An impromptu session was arranged on Blackheath this morning to view the total eclipse of the Moon. A few hardy souls turned up at 3am to view totality, and what a spectacular view it was. More pictures will be added to this report as they are received. If you took any pictures of the eclipse, […]
Thermonuclear supernovae signal the sudden and explosive destruction of a white-dwarf star. They are key to calibrating the expansion and acceleration of the cosmos; yet they occur rarely amongst the galaxies of our immediate cosmic neighbourhood. Serendipitously, in January 2014 one such supernova, the closest in a generation, was discovered in the nearby galaxy Messier […]
Report by Rupert Smith Following a successful FAS Members Solar Observing event at the ROG, we setup on Blackheath in preparation for the conjunction of Venus and Jupiter. The event started before the scheduled 9pm while the skies were still quite bright (and clear – more on that later!). Right from the start we had […]
Report by Mike Meynell We had decided to go ahead with our involvement in the Summer Solstice Sun Day at the Royal Observatory Greenwich regardless of the weather conditions on the day. This was because there were still plenty of indoor activities for attendees to enjoy, not least a solar astrophotography workshop led by Rupert […]
Report by Mike Meynell As the main Flamsteed season comes to an end, the month of June has traditionally become a time when we try to arrange trips to sites that are of interest to our members. We were in the fortunate position this year of being able to arrange a tour of the University […]
Professor Carolin Crawford gave the final lecture of the 2014/15 Flamsteed season on the subject of “The Red Planet”. Here are a few pictures from the event:
The Flamsteed hosted a debate about the existence of intelligent extraterrestrial life. Marek Kukula argued in favour of the existence of intelligent extraterrestrial life whereas Chris Lintott argued against. Dr Louisa Preston chaired the debate. Here are a few pictures from the event:
Graham was formerly Senior Education Officer at the ROG. Since his retirement he has devoted a great deal of time to researching the history of the Observatory and developing his excellent Royal Observatory and Greenwich Meridian websites. He has organised and posted a large amount of little-known material about the people at the ROG and […]
After a gap of 4 years, it was a pleasure to welcome Professor Richard Crowther of the UK Space Agency back to the Flamsteed to give us an update on space debris and other issues surrounding the security of satellites in Earth’s orbit. Richard began his talk by explaining that space is becoming congested, contested […]
As I write this short report, I’m staring out at a beautiful sunny day. Hard to believe that only a few hours ago, we were completely clouded out when trying to view the largest partial solar eclipse visible from London since 1999! Ah well, that is the law of sod, is it not? The truth […]
