Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, London
"Solar Variability and Climate Change" ~ In order to be able to predict any future climate change in response to human
activities it is necessary to have confidence in our ability to simulate past
climates and also to understand how the climate responds to natural forcings.
All the energy driving the climate system comes ultimately from the Sun so it
is clear that variations in solar output are likely to have some effect.
Observational studies over many years have suggested that various meteorological
parameters vary in phase with solar activity but the problem in explaining
these observations is that the measured magnitude of the variation in total
solar irradiance appears to be too small to account for the apparent response.
Recently Professor Haigh has suggested that the effects may be amplified due to the
response of stratospheric ozone to variations in solar ultraviolet output.
Professor Haigh is head of the Atmospheric Physics Department at Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, London
3rd Feb 2011
6th Jan 2011
Dr Lingyu Wang
University of Sussex
The Herschel Space Telescope ~ Dr Wang, aResearch Fellow at the University of Sussex, will describe to us the contribution being made to understanding the Universe by the Herschel Space Telescope. Launched last year by ESA it is now providing results of immense importance. The Sussex team led by Professor Seb Oliver, are making a major contribution to this work and managing the SPIRE instrumentation on board Herschel.
2nd Dec 2010
David Pulley
Spectroscopy in Astronomy ~ For a professional astronomer looking at stars is about looking at their spectrum. From the spectrum much can be deduced about the stars age, composition size and distance. We will look at how spectrums are generated and how they are used. In the second part of the meeting we will make a simple spectroscope and use it to look at the differences between tungsten filament bulb, low energy bulb and a halogen bulb. During the day time you will be able to look at white reflected light from the Sun and see a spectrum similar to a tungsten bulb but with faint dark lines running across the spectrum. What are these?
A light hearted look at current and future missions using small satellites, with an emphasis on activities at SSTL and the space-science missions that are now becoming possible as small satellites become increasingly sophisticated.
Dr Stuart Eves is part of the business development team at the world-leading small satellite company, Surrey SatelliteTechnology Limited (SSTL) in Guildford. Previously, he spent 16 years with the UK Ministry Of Defence, in various space-related posts, before joining SSTL in January 2004.
During his timewith the MOD, Stuart initiated the TopSat satellite programme, which iscurrently conducting its Earth-observation mission. TopSat established a new world record for “resolution per mass of satellite”, and has now been operating on-orbit for more than 4 years. Indeed the mission has been so successful that the engineering model of the satellite now forms part of the space gallery atthe Science Museumin London.
Stuart has an MSc in Astrophysics, a PhD in constellation design, and has been a fellow of the UK’s Royal Astronomical Society for nearly 20 years. He takes an active interest in all things space, and over the past 18 months has been involved in media stories as diverse as:- William Herschel’s observations of the Rings of Uranus; a space experiment competition for UK schools; the Chinese and US ASAT missile tests; a novel scientific theory involving eclipses and ultrasound; an article on the large-scale structure ofthe universe; and the possibility of detecting earthquake precursor signals from space.
2nd Sep 2010
David Hardy
(Astronomy Artist)
'Faces of the Moon'. David Hardy, world renown space artist, covers all aspects of the Moon, with an accent on the Moon and trips to it in art, movies and SF: Fact/Fiction, Past, Present and Future. It contains a lot of material which nobody has seen before: clips from the 1929 German film 'Frau im Mond' (on which Hermann Oberth worked as scientific adviser), Bonestell art from obscure books, and so on. But also how we reached the Moon, with early US and Soviet probes and landings, Apollo, etc.
5th Aug 2010
No Meeting
The Society will be holding it's annual BBQ. There is no meeting.
1st Jul 2010
Dr Lewis Dartnell
(University College, London)
Is There Life in the Universe - A Beginners guide to Astrobiology
Dr Lewis Dartnell is an astrobiology researcher based at
University College London, looking into the possibility of life beyond
Earth. His work is focused on the survival of microbial life in the
surface dust of Mars under the constant rain of radiation from space. He
writes computer models to simulate the penetration of space radiation
underground and runs laboratory experiments on bacteria isolated from
Antarctica.
Lewis is also a prolific freelance science
journalist, writing for newspapers, magazines and websites, including
The Daily Telegraph, New Scientist and BBC Sky at Night Magazine. Lewis
has won four national prizes for his popular science writing, including
in the prestigious Daily Telegraph Young Science Writer Award. In 2007
Lewis published the popular science book, Life in the universe: a
beginner's guide, about the search for extraterrestrial life.
In
addition to this successful career in research and popular writing,
Lewis is very active giving talks on various topics at schools and
science festivals. During 2008 he presented at both the Cheltenham
Science Festival and the BA Festival of Science, the Secret Garden Party
music festival, and delivered a series of science talks for passenger
entertainment aboard the Queen Victoria as she cruised the
Mediterranean.
