The latest news from Sunderland Astronomical Society
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…
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.…
VIRTUAL SOCIETY MEETING THURSDAYS ON ZOOM (Open to the Public). START TIME: 7.00pm END TIME: Usually around 9:00pm There is no formal subject just general astronomy chat for people whom are interested in AStronomy, stargazing , the night sky, etc. We get lots of questions on Facebook asking for advice and opinions on equipment and…
Get up close and personal with some 4.5 billion year old space rocks. Everything you wanted to know about Meteors, Meteoroids and Meteorites a journey back in time. What they are? Where do there come from? What types are there? How are the formed, composition? What have meteorites ever done for us? Etc. In this interactive…
My journey into Astrophotography started in 2014 after retirement gave me the freedom to stay up ALL NIGHT if I wished to do so and I have been on a massive learning curve ever since. I was already a keen photographer so how hard could it be to combine a camera and telescope to capture…
VIRTUAL SOCIETY MEETING THURSDAYS ON ZOOM. START TIME: 7.00pm END TIME: Usually around 9:00pm There is no formal subject just general astronomy chat. We get lots of questions on Facebook asking for advice and opinions on equipment and observing, so now is your chance to ask directly some of our senior members. We will give…
SAS Memberships will be due from 1st September 2020 (payable throughout September) for this season 2020/2021. Joining/Renewing helps support your local astronomical society & community. In this special year when we can’t meet as we would like, and haven’t been able to do our fundraising events your membership subscriptions are even more important to help keep…
In this talk Graham Darke (SAS President) will explain how we can optimise our observing and equipment for urban locations which is something that we have all had to contend with during the pandemic lockdown. Graham will look at how we can still get the most out of observing time despite the challenges that urban…