Newbury Astronomical Society
Pegasus
The February edition of Pegasus, NAS's monthly newsletter, can be found at the link below:
What's Up and the Beginners Magazine
Steve Harris's last What's Up magazine was the December 2024 edition, but all the indespensible information he published every month is contained within the Beginners Magazine that we're thrilled to say is continuing on. The latest edition of the Beginners Magazine can be found at the link below:
Forthcoming Meetings
For the next speaker meeting, we will be welcoming Chris Lee who will be speaking on Electronically Assisted Astronomy (EAA). Given the explosion in use of Smart Scopes recently, which is but one way to do EAA, this is a great primer on what can be done in this growing field of astronomy, where you use digital cameras and software to enhance and display real time images of objects. After the break, we'll have our usual second half talks on a variety of topics.
Speaker meetings start at 7.30pm and be held at the usual location of The Fair Close Centre, Newtown Road, Newbury: RG14 7BH. (click here for a map and further details of the session's meetings).
The March beginners meeting will feature a quartet of fascinating and varied talks. It will start, as normal, with a highly informative "What's Up" covering all manner of phenomena in the skies in the coming weeks, before moving onto something very topical. After the recent publicity about Asteriod 2024 YR, that has a more than 2% chance of colliding with the earth in 2032 (these estimates tend to go up and down as we know more, so don't all head to the hills yet!), we will have a talk on Deadly Asteriods to give you all the context and background you may want. Then after the break, we'll have a talk on Gravity Assisted Space Travel - something you may not realise is already critical to many Deep Space missions - and a practical primer on Imaging with a Digital Imager. Definitely something for everyone in that selection of topics! If it's clear, of course, we will get the telescopes out for some observing, so do bring warm clothes in case we get the chance to get out there under the stars!
Beginners Meetings start at 7pm and are held at Stockcross Village Hall (Sutton Hall), RG20 8LN. (click here for a map and further details of the session's meetings).
If you wish to be a member of the society for this season and haven't completed your membership form yet, please complete a copy and bring it with you to the meeting.
We also offer an ICS Calendar file of all the meetings (main & beginners) of the session to add to your phone or email client:
Recent meetings:
For slides and other details from recent meetings, head to the Meeting Presentations page. The latest addition is Steve Harris' excellent presentation on Observing the Planets from the December beginners meeting - quite timely given the number of planets now visible!
Headlines.....
Last Chance - Total Solar Eclipse !
Message from Tony Hersh:
This is the last call for you to book to join your NAS colleagues to view the total eclipse of the Sun visible from Spain on 12th August 2026. Our target hotel has opened booking especially early just for NAS members, who can book this hotel for any dates they want over the eclipse!
The best news is it’s reasonably cheap: I’ve booked 4 nights, 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th August 2026 and it cost Euros 668 total including breakfast. They have free parking and rooms have air conditioning.
Very few rooms are left so if you want to join us please book this accommodation asap. You can book via the hotel website but any problems email the very helpful receptionist using the email address below. If you do book please let Tony know (tonyhersh@newburyastro.org.uk) and he will communicate flight and car share options nearer the time.
Veronika Braginetc
Reservations agent
Hotel SB Corona
Pl. Corona d'Aragó, 5 · 43500 Tortosa (Tarragona)
T. (+34) 977 580 433
reservations.corona@sbhotels.es
hotelSBcoronatortosa.com
Image: The wonderful Diamond Ring captured from Grand Island, Nebraska by Ellen Jarrett using a handheld Fuji Finepix camera
Image - Cody Astronomical Society
Society visit to the Cody Observatory
On the evening of Tuesday 18th March Val Russell has arranged a visit for Society members to the Cody Observatory in Farnborough. The observatory was built by the Royal Aircraft Establishment in Farnborough in 1966 as part of rocketry projects involving stellar navigation, and houses an unusual 6" (15cm) Carl Zeiss Coudé refractor telescope. Hopefully if the weather is kind, we may get to see it in action, but it should be a fascinating trip in any case.
As the observatory is within the confines of the Cody Technology park, attendees will need to bring photo ID (passport or driving licence) and have pre-registered, so if you're interested, please contact Val at her valrussell@newburyastro.org.uk email address so she can add you to the list.
Our thanks to the Cody Astronomical Society who will be our hosts for the evening.
Observatory Science Centre Campaign Update
As members may be aware, the Observatory Science Centre (once the home of the Royal Greenwich Observatory, when it fled the lights and smoke of London for the relative darkness of Sussex) is under threat of closure. The Canadian landlords, Queen’s University, who also own Herstmonceux Castle, are not renewing the Science Centre’s lease, so come the end of the 2026 season the Science Centre will be homeless.
Over the years the science centre have worked tirelessly to fund and restore the site and the telescopes back to their former glory. The centre is a major venue for exhibitions, lectures and educational programmes. The renovated telescopes provide a unique setting for the general public, schools, colleges, and brownie and scout groups to learn about science, space and the world around them.
