24th AGM Address to the Flamsteed Astronomy Society members by Bobby Manoo, Chair

It is sometimes supposed that there was no astronomical activity in the Middle Ages, but during this time much of the foundations of modern astronomy were laid. An overview of astronomers and astronomical knowledge from the 5th Century to the publication of Copernicus' On the Revolutions of Heavenly Spheres (in 1543), the talk begins with a review of the transmission of the Hellenistic astronomy of Ptolemy. Subjects covered include astronomy in India and Arabia, Anglo-Saxon England and Spain, as well as in the universities of Paris, Oxford and Bologna. Technological and other developments also influenced astronomy, including developments in optics, clocks, printing, and voyages of exploration by Italian and other navigators. Bio: As a founder member of the South Lincolnshire Astronomical and Geophysical Society in 1976, Dr Mike Leggett began to present astronomy talks for his local society. Since that time he has presented lectures for the British Interplanetary Society, at University of Aberdeen evening classes, for the Society for the History of Astronomy and to astronomical societies and other groups throughout the UK. He is currently Publicity Officer for the Milton Keynes Astronomical Society, for whom he has also served as Chairman and Secretary. A former Council Member and Publicity Officer for the Society for the History of Astronomy (SHA), he is currently county co-ordinator for Buckinghamshire, Lincolnshire, Norfolk and Rutland in the SHA survey of astronomical history of the UK. A Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and a Fellow of the British Interplanetary Society, Dr Mike Leggett is also a member of the British Astronomical Association, the Society for Popular Astronomy, the National Space Society and the Planetary Society.

In this lecture, Professor Colin Snodgrass describes the NASA DART planetary defence mission, which successfully changed the trajectory of a small asteroid in September 2022, and the observations of the results using telescopes on Earth. As the spacecraft was destroyed during the controlled collision, Earth-based observations were critical for measuring the effectiveness of the experiment. The very moment of impact itself was only visible from areas around the Indian Ocean, where there are relatively few observatories. The University of Edinburgh led a programme to set up a new observatory in Kenya to capture images of the DART impact. Professor Snodgrass discusses the results of the DART mission, and the challenges and future opportunities presented by establishing a new observatory in this remote location in Africa. Professor Colin Snodgrass started his career at St Andrews University as an undergraduate, before moving to Queen’s University Belfast for his PhD, and then research fellowships at the European Southern Observatory in Chile, the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Germany, and the Open University in England. He took up his current position of Chancellor’s Fellow for Data Driven Innovation at the University of Edinburgh in 2018. His work combines observational studies of comets and asteroids with work on space missions to visit them. He has had roles in the ESA Rosetta, Comet Interceptor and Hera missions, and the NASA DART project. This evening's event includes an Astronomy News report by Adrian Challinor.

A lot is spent on space exploration and some people believe that it is a waste of money. However, there are so many everyday things that we take for granted that wouldn’t exist if it hadn't been for the Space Programme. This talk takes a deep dive into this subject. Looking in detail at direct benefits thanks to satellites, space technologies etc., but also takes a look at some of the less well known spin-offs. Bio: Mary is an amateur astronomer and astronomy communicator based in Oxfordshire. Born and raised in Lancashire, Mary had her head in astronomy books before she could even read and got her first telescope when she was just 11 years old. That passion was reignited when she had the chance to study for the Astronomy GCSE exam in 2011, and she then went on to study the Certificate in Astronomy and Planetary Science at the Open University. Mary is a keen astrophotographer and a move to the dark skies of rural Oxfordshire with her astronomer husband has helped to fuel this passion. She has had her images appear in astronomy magazines, books, local newspapers and on various tv shows. She also loves astronomy sketching and art because it makes her feel better “connected” with the object she is drawing. She has written many articles for Sky at Night magazine and several for the Yearbook of Astronomy. She is a member of the British Astronomical Association, the Society for Popular Astronomy and Society for the History of Astronomy. She is co-host on the Astronomy FM radio show “Comet Watch” and a member of the AstroRadio team. Mary is passionate about outreach and loves giving talks, running astrophotography and astronomy sketching workshops. She was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society in 2018. Mary and Mark are part of the UK Meteor Network and currently have five meteor cameras installed. When she isn’t doing astronomy, she enjoys other types of painting and photography and also plays bass guitar.

