The latest news from Sunderland Astronomical Society
There are several lines of evidence pointing to the existence of an as yet elusive dark matter which is more abundant in the Universe on average than the ordinary stuff of gas, stars and planets. Despite the persistent lack of a plausible particle candidate, the LCDM cosmological theory has been remarkably successful in describing…
Meteors cannot only be observed in visible light, but also with radio. If you are tuning a radio set to a special radio beacon, you can detect meteors both during the day and at night and during cloudy weather. And with a simple radio receiver, this form of radio astronomy is within reach for…
Dear SAS members, At our August Committee meeting the Committee discussed how we can start to return to normal and start meeting up in person again. The management of the Washington Wetlands Centre are still very cautious about mass gatherings indoors and have asked that we keep numbers to a minimum. Therefore, we have therefore…
SAS Starbeque event at Derwent Reservoir Car Park. Date: Saturday 11th September 2021, Time: From 7 pm until very late, observing afterwards if weather is favorable. Venue: Will take place at at Derwent Reservoir located at our Millshield dark sky site. This is our traditional celebration of the return of darker nights and, as in previous years…
The North East of England has a rich astronomical heritage and this talk will examine a timeline which started in the Neolithic period right up to modern day research and the recent explosion in Astro tourism in our region. In this talk Graham will look at the people, organisations, places and practices which have often…
Quasars are the brightest known objects in the visible universe. They are so bright that they outshine the entire galaxy they sit in and are useful in all areas of astronomy, especially cosmology where they can be used as a probe for the early Universe. Most quasars appear very blue, but there are some that…
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…