Here you’ll find brief reports of the talks we’ve heard at Society meetings. In these we try to include any web links or other pointers to further information that were provided by the speaker at the meeting. If you were at one of our meetings and would like to correct or expand the report relating to it then please email our webmaster.
Our November meeting was addressed by Jack Carlyle, a PhD student at MSSL, who gave us an entertaining and informative talk on how they observe the Sun. With the help of some amazing animations, including one of a collapsing sun, the talk described our Sun’s place in the galaxy. Also described in detail was the interaction between its electromagnetic field and plasma to create Coronal Mass Ejections (CME’s).
Jack told us about the various Satellites that are used for observing the Sun and collecting data. This included a very interesting mosaic from Nasa of all the different wavelengths they use to study different features of the Sun.
Jack ended the talk by explaining the various ways in which the 11-year Solar Cycle can affect us here on Earth, for example by interfering with our electrical grids. The theory of how the Solar Cycle is driven was illustrated with yet another brilliant animation showing the Sun’s magnetic field lines winding up, then snapping and winding down again.
Our May meeting was addressed by Alec Boksenberg, who gave us a lively talk about The Intergalactic Medium and Other Things. This was a very interesting and wide ranging talk including evidence that dark matter must exist. He said that … Continue reading
Our April meeting was addressed by Paul Money, who gave us a lively talk about his favourite Images of the Universe volume 1. He introduced 10 images and gave an interesting insight into each one. These included diverse topics such … Continue reading
Our October meeting was addressed by Andrew Coates (Mullard Space Science Laboratory), who gave us a talk about ExoMars. Miriam writes: This was a very informative talk about exploration of Mars, and how MSSL is working on an instrument called … Continue reading
Our October meeting was addressed by Brendan Owens (Royal Observatory, Greenwich), who gave us a talk with the title Solar Secrets: Understanding our Star, the Sun. Miriam writes: We were given a whistle-stop tour of the Sun covering sun spots, … Continue reading
Our August meeting was addressed by Alan Aylward (UCL), who gave us a talk with the title Colouring the Sky. Miriam writes: We had an eventful start to this meeting as were locked out at BEECHE! Fortunately Carole was able … Continue reading
Our July meeting was addressed by Roger O’Brian, who gave us a talk with the title Dark Energy and Dark Matter. Miriam writes: Why don’t stars escape from their galaxies? Why doesn’t dark matter fall into black holes? Questions, conundrums … Continue reading
Our August meeting was a Members Evening. After the Chairman’s welcome and introduction, Mick Welham, our Observing Officer, gave us a slightly longer than usual observing report, including a selection of members’ images from the last two months. Then Carole … Continue reading
Our July meeting was addressed by Jerry Stone, who gave us a longer than usual talk about Apollo Hoax stories. In the first half of the talk he presented a number of pieces of evidence cited by various individuals in … Continue reading
At our June meeting Greg Smye-Rumsby gave us another version of his talk on Timings. … Continue reading
Tony Sizer gave a talk with the title When Planets Cross the Sun at our May meeting. In it he explored the history of the predictions and observations of transits of Mercury and Venus, explaining their importance in determining things … Continue reading
The speaker at our April meeting was Stuart Clark. He gave us a talk titled Sun Kings. … Continue reading