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Meetings will start with announcements and a chat about topics of interest by a Flamsteed member before the main lecture or event of the evening. Unless otherwise stated all meetings will be in the Lecture Theatre of the National Maritime Museum (NMM) and will run from 7.15 - 9:45 p.m. Members are welcome to arrive from 6.30 pm for a cup of coffee and to meet other members before the meetings start.
We will be announcing one or two external visits to places of special interest for the Society, and organising more meetings in the new Peter Harrison Planetarium. There will be viewing sessions for Flamsteed members with the Great Equatorial 28 inch linked to the museum’s Evenings with the Stars programme, at 9:30pm following the public sessions on the following dates — Tuesday November 11, 2008 Tuesday December 9, 2008 Tuesday January 20, 2009 Tuesday February 24, 2009 Sessions are weather-dependent and will be cancelled unless the weather is clear. There is a limited number of free places for Flamsteed members at these sessions and advance booking is essential. Please watch the home page for details. We are planning further training sessions for members who would like to help run public solar observing sessions using the Hydrogen-alpha Coronado telescope, and also anyone interested in being trained to assist the ROG astronomers at sessions with the 28-inch. If you would like to attend either of these types of training and haven’t registered your interest, please e-mail Mike via the Contact Us page. Please watch the website home page for Pub evenings at the Hare & Billet, Blackheath. For Observing Meetings please refer to the Observing Programme E&OE. All events are subject to confirmation. The Flamsteed Astronomy Society reserves the right to make changes and cancellations to the programme without notice.
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Programme of Events 2008/9 |
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A07 Oct 18, 2008 |
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2008 July 20th,
August 1st |
Sunday
Friday |
Flamsteed Summer Event: Workshop, How to build your own binocular mount, run by Flamsteed member Rob Willett; a picnic in the park ; Planetarium show
Partial eclipse of the Sun visible from London |
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September 21st |
Sunday 5pm |
NMM Members’ Event — ‘Navigation and the Interplanetary Superhighway’ a talk by Fred Watson, Astronomer-in-charge of the Anglo-Australian Observatory, Siding Spring NSW, and the public face of astronomy down under. |
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September 26th, |
Friday 7pm |
Decoding Meteorites, a talk by Dr Alan Longstaff, ROG astronomer, Associate Lecturer in Earth Sciences, Open University, science writer, and consultant. Preceded by the Flamsteed Annual General Meeting. NMM Lecture Theatre. |
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October 13th, |
Monday 7:15pm |
The Antikythera Mechanism, [ BBC Report / Wikipedia Report] a lecture by Mike Edmunds, Professor of Astrophysics at Cardiff University, and member of the STFC Science and Technology Facilities Research Council. Preceded by a 10-minute introduction to Marek Kukula, the new ROG Public Astronomer. |
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October 18th, |
Saturday 10:15am |
Exclusive preview of the new planetarium show ‘Invaders of Mars’ free for Flamsteed members, in the ROG Peter Harrison Planetarium. |
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November 3rd, |
Monday 6:30pm |
Photographing the Night Sky a talk by Nik Szymanek, Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Hertfordshire’s Science and Technology Research Institute. Also the Annual Flamsteed Book Sale, from 6:30pm before the talk, continuing afterwards |
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November 7th, |
Friday 7pm |
‘How to choose a telescope’ — Joint public/Flamsteed telescope workshop for beginners, led by Dr John Griffiths. Concentrates on what to consider when planning to buy a starter telescope. ROG Planetarium Lobby. |
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December 1st, |
Monday 7pm |
An Evening with Das — The annual Flamsteed Christmas Party with mine host Dr Darren Baskill in and around the ROG Peter Harrison Planetarium. Starts with 10-minutes by Pat Wainwright on eclipse-watching in the gulag. |
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2009
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IYA2009 is International Year of Astronomy in celebration of Galileo’s use of the telescope for astronomical observation in 1609, and other anniversaries including the first Apollo Moon landing 1969. |
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January 5th, |
Monday |
The Sun Kings by Dr Stuart Clark, science journalist and author. Stuart will be signing his book at the end of the meeting. |
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February 2nd, |
Monday |
The Search for Life on other Planets, a talk by Ian Morison, Gresham Professor of Astronomy, and Jodrell Bank Observatory, plus an update on work and plans at Jodrell Bank. |
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February 6th, |
Friday 7pm |
‘How to use a telescope’ — Joint public/Flamsteed telescope workshop for beginners, led by Dr John Griffiths. Looks at how to set-up and use typical starter telescopes. There is a limited number of free spaces for Flamsteed members. Advance booking essential. ROG Planetarium Lobby. |
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March 2nd, |
Monday |
To celebrate IYA Mars Month ‘Mars Discovered’ a talk by Doug Ellison, Founder, Unmannedspaceflight.com, The Planetary Society |
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April 6th,
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Monday |
‘The History of the Telescope’ by Richard Dunn, NMM Curator of Navigation. Richard will be signing his new book ‘The Telescope: A short history’ to be published early spring. |
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May 11th, |
Monday |
‘Cosmic Oasis’ a talk by ROG Public Astronomer Dr Marek Kukula marking one of the main themes of IYA2009, to explain the role that astronomy can play in facing the environmental challenges of the world. |
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June/August |
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More Summer events — to be announced |