Next Meeting: Wednesday 25-Jan-2017

The next meeting will be the Society's 2017 Annual General meeting.  There will also be a talk on:  Astronomical Events of 2017. 

The AGM will be held on Wednesday 25-Jan-2017, as usual, at the Burley Hall, Waverton.

Please note the AGM date printed on the 2016 Membership Cards (27-Jan-2017) is incorrect.

Next Meeting: Friday 11-Nov-2016

The next meeting will be on Friday 11-Nov-2016.

Our guest speaker will be the renowned historian, Dr. Allan Chapman of Oxford university.  The title of his talk is:  Mary Somerville (1780-1872) and the World of Science. 

The meeting will be at the usual venue:  the Burley Memorial Hall, Waverton, CH3 7QN

Astromeet 2016

Leeds Astronomical Society will be holding Astromeet 2016 on Saturday 12th November

at the Clothworkers Hall in the School of Music, University of Leeds. Full details can be found at: http://www.astronomyleeds.org.uk/Astromeet.html.

Next Meeting: 26-Oct-16 The Appley Bridge Meteorite

The next Society meeting, on Wednesday 26-Oct-16, includes a talk on "The Appley Bridge Meteorite" by Russel Parry who has written a book on the subject.  This promises to be exciting and very interesting given the date it fell to earth and you might even get the chance to touch an object that, at 4,560 million years old, is one third the age of the universe.  You can view a flyer on the subject here:  161026.RussellParry.Poster.docx  [467 KB]

Please note that the meeting starts, as usual, at 7.30 PM, not as stated in the poster.

Rosetta's journey ends

The European Space Agency's historic Rosetta mission has concluded as planned, with the controlled impact onto Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko of the Rosetta spacecraft.  This does not mean the end of the mission as it will take years  to  analyse all the data it returned.  Read about it at the ESA website: http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Rosetta/Mission_complete_Rosetta_s_journey_ends_in_daring_descent_to_comet

BAA Historical Section Meeting, Liverpool

The British Astronomical Association  Historical Section  will be holding a meeting on Saturday 21-May-2016 in Liverpool.  Full details of the programme and booking information are here.  Details of all BAA events and meetings can be found here.

New link: Astro Radio

Astro Radio is an online radio station broadcasting an eclectic mix of music 24 hours per day.  There are also  programmes devoted to astronomical news and events with a slant on what can be seen locally.  The link can be found under the OTHER LINKS section.

Joint Spring Conference: Society for the History of Astronomy and the William Herschel Society

The Society for the History of Astronomy and the William Herschel Society will hold a Joint Spring Conference on Saturday 2 April 2016 in Bath.  You can download a copy of the conference programme from here: Spring Conference 2016 Flier (PDF file, 315 Kb)

Gravitational Waves detected

100 years after Albert Einstein predicted their existence, researchers at the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO), in the U.S.A. believe they have detected gravitational waves.

Back in September 2012 Dr. Ed Daw of Sheffield University gave a talk on gravitational waves to Chester Astronomical Society.  He was a member of the LIGO scientific team and a world leader on gravitational wave data analysis.  At the time he was confident gravitational waves would be detected within ten years saying:

"Now that the Higgs Boson is 'out of the way', the direct detection of gravitational waves is the next frontier in cosmic physics.  If they're out there, we'll find them."

Major advances in physics do not come often - perhaps once in 30 years, Dr. Daw thinks - and here we have confirmation of a major prediction of Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity made in 1915.

You can read the announcements from the University of Sheffield here and LIGO here.

British Astronomical Association survey

The British Astronomical Association (BAA), now in its 126th year, is conducting a survey to improve the usefulness of its web site (www.britastro.org) to all amateur astronomers, not just members of the BAA.  Many of you will know the president of the BAA is Jeremy Shears, a member of Chester Astronomical Society and a keen observer of variable stars.  You can read what Jeremy says about the survey here: www.britastro.org/node/7140.

The survey takes just a few minutes to complete and, as an incentive, the BAA is offering a year’s free membership to the BAA to one lucky (but randomly chosen) participant.  The survey is anonymous but to be eligible for the prize you must leave an email address for them to contact you if you win.  The survey closes on Sunday, 28th February 2016 so hurry if you want a chance to win!  The winner will be selected on Tuesday, 1st March 2016.

You can take part in the survey here: www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/HG9SCBV

Inpromptu observing sessions

Following each meeting an inpromptu observing session is usually held - provided the weather is suitable.  Details are given out at the meeting if it is to go ahead.

2016 Programme Revisions

The programme of lectures for 2016 has been amended.  The main changes are the addition of talks on these topics:

• The Apollo guidance computer      (Mr. Sid Jones);
• The Appley Bridge Meteorite        (Mr. Russell Parry);
• A Historical Topic                        (Dr. Allan Chapman).

 

Free public lecture: "Explosions, Dust & Robots..."

Professor Mike Bode will be giving a lecture titled, "Explosions, Dust & Robots: A retrospective view from the life and times of a ‘transient astronomer’ " to mark his retirement from Liverpool John Moores University after 24 years as Director of the Astrophysics Research Institute.  The lecture will take place on Wednesday, 20^th January 2016, in the Large Lecture Theatre of the Redmonds Building.

You can register for it via the following link:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/explosions-dust-and-robots-tickets-19681624268