A number of society members have already signed the petition to try and save the place - if you would like to lend your signature to the campaign, which has already passed 12,000 signatures, you can do so here: https://www.change.org/p/save-the-observatory-science-centre-herstmonceux
2025 EU Conference on Amateur Radio Astronomy (EUCARA)
This is advance notice that the BAA Radio Astronomy Section and RAL Space are hosting EUCARA on 5th – 7th September 2025 at RAL's Harwell campus in South Oxfordshire. This biannual conference has been running since 2014 but it's the first time it will have happened in the UK, and this is a great opportunity for the UK Amateur Radio Astronomy community to meet each other and our EU friends. The conference will include presentations from academic researchers, local amateurs, and students, and the key note speaker will be Professor Jocelyn Bell Burnell of the University of Oxford.
If you are interested in registering (some society members have already signed up), please head to https://eucara.org/
National Astronomy Week 2025
The 1st - 9th February 2025 is National Astronomy Week, with plenty of events taking place up and down the country (including, of course, the NAS Speaker Meeting on the 7th). The theme this year is "Chasing the Moon" given over the week a waxing Moon will be passing a series of planets and other notable objects such as the Pleiades, allowing the public a rare chance to spot plenty of different objects and learn more about the skies.
For those unable to attend any events, there are also live streams happening in the evenings, hopefully including some featuring our very own Chris Hooker. More details on all events and activities can be found at the NAW website https://astronomyweek.org.uk/ or you can scan the QR code on the image to the right.
Photo credit: Akbar Nemati
Image: Stellarium
What's the Parade of Planets?
Alongside the talk of National Astronomy Week, some members may have heard reports in the media about a "Parade of Planets" that should be visible on the 21st January. As any of you who have been watching the skies recently will know, it's true that currently there are plenty of planets around - Venus and Saturn in the evening sky at dusk, Jupiter riding high late evening with Mars rising, resplendently red, to the east. It's a great site, and if you have a binoculars or a small telescope, Uranus and Neptune can be sought too.
The good news is that you don't need to wait until the 21st January to see these planets - they're all visible right now, and you'll be able to see them for a few weeks after. Indeed, Mercury will be joining them in March (though by then Saturn will be fast disappearing into the twilight). If you are not sure where to look, however, do come to our next Beginners meeting in February and there will be details of what can be seen in the "What's Up" section at the start of the meeting - and maybe the chance to pick some of them out if the sky is clear later in the meeting.
Society telescopes for loan
The society has a number of telescopes now available for loan to members. An 8" Dobsonian reflector, similar to the one shown on the illustration here, a smaller 6" model, and a 5" refractor, plus the associated eyepieces, star maps etc needed to get it up and running. Our chairman Paul will be talking more about this at the February Speaker meeting, after which members can formally request loan of a telescope. Key points to note:
All users must be paid-up society members
All equipment loaned out must be signed for
Loans will be for a period of 3 or 6 months, with a pre-agreed return date
Loans will take place after a short instruction session at a beginners or observing evening
Hopefully this will prove a great opportunity for members to try their hand with a telescope, helping them better learn the sky and make a more informed decision about their own telescope purchases.
If you can't make the next meeting and would like more information, please contact Paul at chairman@newburyastro.org.uk
Some of the society members who helped out at the RAL Open Week
Outreach - call for volunteers
NAS has a thriving outreach programme as anyone who looks at the Outreach page on the website will know. Over the past year we've attended events as diverse as the Tadley Treacle Fair, RAL Open Week, Thatcham Family Fun Day, Observing evenings at the Earth Trust, and the YFC Country Fayre. Additionally, there have been many presentations to Scout, Cub, Brownie and Guide groups, Y3A, Air Cadets and The Parkinson's Society. It's an amazing amount of work with great impact, spreading the joy of the night sky to thousands of people, anchored by the sterling work of George Sallit and Steve Harris in particular, but to keep up the momentum we're always on the lookout for more volunteers to help. Many hands make light work, and you don't need loads of astronomical knowledge to make a real difference. If you can spare any time for any events on the schedule, please do let George know at Outreach@newburyastro.org.uk
Observing Evenings
Often the nicest way to enjoy astronomy under a dark sky is with the company of like-minded friends. They can provide reassurance in an unfamiliar dark environment, give you the encouragement to keep going if you are tiring, help you if your kit misbehaves or you are struggling to find an object, or rib you mercilessly if you turn up and forgot your eyepieces (before potentially lending you one of theirs for the evening).
One key finding of the survey NAS conducted in 2023 was that members wanted more opportunities to observe like this as a group, so as a result, NAS are now holding observing nights either coinciding with meteor showers, or on the first clear night roughly around the time of First Quarter moon. Obviously this is the UK, and so we have to contend with the ever-present risk of clouds. As a result, we are using both email and the society WhatsApp group to co-ordinate these events. If you're a NAS member and are interested, but not yet on the WhatsApp group, please reach out to Victoria at secretary@newburyastro.org.uk and we'll get you enrolled.
We have also now added a dedicated page on the website so for more information on when and where these sessions may be held, and what to do, head over to click here