Lassell made his fortune as a Liverpool brewer. This enabled him to pursue his passion for astronomy, particularly his keen interest in the outer planets. Described as one of the first “Grand Amateurs” of the Victorian age, William Lassell list of achievements is truly impressive. He Built large 24-inch and 48-inch metal mirror reflector telescopes using his own workshops. He mapped over 600 deep sky objects, over 175 years ago he discovered Triton, the largest moon of Neptune, co-discovered Hyperion, a moon of Saturn, and went on to discover Ariel and Umbriel, two moons of the planet Uranus. This presentation is his story. Bio: Gerard Gilligan first became interested in the great science of Astronomy when he was 8 years old, following the Apollo 8 mission around the Moon. He soon took a book off a school library shelf – and yes it was written by Patrick Moore. His mum brought Him his own astronomy book and a pair of binoculars for the Christmas of 1969, and after all that he was hooked! He first joined Liverpool Astronomical Society almost 40 years ago, and have had two stints as Secretary 1986 – 1989, and 2009 – 2015, and serving as Society President 2000 – 02. He has many interests within astronomy, and following man’s interest in exploring space, both with manned and unmanned space craft. He enjoy's giving talks on astronomy to both astronomical societies, groups, and during outreach events. But his particular interest is the history of Astronomy, both locally and nationally, and he is a founder member of the Society for the History of Astronomy. He has served as SHA membership secretary, meeting Secretary, and was elected Chairman of the Society in 2018. The SHA celebrated its 20th anniversary year of foundation in 2022. His ongoing research interests are Victorian astronomers William Lassell (1799 – 1880), William Benjamin Hutchinson,(c1900), Richard Compton Johnson (1840 – 1910), Bidston Observatory from 1866, and the History of Liverpool Astronomical Society from 1881 – present day. He live's in Liverpool, Merseyside, recently retired from Liverpool University, School of Life Sciences, as a Technical Laboratory Supervisor after 42 years. He has a wife, two grown-up children, gold fish, plus 8 inch Dobsonian telescope to support.

Malcolm Porter, who passed away on 6 January 2023, was a member of the Flamsteed Astronomy Society for just under 18 years. For 10 of those years, he was a member of the society's committee, including 4 years serving as chair. He also coordinated our History of Astronomy group for more than 5 years. Malcolm had a special interest in the History of Astronomy and presented many times on a wide range of historical topics. He was a very experienced astrophotographer and often presented our Sky this Month talk where he would highlight the best objects in the night sky at the time. This tribute showcases a selection of images taken by Malcolm over the years and some of the events that he has participated in during his time at the Flamsteed.

Dr Simon Steel gives an insight into the SETI Institute and the current state of SETI research. Are We Alone? This very simple question remains tantalisingly unanswered, but research at the SETI Institute continues the quest for answers. Dr Steel is Senior Director of Education and Outreach at the SETI Institute, located in Silicon Valley, California. He is a graduate of Sussex University and received his PhD from University College Dublin, where his research focused on star formation in blue compact galaxies. He worked for many years at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts and, prior to moving to sunny California, taught with the Certificate in Astronomy programme at University College London.

Professor Suzanne Aigrain takes stock of some of the main discoveries in exoplanet exploration since she last spoke to the Flamsteed Astronomy Society 8 years ago. She will discuss the prospects for and challenges in detecting planets capable of supporting life around nearby stars, in particular with the PLATO space mission and the Terra Hunting Experiment (THE) on the ground. At the end of her talk, she describes long-term plans for building a large space telescope equipped with a powerful coronagraph, which might enable us to detect signs of biological activity on some of those planets. Suzanne is a Professor of Astrophysics at Oxford University and a Fellow of All Souls College. Her research interests include the detection and characterisation of exoplanets via the transit and radial velocity (RV) methods, the impact of stellar activity on exoplanet studies, and the application of modern Bayesian data analysis methods to astronomical datasets. She has worked extensively on past, present and future space-based transit search missions CoRoT, Kepler, K2, TESS and PLATO. She pioneered, and continues to develop, the application of Gaussian Process regression to exoplanet datasets. She is PI of the project “GPRV: overcoming stellar activity in radial velocity planet searches”, funded by the European Research Council, and receives funding from UKRI/STFC to work on TESS and PLATO. She also has a strong interest in science communication, citizen science, and promoting good practice in data analysis.

Adrian Challinor presents the latest astronomy news and Malcolm Porter presents astronomical highlights for 2022. After 2 years away from the National Maritime Museum, this presentation is the first the Flamsteed Astronomy Society has ever done simultaneously at the Museum's lecture theatre and on Zoom. Adrian Challinor has long been a space-nerd, having avidly followed all of the Apollo missions in the 1960s and 70s. After graduating from the University of Durham with degrees in Computing, Electronics, and Maths, he became a computer geek, and spent most of his time glued to at least one screen (often many more). In 2007, his wife, Jan, bought him a course at the Royal Observatory Greenwich called "An Introduction to Astronomy". This was to get him out of the house and away from his computer. He followed that with a GCSE in Astronomy and Foundation Astrophysics, both with Alan Longstaff. Having swapped one all consuming activity for another, Jan now regrets this decision. Adrian has been a member of the Flamsteed Astronomy Society since 2009, and was press ganged on to the committee in 2020. Apart from presenting Astronomy News (which he admits is heavy biased to topics that interest him), his interests include: space craft dynamics, the Apollo Guidance Computer, cosmology, and whether there was actually a big bang, or if there was a sequence of big bangs in the ekpyrotic concept. In the little time he has outside of Astrophysics, Adrian works in the bulk maritime area, where he runs a consultancy and IT company. He does talks on "Pirates, Spooks and Mercenaries" - just the thing for an after dinner talk! Malcolm Porter has been a member of the Flamsteed Astronomy Society for over 17 year, during which time he served for 6 years as a committee member and as chairman for four years. He is a regular contributor to our video of members’ astrophotography and has, over the years, given a number of talks on a wide range of astronomical subjects.