Marek spoke to us in our final lecture meeting of the season. Over the Millennia man has had many different perceptions of the Earth, our home, but the space-age has revolutionised our view in two ways especially — first, Earth is an almost insignificant speck in the quiet backwaters of a seething Universe; second, Earth […]
Richard Dunn began with a brief introduction to his new book “The Telescope: A short history” (NMM Publishing 2009). The book is a very well presented publication and covers the development and social impact of all kinds of telescope, nautical and terrestrial as well as astronomical. It is an entertaining and informative read. For the Flamsteed audience […]
“A crash course” and no mishtake! In the 20th century only about 32% of space missions to Mars were successful. The scorecard in the 21st century has been rather better so far with an 85% success rate. Doug speaks with confidence, passion, and clarity. His grasp of the details of Mars missions is impressive and […]
Stuart found it very apt that he was delivering the Flamsteed’s first lecture of IYA2009, in the 150th anniversary year of the main events in his story, and in the very place which formed the centre of an important piece of the action. In 1859 a leading Victorian astronomer, Richard Carrington, was observing and sketching […]
On Monday 1st December, the dignified hallows of the Peter Harrison Planetarium lobby echoed to the happy sounds of some sixty members of the Flamsteed Society, together with distinguished guests from the Observatory, as they gathered to celebrate the Society’s 9th Christmas. The evening commenced with wine and nibbles served from tables groaning under the […]
Nik Szymanek talked to us about astro imaging. Nik is Britain’s leading amateur astrophotography expert. His images are fabulous. The great growth of interest in amateur astronomy owes much to the ‘shock and awe’ of images like those from the Hubble Space Telescope and the work of Nik and others. Nik spoke at length both […]
In the year 1900, after a storm, sponge divers found the wreck of an ancient ship off the island of Antikythera in the Mediterranean. The wreck was notable for its hoard of statues and other articles dated to 100BC. Much was salvaged in 1900-1. The ship may have been sailing from Rhodes to Italy. Found among the […]
Alan Longstaff is a fiercely clever polymath. (He says ‘Jack-of-all trades’ — too modest!). He’s well known to many Flamsteeders via his excellent astronomy GCSE adult classes at the ROG, and to a much wider readership from his ‘Ask Alan’ column in Astronomy Now. Alan is fluent in astronomy, biology, and geology to mention but three! And […]