3rd Jun 2010
Dr Robin Catchpole
(University of Cambridge)
"Are we Star Dust or Nuclear Waste" ~ Dr Catchpole works as an astronomer at the Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge, having retired as Senior Astronomer at the Royal Observatory Greenwich in July 2004. He has authored and co-authored over 100 research papers and articles and used a number of telescopes around the world including the Hubble Space Telescope. Research interests include the composition of stars, exploding stars, the structure of our Galaxy and galaxies with black holes at their centres. His current research interst is in the structure of the Bulge of our Milky Way Galaxy, as shown by Mira variables.
6th May 2010
Dr David Whitehouse
Space: The Next 50 years~ Dr Whitehouse, author and broadcaster on astronomy matters, will give his thoughts on the next 50 years in space. Dr Whitehouse has spoken at ESAS on a number of previous occasions
1st Apr 2010
Dr David Parkinson
University of Sussex
The Current Status of the Big Bang Theory
"The Big Bang theory isthe idea that the Universe formed at some instant in the finite past, inan initial hot and dense state.It then expanded out from that, coolingdown and forming the stars and galaxies that we observe today.Observational evidence continues to support such a picture, but thereare still plenty of unanswered questions, such as the nature of the'missing' matter and energy that make up 96% its the materialcontent,and the initial conditions that gave rise to the structure thatwe see. In my talk I will review the current state of Big Bang cosmologywith regards to the observations, and discuss planned futureexperiments that will try to answer some of these questions."
4th Mar 2010
Simon Allen
ESAS
Galileo, 400th Anniversary of the Astronomical Telescope" ~ At last you have your first telescope and are ready to set out for an evening's star gazing only no one has done this before. You are the first. In this lecture Simon Allen recreates what Galileo saw 400 years ago. Galileo's contribution though was not just the discoveries he made in January 1610. You will have to see the talk to find out more.
4th Feb 2010
Dr Darren Baskill
University of Sussex
On the 4thFebruary 2010 we welcome Sussex University’s Dr Darren Baskill who will talk about the Advances in X-Ray astronomy (note that this is a programme change and it is hoped that Dr Seb Oliver will talk about the Herschel Telescope later this year). X-Ray astronomy is about high energy physics embracing black holes, neutron stars and much else. Research in this area has flourished over the last 40 years with the advent of space based telescopes. This astronomy cannot be done from the ground.
Darren views his job as “inspiring people of all ages” about science. He currently works half of his time as Outreach Officer at the University of Sussex's Department of Physics & Astronomy, and also as a freelance Astronomy Educator for the Royal Observatory Greenwich (ROG). At the ROG, Darren predominantly teaches in the Peter Harrison Planetarium, and during the winter he leads a large number of observing evenings. For the observing evenings Darren uses a variety of instruments, from off-the-shelf telescopes to the ROG's huge and historic 19th-century refracting telescope
4th Jan 10
David Pulley
ESAS
Roy Bicknell
ESAS
Tides ~ Why do we get two tides every day and why does the Moon have more influence than our Sun? Why is the Earth's rotation slowing. It is all to do with gravity.
The Norton Star Atlas, the first 100 years. Roy will celebrate 100 years of the Norton Star Atlas
3rd Dec 2009
Peter Gill
Eastbourne AS
"Our Sun" ~ Peter Gill, a member of the Eastbourne Astronomical Society will give an introductory talk about our nearest star, our Sun. The whole meeting will be given over to beginners and will follow our similar successful event in December 2008.
5th Nov 09
Dr Jacqueline Mitton
"A Woman's Place Is In The Dome" ~ Women have played an important role in astronomy over the last 400 years much of which has gone unnoticed in popular astronomy. As part of IYA 2009, Dr. Mitton will explain the significance of their contribution. Dr Mitton was a researcher in astronomy at Cambridge University. She is now a leading author of adult and childrens books on astronomy. For more information please click here.
1st Oct 2009
Ian King
Ian King Imaging
"Astrophotography" ~ An introduction to astrophotography by a leading exponent in his field. For more information click here
3rd Sep 2009
Dr Chris Lintott
University of Oxford
"Galaxy Zoo" ~ Dr Chris Lintott of Oxford University is updating the Society on his programme, Galaxy Zoo 2. Chris is a co-presenter of the long running BBC 1 programme "Sky at Night", will give us an update on the research that you, the amateur astronomer, has provided.
