Next Informal Meeting
2025-09-01 20:00 - 22:00, 2025-10-06 20:00 - 22:00, 2025-11-03 20:00 - 22:00, 2026-01-05 20:00 - 22:00, 2026-02-02 20:00 - 22:00, 2026-03-02 20:00 - 22:00, 2026-04-06 20:00 - 22:00, 2026-05-04 20:00 - 22:00 UTC and 5 more dates
Primarily an Observing Evening. If not clear then general discussion, help for those who require it.

Mike Frost 'SouthWest Special - a Bluebonnet Eclipse'
2025-09-15 20:00 - 22:00

StarParty
2025-09-19 08:00 - 2025-09-21 23:30
This is a great event for members to get together and a chance to enjoy relatively dark skies with an opportunity to see the Milky Way. Please check your email for details on how to book.

Dr Ben Gompertz - Neutron Star Mergers: Nature's Gold Factories
2025-10-20 20:00 - 22:00

Gary Poyner - T CrB - The Jewel In The Crown
2025-11-17 20:00 - 22:00

Christmas Quiz at Court Leet
2025-12-01 19:30 - 22:00

'Christmas Crackers' Short Talks By Members
2025-12-15 20:00 - 22:00
Christmas Crackers
Sheila Derges – “A visit to CERN”
Sue Dipple – “The Thirty Metre Telescope”
Dr Steve Barrett – “The Science of Santa”

Dave Jones - Pluto
2026-01-19 20:00 - 22:00

Dr Steve Barrett - 'Gaia'
2026-02-16 20:00 - 22:00
The Gaia space telescope has spent a decade mapping the Milky Way by making three trillion observations of two billion stars. How did it do this and what will we learn when all the data is analysed?

Dr Steve Barrett - It's Not Rocket Science
2026-03-16 20:00 - 22:00
Rocket science is thought to be hard because the maths of orbital mechanics gets in the way. This talk skips over the maths and looks at orbits, how spacecraft travel between planets and how they can park at Lagrange points.

AGM & Dr Steve Barrett - Exploring The Solar System I
2026-04-20 20:00 - 22:00
Annual General Meeting

Dr Lean-Nani Alconcel - Space Sustainability And Space Domain Awareness
2026-05-18 20:00 - 22:00

Workshops - Short Presentations By Members. View The Sun With A Solar Telescope
2026-06-15 20:00 - 22:00

Jeni Millard - To The South Pole - Modern Day Lunar Exploration
2026-07-20 20:00 - 22:00

Richard Guest - Backyard Astronomy With Beyond Kingswinford Streetlights
2026-08-17 20:00 - 22:00

StarParty
2026-09-11 08:00 - 2026-09-14 23:30
This is a great event for members to get together and a chance to enjoy relatively dark skies with an opportunity to see the Milky Way. Details on how to book your place will be sent via email.

Simona Nitti - Solar Wind Ionosphere Link Explorer (SMILE) Mission
2026-09-21 20:00 - 22:00

Prof Elizabeth Stanway - Cosmic Catastrophes
2026-10-19 20:00 - 22:00
Fictions involving catastrophic cosmic explosions such as novae or supernovae range from narratives of a heroic, constructive drive outwards into the Universe to depressing and destructive apocalyptic fictions which posit the destruction of human culture and perhaps humanity itself. SF case studies nonetheless represent a rare engagement of popular culture with the details of stellar astrophysics, and a useful starting point from which to engage in a wider discussion about the ultimate fate of stars and our place in the Universe.
https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/physics/research/astro/people/stanway/sciencefiction/nam2022_stanway_open_69.pdf
