The latest news from Sunderland Astronomical Society
21st July 2019 marks the 50th anniversary of the first moonwalk, when Apollo 11 commander Neil Armstrong became the first human to set foot on another world. For a brief period, the Moon became our first outpost in the wider cosmos before the manned missions ceased in December 1972. In total, only 12 men ever walked on…
Saturday 20th July 2019 marks the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing and with it comes a fantastic opportunity to celebrate arguably one of humankind’s greatest achievements. Visit the Cygnus Observatory based at the Washington Wetlands Centre & join the Sunderland Astronomical Society for a an event dedicated to the Apollo 11 50th anniversary. See…
Summer Lecture 1: How to take deep sky photos with Chris Duffy from 7.00pm. Join us for the start of our ‘SAS Summer Lectures’ as our very own Chris Duffy takes you through: How he has his gear set up, How to take amazing astro images, How to polar align using sharpcap, How to set up…
Hartlepool born David Sinden was the last chief optician at the Grubb Parsons company. He went on to form his own ‘Sinden Optical Company’. This talk covers his remarkable achievements in optics and telescopes. David Sinden A life in Optics
The expansion history and large-scale structure of the Universe is a key prediction of cosmological models, and DESI observations will permit scientists to probe diverse aspects of cosmology, from dark energy to alternatives to General Relativity to neutrino masses to the early Universe. DESI will measure the expansion history of the Universe using the baryon…
SAS Starbeque event at Derwent Reservoir Car Park. Date: Saturday 31st August 2019, 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…
SAS Starbeque event at Derwent Reservoir Car Park. Date: Saturday 20th April 2019, 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, …
Images of astronomical objects from ground-based telescopes are blurred by turbulence in the earth’s atmosphere – a phenomenon referred to as “seeing”. The magnitude of the effect depends on the strength of the turbulence, the size of the telescope and the wavelength at which observations are made. This talk will discuss how the earth’s atmosphere…
Visit the Cygnus Observatory based at the Washington Wetlands Centre for an evening dedicated to our nearest celestial neighbour. See the moon in stunning detail through many telescopes and enjoy a tour of the night skies from this welcoming and friendly group of amateur astronomers. Powerful telescopes will be available to view: The Moon. Amazing…
Gravitational waves offer a new way to uncover the universe. General relativity suggested their existence, but even Einstein wasn’t sure about them. It wasn’t until the 1970s that there was evidence of their existence, but it took 40 years to be able to detect them. Now we can detect these ripples in space time, what…