2nd Jul 2009
Konrad Malin-Smith
Croydon AS
Alastair Fairley
"Desert Eclipses" ~ Ardent eclipse watcher, Konrad will describe watching eclipses from the Sahara and Gobi Deserts. In 1996 Konrad had an asteroid named after him ~ 10381 MainSmith ~ and cited for "...a retired science teacher, has given entertaining talks to local astronomical societies in southeastern England over the last 20 years. He and his daughter Beverley have entertained and befriended numerous eclipse chasers at recent solar eclipses and also obtained superb photographic results."
Moon Landings – Alastair Fairley. Alastair is the son of the 1960/70’s ITN’s science correspondent Peter Fairley (see image). Peter Fairley, who died in 1998, led the ITN science team during the exciting period of the NASA Moon landings. Alastair has unearthed some of his fathers photographs, video and other images generated during this era. Much of the material was provided by NASA and has not been shown before. Alastair has agreed to show a selection of material to ESAS members ahead of the official launch at the Independent Photographers Gallery, 3 Old Brewery Yard, High Street, Battle. The exhibition, “Man on the Moon” starts onTuesday 7th July and closes 15th August.
4th June 2009
Chris Woodcock
ESAS
Peter Smith
ESAS
"Beginners Guide to Galaxies" Our own Chris Woodcock will give us an introduction to galaxies ~ spirals, ellipticals, dwarf ellipticals, irregulars and a lot more. Want to know how they are formed, how they evolve and what is in the centre then this is for you. Galaxies contain between a thousand million and a million million stars and there are a thousand million galaxies. So is there life out there.What happens when galaxies collide and what are active galaxies. A feast of galaxies for you to delight over.
"Telescope Housing" ESAS member Peter Smith will let you into the secrets of building an observatory. The Observatory should be part of the whole Instrument. That can only happen with good initial planning and research. This short talk is intended to give a holistic approach to that Astronomical Instrument, including how, where and why to house, ready made and Do It Yourself Housings; initial considerations for mounts and telescopes, remote control, astrophotogaphy and more to achieve the best nights observing possible with equipment that works as one.
7th May 09
Dr Roger Wood
ESAS
"Telescopes: Ancient and Modern" ~ Roger, an ESAS member, spent many years as an astronomer at Herstmonceux
2nd April 09
Peter Bolwell
ESAS
"Astronomy in Science Fiction" ~ Peter, an ESAS member. will relate his thoughts on this topic of particular interest to him
5th Mar 09
Lisette Petrie
Open University
"Exoplanets" ~ Lisette, from the Open University, will be talking about planets orbiting other stars
12th Feb 09
Andy Lawes and Lester Selmes
ESAS
"Making a simple Telescope" ~ Andy and Lester, ESAS founder members, will describe the telescope build. Members will get hands on principles in making their own simple telescope.
8th Jan 09
Dr Robert Smith
University of Sussex
"Supernovae" ~ Dr Smith, from Sussex University, will be talking on the history and science behind supernovae. This talk is aimed at the beginner as well as the more advanced amateur astronomer. Dr Smith has lead research at Sussex University on related topics of cataclysmic binary systems, rotating star systems and contact binary stars. Dr Smith has undertaken several roles at the Royal Astronomical Society and his current teaching focuses on stellar structure
4th Dec 08
Roy Bicknell and David Pulley
ESAS
"A Beginners Evening" ~ Topics will include 'Finding your way around the night sky', 'Measuring stars' 'Buying telescopes/ binoculars'
6th Nov 08
Greg Smye-Rumsby
Royal Greenwich Observatory
" Bits and Bobs" ~ Greg is Technical Illustrator for Astronomy Now magazine. Greg gave a fascinating and enthusiastic talk on the Moon. A talk enjoyed by all
2nd Oct 08
Rosemary Selmes
ESAS
" Memoirs of a Young Astronomer At Herstmonceux" ~ Rosemary, an ESAS member, recalls her time as a young astronomer in Quasar research during the early days of Herstmonceux
4th Sep 08
David A Hardy
David is a an artist who has since 1954 specialised in drawing pictures of astronomical and space-related subjects He succeeds in maintaining scientific accuracy while allowing his gifted imagination to supply the parts where data is not yet available. David has composed many pictures for astronomical books and magazines. Following David's talk the Society will hold its AGM.
3rd Jul 08
Andy Lawes
ESAS
Andy, an ESAS member, is going to give us the full history of the ESAS society
5th Jun 08
Guy Hurst
Astronomer, Editor, Popularist and promoter of Astronomy, composer and genealogist. Guy Hurst became editor of “The Astronomer in 1975 a position he held for 32 years. In 1976 he formed the UK Nova/Supernova patrol to encourage amateur astronomers to search for these exploding stars. He was President of the BAA from 2001 to 2003. In October 2005 he received an award from the Royal Astronomical Society (professional astronomers) for services to astronomy. His talk, unsurprisingly is on Nova and Supernovas
Meetings
