Hi Everyone, The hope that Covid restrictions would have been lifted by now lead us delay the competition until July. However with the extension of distancing rules etc. to the 19th July, and possibly longer, the committee feel it would be wrong to delay it further. The competition with therefore take place on Facebook…
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…
Sunderland Astro Xmas Virtual Benker night. Traditionally between Christmas and New Year but under current Pandemic Restrictions it’s virtual. If you attend we will enlighten you on what the Benker Night means?, Nothing wrong with an incentive to try to get people to come along. Featuring Graham Darke’s traditional Christmas Quiz, unlike at the the…
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.…
In this talk Dr Chris Aldridge will explore the discovery of plumes erupting from the south polar region of Saturn’s moon Enceladus. Chris will talk about: The discovery itself, How the Cassini mission studied the plumes, And what we’ve learned about them and Enceladus. Please support your society if you can make it. When Who Where…