Flamsteed Astronomy Society Programme 2007/8

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 - 10.00 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. In addition there will be viewing sessions with the Great Equatorial 28 inch linked to the museum’s Evenings with the Stars programme, starting November 2007. Sessions on:

The Moon & Winter stars — 2007 Nov 19 & 20; Dec 17 & 18

Destination Mars — 2008 Jan 14, 15, 16, 22 & 29; Feb 12

Saturn and its rings — 2008 Mar 7, 8, 11, 13, 14, 15

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.

Programme of Events 2007/8

N13 June 24, 2008

2007 September 1st,	Saturday	Walk the Willett Way with Curator David Rooney — a 2-hour stroll around landmarks and refreshment stops (!) in Petts Wood to celebrate the man who brought Daylight Savings Time to Britain. Meet at Chislehurst Station at 11:00. Ends about 13:00 at the ‘Daylight Inn’ Petts Wood
September 17th,	Monday	A Telescope workshop aimed at people with some experience and wanting to get more out of their equipment, with some considerations about upgrading, etc. Also very enjoyable for beginners — with ROG astronomer, Tony Sizer
October 8th,	Monday	Annual General Meeting followed by Stellar Evolution — a talk by Dr Robin Catchpole of the Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge, and former Senior Astronomer at the ROG
November 5th,	Monday	What the stars have done for us: from Astrology to Astrophysics — a lecture by our good friend Dr Francisco Diego, University College London. In the Lecture Theatre NMM Also the Annual Flamsteed Book Sale, from 6:30pm before the talk, continuing afterwards
December 3rd,	Monday	Flamsteed Christmas Party, and a talk, The Star of Bethlehem, by Rod Jenkins. In the Lecture Theatre NMM. The NMM Shop will be open until 7:30pm
2008 January 7th,	Monday	A session on Deep Sky Imaging by Martin Taylor Imaging with Planetarium input from ROG astronomer Dr Darren Baskill . Meeting in the ROG
February 4th,	Monday	Using Volcano-Ice interactions to decipher the climate history of planets — a talk by Ben Edwards, visiting Associate Professor of Vulcanology, School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia.
March 3rd,	Monday	The Herschels — a talk about this amazing family by Andrew Burns, President of the Wiltshire Astronomical Society. Preceded by “Imaging — Sticking to the K.I.S.S. principle” a short talk by our own Malcolm Porter.
March 17th	Monday 7pm	A Beginners’ Telescope Workshop for Flamsteed members with ROG astronomer Dr John Griffiths. See our report on the very popular workshop in 2007 in the Lobby, Peter Harrison Planetarium ROG.
April 7th,	Monday	Dr Chris Lintott, Oxford University and BBC’s Sky at Night reporter, will talk about ‘Who, What and When — Progress in the BIG questions in astronomy’
April 21st,	Monday	Dr Colin Pillinger, Professor of Planetary Sciences, Open University, will talk to us and sign his latest book ’Space is a funny place’. Preceded by “Webs and Bubbles”, a short talk by David Westcott
April 27th,	Sunday 11am to 5pm	Astronomical Mystery Tour — A charabanc outing jointly with Orpington AS, to tour places of historical astronomical significance in SE & Central London
May 17th,	Saturday	ROG Open Evening ‘A Grand Night Out’
June 14th,	Saturday	Visit to the Observatory Science Centre, Herstmonceux. Formerly home to the RGO (Royal Greenwich Observatory) and still custodian to many of the RGO’s historic telescopes
July 20th,	Sunday	Flamsteed Summer event — Workshop, picnic, & Planetarium show