The latest news from Sunderland Astronomical Society
SAS Starbeque event at Derwent Reservoir Car Park. Date: Saturday 11th September 2021, Time: From 7 pm until very late, observing afterwards if weather is favorable. Venue: Will take place at at Derwent Reservoir located at our Millshield dark sky site. This is our traditional celebration of the return of darker nights and, as in previous years…
The North East of England has a rich astronomical heritage and this talk will examine a timeline which started in the Neolithic period right up to modern day research and the recent explosion in Astro tourism in our region. In this talk Graham will look at the people, organisations, places and practices which have often…
Quasars are the brightest known objects in the visible universe. They are so bright that they outshine the entire galaxy they sit in and are useful in all areas of astronomy, especially cosmology where they can be used as a probe for the early Universe. Most quasars appear very blue, but there are some that…
The Summer Solstice is the longest day of the year and has been marked by ceremony and celebration for thousands of years. In this talk Chris will explore the history, the myths and legends. Also, the science. We astronomers look at the Solstice as the turning point in the year when we start to look…
The evening sky in Springtime allows astronomers to view a large number of distant objects called galaxies, centred around the starry pattern of Virgo. In this talk Dave Newton describes how the Virgo galaxy cluster is structured and explains what we are actually viewing, and: How this relates to our place in the Universe, How…
The dark side of the universe” which considers Dark Matter and Dark Energy how we study them and what the Planck Satellite measurements of the CMB can tell us about these components of the Universe at large. Most of our universe is missing! When we look into the night sky we realise there is much…
In this talk Dr Steve Barrett will give a brief history of the Hubble Space Telescope and a description of its legacy in terms of its scientific contributions to our understanding and the way that it touched the public consciousness. Hubble, the observatory, is the first major optical telescope to be placed in space, the…
David Ettie (SAS) will give an overview of the prospects for life elsewhere in the Universe and a consideration (at times tongue in cheek) of the prospects for interstellar travel either by Humans or (in the opposite direction) Aliens. What are the prospects for future technologies both in terms of exploration and communication? Should we…
At the heart of almost every massive galaxy, there is a super-massive black hole. We see evidence in astronomical observations that these super-massive black holes are linked to the global properties of the galaxies in which they reside. One of the biggest open questions in astronomy today is: how do super-massive black holes impact galaxy…
This talk is about filters and how they are used in astronomy. Amongst astronomical equipment, filters are playing a bit of a shadow role with being small and quickly over- or underrated in their efficiency. While solar filters are mandatory, other filters can prove to be very useful when knowing a bit more about them.…