youtube.com/user/ScienceAtNASA)
07 March International
Space Station update (led by Frank Dowding))
28 February James Clerk
Maxwell - 2 (led by Colin Spicer)
21 February James Clerk
Maxwell - 1 (led by Colin Spicer)
14 February Observing and
imaging (beautiful clear night)
07 February Introduction to
image processing (led by Jean Dean)
31 January Annual Business Meeting (start)
24 January Astronomical highlights 2017 (led by
David Le Conte)
17 January Packing of newsletter
10 January Open discussion
03 January No meeting
2016
27 December No meeting
20 December No meeting
13 December General discussion
06 December Christmas dinner at Moore’s hotel
29 November The Twin Paradox
22 November The Oort Cloud
15 November The Foucault Pendulum
08 November 8.30 pm DSLR Astrophotography
01 November ExoMars Trace Gas
Orbiter
25 October Ancient
astronomers
18 October 8.30 pm. Telescope training
11 October H-R diagram
04 October Fred Hoyle
27 September Tides
20 September Neptune
13 September Stars and objects of the autumn sky
06 September Astronomy apps
30 August Planispheres
23 August Collimation
16 August Astrophotography
09 August Barbecue and Perseid meteor count
02 August Tycho Brahe
26 July X-ray Astronomy
19 July Kuiper Belt
12 July Highlights of the STARMUS Festival in Tenerife
05 July Summer sky
stars and objects
28 June Dark matter and dark
energy
21 June The celestial sphere
14 June Mars
07 June Saturn and its moons
31 May Radio Astronomy
24 May Edmond
Halley
17 May Virgo & Bootes
10 May Transit of Mercury
results
03 May Sundials
26 April Filters used for
telescopes and cameras
19 April Leo
– a prominent constellation in the sky at this time
12 April Exoplanets
05 April Transits of Mercury
29 March The Soyuz rocket
This page was last updated on 2019 November 02
