From time to time we arrange outings and other special events like these: Deep Sky CampsRecently we've held a number of weekend camps near Headcorn, where the skies are dark, and conditions can be excellent for deep sky observing and astrophotography. These usually cost about £5.00 per night* per person (which covers use of the campsite facilities and some firewood). OutingsIn 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 DaysThese 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 note, "night" is a convenient way of saying "twenty-four hours, or part thereof". If you're going to come down for the day and take part in activities, but go elsewhere to sleep, we still expect you to contribute to the cost of running the event. |
Our chairman, Jim Mehta writes: Members attended an Evening with the Stars meeting at Greenwich which commenced with a planetarium show hosted by one of the Greenwich astronomers, giving us a tour of the night time sky and what to look for at this time of year. We then went to see the 28-inch refractor in the dome, where Dr John Griffiths gave us a talk and presentation on the history of the telescope at Greenwich and its move to Herstmonceux and then final move back to Greenwich. One of our members, Tony Sizer, explained the telescope mechanism, and as it was too cloudy to observe, he then showed some library video of images taken through the telescope. Altogether a very enjoyable and educational visit and thanks to all the folks at Greenwich for putting on events like this.
Summer Deep Sky Camp will be held between Friday 1st August 2008 and Monday 4th August 2008 at the field in Tuesnoad.It will be held at the new field at 