Author Archives: Martin Kennedy

14 May – Pint of Science Event. Gazing at galaxies: what we know about the Universe

Pint of Science is a global science festival that takes place in pubs across the world between the 14th and 16th of May.

This year, they are having an ‘Atoms to Galaxies’ event at the Boat Club in Durham city centre; our members will likely be most interested in the talks on Gazing at galaxies: what we know about the Universe

• Through the looking glass: revealing the changing Universe with the world’s biggest telescopes.
• Getting to Space on a Budget.

that are being given by some fantastic astronomers from the Durham Physics department.

Pint of Science is a non-profit organisation that brings some of the most brilliant scientists to your local pub to discuss their latest research and findings with you.

15th April Lecture 2: The Secret History of Grubb Parsons

David Kidds’ talk will outline the secret history of Grubb-Parsons that deals with the Company’s work during and after World War 2 (WW2) on a variety of projects including:

• Supersonic aircraft,
• Radar,
• The British nuclear programme,
• Their design for a space telescope.

18th March Lecture: The Sun’s Active Atmosphere

The Sun may appear placid at first glance, but a closer look reveals an incredibly active atmosphere. Some of the most spectacular eruptions in our solar system occur there every day.

Some of these eruptions are relatively small, whilst others occur on a truly colossal scale.

In this talk, Dr Peter Wyper  and will explain a bit about these eruptions and show how researchers such as myself use numerical models to understand them better.

18th February Lecture: Exoplanets – Worlds Around Other Stars

“Exoplanets” or “extrasolar” planets are worlds that orbit stars outside the Solar System.

There are myriad types ranging from the so-called “Hot-Jupiters” to Earth and Super Earth sized planets.

This talk aims to give a brief introduction to exoplanetary science, an exciting field at the cutting-edge of astronomy; describing how we find these worlds and what we can know about them.

9th February: Stargazing Event (Northumberland Park)

Back by popular demand, Sunderland Astronomical Society are will visiting Northumberland Park).

• Date: Friday 9th February 2018.
• Time: from 7:00 pm.
• Entry: Free (Contributions to SAS fundraising nonetheless welcomed).

SAS have been asked by the Northumberland Park (the park in North Shields) to hold a Stargazing event on Friday 17th February from 7.00pm till late.

26th January: Beamish Stargazing Event

One of the North Easts largest Museums and largest Astronomical Societies have teamed up give the public a truly unique astronomical event, to Inspire, Educate and Inform the public on the amazing show going on above our heads.

Date: Friday 26th January 2018.

Times: from 6:30 pm – 9:30pm.

Price: £5 Ticket Entry (tickets can be booked and purchased via the Beamish website, Beamish Events Bookings).

Event size: 350, so get your tickets asap!

Join local astronomers from across the North East for a fun night of assorted astronomical treats at the several sites at Beamish.

21st January Lecture: Viewing the Universe in light of Gravitational Lensing (CANCELLED)

UPDATE: The SAS Lecture tonight has been cancelled at short notice due to severe weather and transport difficulties of lecturer getting to wetlands.

It will be re-schedule for later date.

The SAS are still opening up as normal from 7 pm. It strongly suggested to use the main car park due to the weather conditions. 

Einstein’s theory of general relativity famously unified gravity with the geometry of the Universe, making two remarkable predictions, that light-rays take a straight path through space and that mass bends the space surrounding it.

Together, this means that where there is mass, light appears bent, a phenomenon known today as gravitational lensing and a tool used by astrophysicists to study almost everything in the Universe; from planets on stars neighbouring the Sun to weighing the entire observable Universe.

Durham University’s Centre for Extragalactic Astronomy James Nightingale will give a run-through of the exciting and innovative ways that astronomers are using gravitational lensing to obtain a new and unique view of the Universe and speculate how it may hold our best hope of one day disproving Einstein’s famous theory.

Membership Subscription Renewals for 2017-2018

September is the start of our new season. SAS Memberships will be due from 1st September 2017 (payable throughout September) for this season 2017/2018.

Joining/Renewing helps support your local astronomical society & community.

So come on down to the Cygnus Observatory join or renew your SAS membership.

The SAS the largest & probably most active astronomical society’s in the North East, for advice, information, observing the night sky, and get together at various meet-ups, events, visits and join in the ‘Craic’ on all things astronomical.