The latest events with Sunderland Astronomical Society
The standard model of cosmology tells us that the Universe is mostly made up of ‘Dark Matter’, with normal matter contributing only about 15% of the total budget. However, direct detections have not yielded any results about the nature of this mysterious dark matter, leaving us with only indirect means of inferring its existence and…
The years around 1915 conjure up dark images of the Great War and the destruction that went with it. Yet 1915 was also the year that Einstein’s master work, General Relativity, first appeared and forever changed our view of this Universe we live in. SAS President Dave Newton will give a talk on the background…
Starbeque 2015 From humble beginnings and as a pre-season event, the annual SAS Starbeque event has now become the stuff of legend. Held usually on last Saturday in August, but due to the site being used as Beowulf series filming location and the nearest new moon phase it’s the 12th September 2015, starting at 6:30…
The Derwent to Cygnus fundraising bike ride on the 9th August 2015 has been postponed until the new season, possibly September/October this year. This has been decided by the commitee due to a combination of factors: people’s unavailability to take part for this event date, lack of adequate uptake for required number of participants, a…
It is that time of the year again, the Sunderland Astronomical Society’s Astrophotography Competition will held on Sunday 17th May 2015, from 7:00 pm, where the best of our SAS astrophotography images will be displayed and voted on at this competition event. Traditionally, this is our end-of-season meeting and consequently enjoys something of a more relaxed…
A new generation of giant telescopes (Extremely Large Telescopes (ELTs)) is being designed. They will have primary mirrors with diameters ranging from 25 metres to 39 metres. Professor Richard Myers of the Centre for Advanced Instrumentation, Durham University will look at the new astronomy that these systems will be…
In suppot of the BBC Two’s Stargazing Live shows on BBC2 on Wednesday 18th, Thursday 19th, & Friday 20th (morning of partial solar eclipse) March, Sunderland Astronomical Society and other invited Astronomical Society’s will be running our own Stargaing Live events on Friday 20th & Saturday 21st March 2015, from 6:30 pm. Join local astronomers…
2014 Grubb Parsons Lecture – Ripples from the Big Bang Presented by Professor Jo Dunkley (University of Oxford). At Durham University, Appleby Lecture Theatre (W103 Geography Department). From 4:30 pm to 5:30 pm Free Entry.
On the morning of 20th March 2015 we will witness a partial solar eclipse, though we won’t see totality in the UK. Recent total eclipse observations have enabled stunning images of the Sun’s corona to be recorded, spectacularly demonstrating that the magnetic field is the primary structuring force in the solar atmosphere. Fortunately, we no…
The next star camp runs from Wednesday 22nd to Sunday 26th October with spaces already filling up! The Kielder Forest Star Camps are run twice a year, in the spring (usually in Feb/March) and in the autumn(usually in October). All activities on the main day (Saturday) are free. Update: as of 22/09/14 non-electrical pitches are available.