Paris Meridian - 2nd and 3rd June Print E-mail
The Society trip to visit the Paris Observatory and walk along the Paris Meridian was a great success! Early on Saturday morning 15 members of the OAS boarded a Eurostar bound for Paris on a trip inspired by Paul Murdin's talk at our most recent Ken Budd Memorial Lecture. Having dumped our bags at our hotels, and grabbed a quick bite to eat, we boarded a busy south-bound Metro, and headed for the Paris Observatory.
We were joined at the Observatory by Paul Murdin and his wife. A special visit had been arranged by Gilbert, and it was one to remember. We walked past the old stable block and a dome containing one of the original photographic atlas telescopes, whis is being restored at present. We were shown three main rooms in the Observatory. The first was a large paneled room contained a collection of old instruments and documents, and statues of Cassini and Laplace. The second was an octagonal room hung with portraits of the Observatory's many past directors. On its ceiling is a painting showing a classical representation of a transit of Venus, with Venus and Cupid at its centre, Apollo in his fiery chariot above her, and various Earth-bound characters gazing up. The third was the Cassini Room, a long east-west room with a meridian line down its centre. At one end, Arago's blackboard occupies pride of place. Most of the rest of the room is empty. At its centre is a (now covered) shaft through which Foucault once hung a pendulum to demonstrate the Earth's rotation. The same shaft has also served to house a zenith telescope and a solar telescope at various times. The highlight of the visit was being taken onto the roof and into the dome of one remaining active telescope at the observatory. The views of Paris were most impressive, and the telescope an interesting design.

From the Observatory we walked more or less along the line of the Paris Meridian, spotting Arago discs as we went, to Saint Sulpice. We had to wait a while for a big service to end before we could go inside to have a look at the meridian line and gnomon inside, but it was worth the wait. The church has also had to deal with being a location for significant plot action in The DaVinci Code, and it's done this by selling leaflets explaining why the relevant plot details are rubbish.

By the time we'd had enough of looking at the inside of the church it was time to go and find some supper. We had a meal at Le Café de Commerce. It has a roll-off sky-light, and we enjoyed the cool spring evening and the excellent food.

On Sunday morning we headed down to the Louvré to pick up the Meridian again, and then, because the sights had to be seen as well, some went into the Louvré, while the rest of us walked along to Place de la Concorde, stopping off for ice cream and crepe au chocolat, before taking the Metro up to Montmartre. At Montmartre our group splintered further, and some of us managed to find more places where some Arago Meridian discs had once been placed, but we all managed to get back to Gard du Nord in good time to catch the return Eurostar to Waterloo.
 
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Future Events

Society Dinner - 10th February

A Society Dinner is being arranged for Friday 10th February at the Blacksmith's Arms at Cudham, meeting at 7:30pm for an 8:00pm meal. If you have booked a place, please see the menu below, and then contact Ian to inform him of your choice.

Here's the menu:

 

STARTERS

  • Tian of Avocado & Prawns topped with Smoked Salmon served with Salad Leaves & Marie Rose Sauce
  • Wild Boar Pate en Croute, served with Caramelised Onions & Toasted Granary Bread
  • Baked Goats Cheese with Salad Leaves & Sweet Tomato & Chilli Chutney
  • Mushroom Soup finished with Tarragon & Cream

MAIN

  • Chicken Supreme with Mushroom & White Wine Sauce served with Seasonal Vegetables & New Potatoes
  • Roast of Finest Scottish Beef served with Fresh Vegetables, Roast Potatoes & Yorkshire Pudding, finished with Wild Mushroom, Port & Red Wine Gravy
  • Slow Roast Belly of Pork stuffed with Sage, Onion & Sausagemeat, served with Vegetables & Mashed Potatoes
  • PPan Fried Fillet of Salmon with Dauphinois Potatoes, Leeks, Wilted Spinach & Hollandaise Sauce
  • Linguine with Wild Mushrooms & Roast Vegetables served in a Cream & Cheese Sauce

DESSERT

Wide choice of desserts available from our Blackboard

Address:

The Blacksmith's Arms

Cudham Lane South
Cudham

Kent TN14 7QB (click for a map)
Tel: 01959 572678
 
Special Events
From time to time we arrange outings and other special events like these:

Deep Sky Camps

These are held at various locations. Usually we use commercial camp sites, and each visitor will be expected to pay the camp site operator for their own pitch. We'll usually try to arrange for our pitches to be in a group, so you'll need to mention you're one of the astronomers when you book.

Occasionally the Society books a site for its exclusive use, and on these occasions we'll expect all attendees (anyone visiting the site) to contribute to the cost, even if they're not actually camping on site.

Outings

In recent years we have visited places like the Greenwich Observatory, The radio telescopes and historic instruments at Cambridge, and the Herschel museum in Bath.

Open Days

These have usually co-incided with relatively predictable astronomical phenomena like meteor showers, and have included observing, short lectures and demonstrations. The most recent one was in August 2003 for the National Astronomy Week.

Public Lectures & Exhibitions

A recent one of our our exhibitions was our 21st Anniversary Celebration entitled Universe Day, held at St Olave's School in Orpington in 2001 - more than 300 people turned up to see all the latest in local astronomy.

Every two or three years we hold in memory of one of our founder members and chairmen, the Kenneth Budd Memorial Lecture. So far we have held three well attended meetings. The first Kenneth Budd Memorial Lecture, in November 1998 was given by Prof. Sir Antony Hewish, who was awarded a Nobel Prize for his work on pulsars. His lecture was titled "Thirty Years of Pulsar Astronomy", and the second, in October 2000, when Ewen A. Whitaker FRAS gave a lecture titled "Fifty Years with Lunar Maps".

Please always try check the forum for details of the arrangements before the event.