Membership Subscriptions & Renewals for Season 2023-2024

September is the start of our new season. SAS Memberships will be due from 1st September 2023 (payable throughout September) for this season 2023/2024 Joining/Renewing helps support your local astronomical society & community. So come on down to the Cygnus Observatory (based at the Washington Wetlands Centre) to  join or renewyour SAS membership. The SAS is…

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17th September Lecture: Massive Stars and Where to find them

Despite the fact that massive stars don’t live for a very long time, their impact on their natal environment is profound. Besides being responsible for stopping (but sometimes also triggering!) the formation of new generations of stars, they also regulate how galaxies evolve. However, many mysteries about massive stars remain: How and where do they…

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23rd September: SAS Starbeque

SAS Starbeque event at Derwent Reservoir Car Park. Date:  Saturday 23rd September 2023 Time: From 3 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 this season’s…

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15th October Lecture: Crazy Interstellar Rockets

What sort of rockets or spaceships could we use to go to the distant stars.  We will explore some of the crazier designs that have been proposed over the years, most of which have some possibility of working.  The future may be nearer than we think!

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22nd October – Sunderland Astronomical Society AGM

The Sunderland Astronomical Society AGM (Via Zoom) will be taking place on Sunday 22nd October 2023 from 7:00 pm at our base of operations Discovery Room at the Washington Wetlands Centre. Zoom AGM meeting details will be distributed via our SAS email service or upon request from  zoom-meetings@sunderlandastro.com.  SAS members are invited to attend, listen to chair’s reports and…

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20th August Lecture: Monster black holes and Quasars

In this talk Vicky will be returning to talk to SAS in-person to discuss monster black holes and quasars : how we find them, what a “supermassive black hole” is, and the first ever images of a black hole. Vicky will also present my own research area, “active galaxies”, which are incredibly bright galaxies powered…

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16th July Lecture: Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Astronomy

Astronomy today is in an exciting and challenging era with the fast-increasing amount of data from large-scale sky surveys and future facilities. For example, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) founded in 2000 has observed ~50 million galaxies, the Dark Energy Survey has found over 300 million galaxies since starting its observation in 2013, and…

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18th June Lecture: Is Anybody There

Due to the late cancellation of the original speaker due to a family emergency, and back by popular demand our very own Mr David Ettie has offered to present “Is Anybody There?” What a complete Star and all-round good egg. David Ettie will give an overview of the prospects for life elsewhere in the Universe…

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18th May SAS Visit- Wynyard Planetarium & Observatory

The Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust have a birdwatching event on Thursday 18th May so the centre will not be available for our usual meeting that day. We have therefore decided to have a trip to Wynyard Planetarium and Observatory (http://www.wynyard-planetarium.net/) instead. Places are limited to 40, and members will need to make their own way…

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