Main Meetings
Each month, the society has a guest speaker, who will talk about their specialised subject, followed by a "what's up" describing the sky that month and sometimes an additional 5-minute talk from a society member on something they have been doing recently. Free refreshments are available during the interval. During the year we will also be arranging observing evenings at appropriate times and places.
Note: if you have something that you would like to talk about in the 5-minute slot, please contact a committee member.
Meeting Details:
Important Notice: Due to the current outbreak of Coronavirus (COVID-19), all meetings have been cancelled until further notice. Please update your diaries.
The meetings are held on the first Friday of each month from September to June and start at 7.30pm. Our 2019/2020 program is as follows:
| Date | Topic |
|---|---|
| 6th September 2019 | Spectroscopy — Analysing Light from the Stars - Dr David Boyd (Newbury AS & BAA) |
| 4th October 2019 | The Colour of Science: Hyperspectral Imaging for Astronomy - Dr Hugh Mortimer (RAL Space) |
| 1st November 2019 | How We'll Live on Mars - Colin Stuart (Science & Astronomy author) |
| 6th December 2019 | OJ 287 — The Mysterious Binary Black Hole - Prof Mark Kidger (European Space Agency) |
| 14th December 2019 | Christmas Dinner: Astronomy & the Bottle; How the Alcohol Trade Funded Victorian Astronomical Research - Dr Allan Chapman (University of Oxford) |
| 3rd January 2020 | Music of the Spheres - Members' Evening |
| 7th February 2020 | Observing Venus - Dr Paul Abel (Leicester University) |
| 6th March 2020 | Installation & First Light from a 350GHz Heterodyne Receiver at the Mexican Large Millimetre Telescope - Dr Nart Daghestani (RAL Space) |
| 27th March 2020 | Astrophysics at the Highest Energies - Prof Tony Bell (University of Oxford) [Note this meeting is at the end of March!] |
| 3rd - 5th April 2020 | BAA Winchester Weekend |
| 1st May 2020 | Accrete, Accrete, Accrete... Bang! (And Repeat): The Remarkable Recurrent Novae - Dr Matt Darnley (Liverpool John Moores University) |
| 5th June 2020 | The Gaia Revolution - Dr George Seabrook (Mullard Space Science Laboratory) & 39th AGM |
| 27th June 2020 | Society Summer Outing |
The meetings are held at the West Berkshire Mencap Centre in Newbury, off Enbourne Road: RG14 6AT. Parking is available at the hall itself: Click here for an interactive map.
The people in charge of the hall have asked us NOT to park in the streets near the hall, but to use the official car park only. If the residents feel we are intruding we could be asked to stop using the hall for our meetings. There is a possibility of overflow parking in the field to the west of the car park.
We also offer an ICS Calendar file of all the meetings (main & beginners) of the session to add to your phone or email client — click here to download.