The latest news from Sunderland Astronomical Society
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…
Breaking News An ultramassive black hole over 33 billion times the mass of the sun has been discovered by UK astronomers. Scientists from Durham University said the gargantuan black hole is one of the biggest ever found! The team, led by Durham University, UK, used gravitational lensing – where a foreground galaxy bends the light…
Please Note: This talk is postponed until a later date TBD (due to last minute unforeseen work commitments). Dr Jurgen Schmoll has kindly agreed to step in and give one of his wonderful talks this evening. Eyepieces – the interface between technical and human optics. Instrument scientist – working behind the scenes of astronomical research…
Black holes sometimes sound more like science fiction than science fact, but the recent breakthrough results on gravitational waves and the amazing image of the shadow of an event horizon show the reality behind the equations. Professor Christine Done will introduce black holes, and guide us through the science and research behind the images, and…
Sunderland Astro Xmas Benker night. Traditionally between Christmas and New Year has been our night (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. Thursday 29th December 2022 at the Washington Wetlands Centre, from 7.00pm.
The Moon is a shy body, it only ever shows one sides of itself to the Earth. Before the space age we had no idea what was on the far side of the Moon. This has led to a number of conspiracy theories that it is a haven for aliens. In this talk, we’ll chart the…
This talk is all about Pluto, how it was discovered in 1930 and how discovery and observations of KBOs eventually led the International Astronomical Union (IAU) in 2006 to declassify Pluto from being a planet. Although ‘what is a planet?’ Might seem to be an easy question to answer, it turns out that the ensuing…
The Sunderland Astronomical Society AGM (Via Zoom) will be taking place on Sunday 16th October 2020 from 7:00 pm. Zoom AGM meeting details will be distributed via our SAS SMS text service or upon request from zoom-meetings@sunderlandastro.com. SAS members are invited to attend, listen to chair’s reports and vote in the election of the committee and nominations are…
SAS have been invited by St Mary’s Lighthouse & Visitor Centre to participate in this event: observing, talks & SAS stuff at St Mary’s lighthouse on Friday 7th October 2022. This is one of the biggest annual events in our calendar and it’s not too late to decide to come, we always need as many…
The search for Vulcan (not that one!) and other solar system enigmas The history of astronomy is littered with ‘sightings’ of objects that subsequently turned out not to exist. Some of these observations were from reputable observers. What was going on? In this talk, Ann will describe several examples including the famous intra-Mercurial ‘planet’ Vulcan. In this…