We were very fortunate to be taken to see the astronomy reserve collection by curator Dr Rebekah Higgitt.  In common with many of the team, Becky is very busy just now with a number of projects including preparations for the special exhibition to mark the 2014 tercentenary of the Longitude Act.  She is also preparing […]

Report by Mike Meynell. Pictures by Grey Lipley. Once again, Flamsteed volunteers turned out in force to support the member’s preview evening of the new “Visions of the Universe” exhibition which has just opened at the National Maritime Museum. About a dozen volunteers set up a solar viewing session on a beautiful June evening, which […]

by Mike Meynell Here is a list of objects to view in the night sky during the Summer 2013: Noctilucent Clouds: These clouds are 80-85km above the Earth’s surface and are therefore the highest clouds ever seen, 10-times higher than Cirrus cloud. They are often a bluish colour or intense white and the clouds are extremely […]

Torrential rain for most of Friday 24 May put paid to any plans that we had for running a Blackheath stargazing session on Friday evening and so an early decision was made to move the session to Saturday. This proved to be a prescient move, as the weather for most of Saturday was glorious and […]

The Flamsteed were privileged to welcome Pete Lawrence from the BBC Sky at Night presenting team for what proved to be a superb lecture on Solar Observing. Pete visited Greenwich in January when “The Sky at Night” came to film a special programme about our nearest star, the Sun. Not wanting to let an opportunity […]

by Malcolm Porter Here is a list of objects to view in the night sky in June 2013: A planetary conjunction between Jupiter, Venus and Mercury A “Super” Moon on June 23rd Lunar occultation on June 27th Hercules Globular Cluster M13 The Summer Triangle Albireo – Beta Cygni Saturn The presentation is shown in the […]

On what proved to be a most interesting evening, we had the second Flamsteed “History of Astronomy” group meeting, with Flamsteed member Mirek Colakov talking about the Armillary Sphere which he constructed himself to demonstrate how the instrument can be used. Mirek is an experienced yachtsman and has a deep interest in celestial navigation and the […]

Our meeting in the Endeavour Room, although long overdue, remains popular, with one new and eight existing members in attendance. I apologised for the length of time between meetings and explained how Mike Meynell and I intend to schedule more regular events. We envisage the Radio Group getting together formally every 2 months with more […]

Coinciding with the launch of the Flamsteed “History of Astronomy” group, we were delighted to welcome Dr Rebekah Higgitt who is Curator of History of Science and Technology at the Royal Observatory Greenwich & National Maritime Museum. Rebekah came to discuss the role of the Astronomer Royal in the early days of the Greenwich Observatory, […]

by Chris Mann Here is a list of objects to view in the night sky in May 2013: Jupiter Saturn Mercury and Venus The Sun Garnet Star Variable star R Coronae Borealis The presentation is shown in the video below. Watch it full screen to see the star maps clearly. Press the spacebar to pause and […]