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February 2022
New Live Event : Astronomy News and Astronomical Highlights – At the Lecture Theatre & on Zoom
We're delighted to be back in the lecture theatre and to open bookings for our first live talk this season. In this talk, Adrian Challinor will present Astronomy News and Malcolm Porter will cover Astronomical Highlights. Our IT focused Committee members and our colleagues at the NMM have been working hard to formulate a solution which will allow members to return to the Lecture Theatre while at the same time, ensuring that participants over Zoom continue to experience a high…
Find out more »March 2022
Atmospheric Phenomena By Professor Carolin Crawford – Online
Astronomers are often also keen observers of atmospheric phenomena - probably stemming from an ingrained habit of keeping a weather eye on the sky in case it's going to be clear that evening! Such phenomena are illustrations of physics – and particularly optics – in action. The incoming sunlight, moonlight and starlight fall on the Earth, and the myriad of different ways it interacts with the air molecules, particles, water droplets, ice crystals and dust in our atmosphere cause it…
Find out more »Workshop: Sketching with Mary McIntyre – Online
I firmly believe that astronomy sketching makes you a better observer. During this popular practical workshop I will take you through how to approach astronomy sketching using materials you will already have at home, i.e., pencils, white paper and an eraser. We will cover solar, lunar and deep sky sketching during this session, and I will have a camera pointing at my hands so you can sketch along with me step by step. You can then take those skills forward…
Find out more »History of Astronomy: The life & Work Of Edwin Hubble, By Dr Ann Bonell – Online
The name Hubble is well known to most people because of the Hubble Space Telescope. But what about the man that it is named after, Edwin Powell Hubble? What did he achieve in astronomy? What about his life? Why is it appropriate that the HST takes his name? We will explore these points in the talk. Dr Ann Bonell is a chemist by profession and has been interested in all aspects of astronomy since an early age. She is the President of the Leicester Astronomical…
Find out more »April 2022
Specialist talk – Exploring Astronomy and Space Through Philately, by Katrin Raynor-Evans – ONLINE
The first astronomy-themed stamp dates to 1887 when Brazil issued a perforated stamp, buff and blue in colour, depicting the Southern Cross, an asterism seen in the southern hemisphere. Even throughout the 1800s, stamps were being printed with astronomical watermarks, such as suns and stars and early stamps issued in Egypt were designed with a pyramid and star. Over the decades, we have celebrated astronomy and space on stamps including comets, man on the Moon and events in the astronomical…
Find out more »Future exploration of the Moon By Professor Ian Crawford – At NMM Theatre + Zoom
There is renewed scientific interest in our nearest celestial neighbour. Numerous robotic missions to Moon are planned in the coming years, and NASA plans to resume human exploration with the Artemis programme from the middle of this decade. In the longer term, plans are being developed for the establishment of one or more permanently staffed scientific research stations on the lunar surface. There is also growing interest in the possible use of lunar resources to sustain a cis-lunar space economy.…
Find out more »History of Astronomy – Refugees, star clusters and relativity: Astronomy at Greenwich Observatory during the First World War, by Dr Lee Macdonald – Online
During the 1914-1918 war the staff of the Royal Observatory was seriously depleted as many of its young men left for military service. In this talk Dr Lee Macdonald describes how the observatory nevertheless continued to do a surprising amount of important science in these years – including a catalogue of star clusters and organising the eclipse expeditions to Principe and Brazil that confirmed Einstein's General Theory of relativity. He also describes how refugees from Belgium and the reintroduction of…
Find out more »May 2022
Adventures of a robot geologist on Mars – tales of the Perseverance rover By Professor Sanjeev Gupta – At NMM Theatre + Zoom
We send robots to Mars in general to search for evidence for extraterrestrial life, in particular ancient life. This is not such an easy task. Crucial to this endeavour is finding the right rocks that might contain signature of ancient life. But how do we go about this? Sedimentary rocks are the ‘go to’ archives for this search. One of the goals of geologists exploring Mars with robots is to work out what the Martian landscape was like early in…
Find out more »Tour of the Prince Philip Maritime Collection Centre
The Flamsteed Astronomy Society has been kindly offered a tour of the Globe Collection at the Prince Philip Maritime Collection Centre (PPMCC) in Kidbrooke by the curator of the collection Dr Megan Barford. The tour will include some of the Royal Museums Greenwich’s extensive collection of fine celestial globes. These globes have been used to facilitate calculations of the rising and setting of stars. The visit will take place on the afternoon of Thursday12th May 2022. Two tours have been…
Find out more »History of Astronomy – The life, astronomical work and music of William Herschel, with Charles Draper – Postponed
This talk has been POSTPONED AN EMAIL WILL BE SENT TO MEMBERS NEARER THE DATE WITH A LINK TO REGISTER FOR THIS EVENT.
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