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.
Chester Astronomical Society is one of the world's oldest scientific societies going back to 1892. It hosts public lectures by amateurs and professionals alike and arranges visits to sites of technical interest.
Friday 2 December 2016
Thursday 27 October 2016
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
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
Monday 24 October 2016
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.
Monday 17 October 2016
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.
Please note that the meeting starts, as usual, at 7.30 PM, not as stated in the poster.
Friday 30 September 2016
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
Tuesday 17 May 2016
BAA Historical Section Meeting, Liverpool
Thursday 7 April 2016
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.
Friday 18 March 2016
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)
Tuesday 16 February 2016
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:
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.
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
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
Thursday 4 February 2016
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.
Thursday 21 January 2016
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).
Sunday 17 January 2016
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,
20th January 2016, in the Large Lecture Theatre of the Redmonds
Building.
You can register for it via the following link:
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