Talks programme 2027

Talks programme for 2027

Wednesday 20 January, 7.15 for 7.30pm

Tony Roberts will give a talk entitled:

'The Great Refractor'

Outline: A look at the two major refractors at the RGO, the 12 3/4” Merz and the 28” Grubb. Why was an agricultural machinery manufacturer chosen to make the mount (which was common to both telescopes) and indeed why did an observatory focused on positional work decide to suddenly acquire these telescopes?

Biographical details: Tony has been looking at the night sky since a small child in 1968. A visual observer he is mainly interested in comets and variable stars, but is happy to look at nearly anything! A STEM Ambassador his major astronomy activity now is public outreach, at the Norman Fisher Observatory for Croydon and at schools, youth organisations, U3A and similar. A regular speaker on the astronomy circuit, he describes himself as a “raconteur”, a teller of stories rather than purveyor of raw facts.

Free time following the break to socialise

Wednesday 17 February, 7.15 for 7.30pm

Professor Sanjeev Gupta will give a talk entitled:

'Adventures in Martian deep time – tales from the Perseverance and Curiosity rovers'

Outline: We send robots to Mars in general to search for evidence for extraterrestrial life, in particular ancient life. This is not such an easy task. Crucial to this endeavour is finding the right rocks that might contain signature of ancient life. But how do we go about this? Sedimentary rocks are the ‘go to’ archives for this search. One of the goals of geologists exploring Mars with robots is to work out what the Martian landscape was like early in Mars’ history – deep time Mars – at a time when life is thought to have got going on Earth. Were ancient environments on Mars suitable for life to have formed, flourished and its evidence preserved in the rock record?

On 18 February 2021, NASA’s Perseverance rover successfully landed at Jezero crater in a nail-biting landing sequence. The mission represents the most complex, capable rover ever sent to Mars. It is also the first step in a multi-stage campaign to return surface samples back to Earth in order to seek signs of ancient life on the red planet.

In this talk, Professor Gupta will discuss the adventures of the rover in its geological exploration of Jezero crater plus provide an update on what the Curiosity rover has been up to Gale crater.

Biographical details: Sanjeev Gupta is Professor of Earth Sciences at Imperial College London. He is a geologist by training and has spent much of his career studying sedimentary rock formations in places such as the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt, and landscapes under the sea in the English Channel. In the past 10 years, he switched his attention to exploring the geology of Mars. Sanjeev is a science team member on NASA's Curiosity and Perseverance rover missions, and also on ESA’s Rosalind Franklin rover mission.

Free time following the break to socialise

Wednesday 17 March, 7.15 for 7.30pm

Nik Szymanek - talk title tbc

Outline: pending

Biographical details: Nik is an HAS member, and astrophotographer based in North Essex. He has been using CCD cameras to image the deep sky from a back garden observatory since they were first introduced in the early 1990s. He has written a monthly ‘Masterclass’ astroimaging column in Astronomy Now magazine for the last ten years, as well as three books on astronomical imaging; the latest of which is ‘Shooting Stars II’.

details pending

Wednesday 21 April, 7.15 for 7.30pm

Pre-recorded talk by Konrad Malin-Smith:

Eclipses - title tbc

Outline: pending.

Biographical details: Konrad is known with great affection by many as a founder member of the HAS, and a regular speaker to our club. He is a retired senior schoolteacher of chemistry and physics, and was Head of Science for a number of years. He has been a peripatetic lecturer on various astronomical topics to adult education establishments (especially in Havering) and astronomical societies around South England since the early 1970s.

His interests include eclipse-chasing, astrophotography, DIY, classical music, church, golf and snooker. Avoids doing housework; and especially avoids dabbling with computers!

Followed by nibbles, to celebrate our club's 33rd anniversary.

Wednesday 19 May, 7.15 for 7.30pm

Ian Ridpath will present a talk on the Rendlesham Forest UFO case (title tbc)

Outline: Pending.

Biographical details: Born in Ilford, Ian Ridpath has been a full-time writer, editor, broadcaster, and lecturer on astronomy and space since 1972. Previously he worked for two years at the University of London Observatory and then in publishing. He is a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society (Council member 2004–07) and a member of the International Astronomical Union (IAU). A particular interest is the Greek and Roman myths of the constellations, which he wrote about in his book Star Tales.

His website, http://www.ianridpath.com, is now a major online resource. Ian is editor of the authoritative Oxford Dictionary of Astronomy, and of the Collins and Princeton Stars & Planets Guide (UK and US), and lectures on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. He is a winner of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific's Klumpke-Roberts Award for “outstanding contributions to the public understanding and appreciation of astronomy”. He is also a noted UFO skeptic and is well-known for his investigation and explanation of Britain's leading UFO case, the Rendlesham Forest Incident.

Free time following the break to socialise

Wednesday 16 June, 7.15 for 7.30pm

Professor Floor van Leeuwen will present a talk on Gaia and DR4 - title tbc

Outline: pending

Biographical details: pending.

Free time following the break to socialise

Wednesday 21 July, 7.15 for 7.30pm

Bill Barton - historical topic - title tbc

Outline: pending

Biographical details: pending.

Free time following the break to socialise

No club meeting in August; however, we might hold a Perseids viewing evening at Thames Chase - date and details tbc

Wednesday 15 September, 7.15 for 7.30pm

Professor Mike Lockwood will present a talk entitled:

'The Final Frontier'

Outline: Space junk is a rapidly growing problem, especially for low-Earth orbits and one that threatens a great many benefits that we now take for granted. Near-Earth space is not a frontier, our spacecraft have already colonised it, and we use them for communications, navigation, astronomy, Earth observation, resource exploration, disaster management, broadcasting, global Internet, novel materials production, zero-gravity experiments, and many other applications. But this hugely valuable resource is under threat because of inadequate international legislation and inappropriate "frontier mentality". Both amateur and professional astronomers are suffering from light pollution problems, and radio noise is a serious threat to new radio astronomy facilities such as LOFAR and the Square Kilometer Array. This talk will chart the growth of space junk and discuss what we can do about it..

Biographical details: pending.

Free time following the break to socialise

Wednesday 20 October, 7.15 for 7.30pm

Dr Paul Whiting will present a talk on Einstein and Relativity - title tbc

Outline: pending.

Short biography: Paul Whiting, FRAS, is one of our regular speakers and an outreach astronomer providing talks, activities and courses to schools, youth and adult groups. A major astronomical interest is travelling the world chasing eclipses and the aurora. Paul is also Treasurer for Orwell AS (Ipswich).