A talk given from the VLT on Paranal, what we do as a support astronomer working at the European Southern Observatory in Chile. Followed by a live showing of the control room, the telescope platform and with a bit of luck inside one of the telescopes using a tablet.

Gaia is a European Space Agency satellite that has been mapping individual stars in our Milky Way Galaxy since its launch in 2013. I will explain how its 3 trillion measurements of 2 billion stars is causing a revolution in astronomy. Science highlights will include the most recently discovered black hole (Gaia BH3) and how […]

Wolvas member Damian Hardwick presents a series of three short talks, titled:● Max Planck meeting the Chancellor.● Sending Humans to Mars● Comet Halley is coming the 40th anniversary.

With the recent launch of NASA's Europa Clipper mission, this presentation looks back at the history of spacecraft that have visited the mighty planet, the challenges they faced and the discoveries they made. Note: Philip will be presenting this talk remotely via Zoom

Note: Dr Mason will be presenting this talk remotely via zoom The Sun has given us quite a few X class flares recently and even some beautiful displays of the aurora in the UK. During solar flares, explosive releases of energy, the plasma temperature can reach as high as 10MK or even more. Large flares […]

Dr Andrew Gascoyne from the University of Wolverhampton will give a talk on sunspots: Sunspots have long served as a window into the dynamic processes of our nearest star.  This talk delves into the rich history of sunspot observations, from early Chinese and Islamic records to the telescopic breakthroughs of Galileo and Scheiner. We’ll examine […]

We take a trip down memory lane for a retrospective look at the steady state theory. Starting with its origins and how it compared to the big bang theory. The scientists who gave it their endorsement, and how three key discoveries proved that the theory, which looked convincing on paper, was completely wrong.

Society member Linda Manas presents a talk on Trigonometry in Astronomy: Measuring the Earth and the Moon. Linda will discuss early trigonometrical methods of finding the Earth’s tilt, latitude and circumference, the use of trigonometry and lunar and solar eclipses by Aristarchus and Hipparchus to find the distance to and size of the moon, and […]

Most of the UK population live either in a city or town, or near enough to one, that light pollution is a problem for both observers and imagers. Robin Scagell, Vice President of the SPA, has seen the problem escalate over the years. But whether you are a visual observer with a small telescope, or […]

I am the ninth director of the British Astronomical Association's Historical Section. The first director was a solar astronomer called Mary Evershed (nee Orr). She was the editor of the historical section's first memoir, Who's Who in the Moon - a series of potted biographies of everyone who had a lunar crater named after them. […]