September is the start of our new season. SAS Memberships will be due from 1st September 2025 (payable throughout September) for this season 2025/2026 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 renew your SAS membership. The SAS is the largest…
This year’s Starbeque will be held at our usual venue, the Millshields car Derwent Reservoir on Saturday 20th September 2025. We meet around 3pm for our picnic / barbeque and continue into the night for stargazing. If the weather forecast is for cloud or rain will not stop the event going ahead, but we…
Something a bit different for the July lecture night. In recent years “Smart Telescopes” have arrived on the astronomy scene. Smart telescopes offer an automated way of doing astronomy and astrophotography, albeit at a quite expensive price. If you have a Seestar S50, or are are thinking of getting one, or would like to know…
Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer (SMILE) is a mission that will revolutionise our understanding of the solar-terrestrial relationship, including the dynamic processes that control phenomena such as the aurora borealis (Norther/Southern Lights). In this fascinating talk Dr Jennifer Carter (Leicester University) will explain how the mission was born from a problem for X-ray astronomers,…
The Sunderland Astronomical Society’s Astrophotography Competition will held on Sunday 18th May 2025 and we are returning to our pre Covid format. The event will be held at the Washington wetlands centre from 7:00 pm, where the best of our SAS astrophotographer images will be displayed and voted on at the event. All members attending the…
Although it took only three minutes to make our Universe (see ‘Beginning of Everything’) it will take more than a trillion trillion years for it to come to an end. In this talk Dr Steve Barrett (Liverpool University) will talk about this talk looks at what will happen to the Earth, the Sun, our the…
As larger telescopes get, as more light they gather. This together with the wish for higher spatial resolution gives rise to the development of telescopes of larger size. However, while the light gathering power increase works very well, due to the perturbations of our atmosphere the larger telescopes not necessarily deliver images of higher resolution,…
Back by popular demand, Sunderland Astronomical Society are will visiting Northumberland Park). Date: Friday 21st February 2025. Time: from 7:00 pm – 10:00 pm. Entry: Free Event SAS have been asked by the Northumberland Park (the park in North Shields) to hold a Stargazing event on Friday 21st February 2024 from 7 pm till 10 pm.
Back by popular demand, Sunderland Astronomical Society are will be hosting a unique Moon Watch and Stargazing event at our base of operations (Cygnus Observatory and Washington Wetlands Centre). Join Sunderland Astronomical Society for this awesome public Moon Watch & Stargazing event. See the moon in stunning detail through many telescopes and enjoy a tour…
We know surprisingly little about the nature of the stage upon which the universe’s great show plays out. In this talk Graham Darke will take us through the ages, along the way examining humanity’s developing understanding of what space is. It will bring us right up to the modern era where what we know today…