For the final lecture of our 2015/16 season, Flamsteed members were given a real treat when Dr Matt Taylor from ESA came to talk about the Rosetta mission. Matt is the Project Scientist for this mission, working as the interface between the scientists responsible for the experiments on the mission and the ESA mission operation […]
The Flamsteed Radio Astronomy Group continues to make good progress. At the last meeting on Tuesday 7 June 2016, the group had 5 VLF (Very Low Frequency) receivers up and running in an attempt to compare performance. A Very Low Frequency (VLF) Receiver is designed to record Sudden Ionospheric Disturbance (SIDs) induced by solar flares. […]
Our observing session on Blackheath this Saturday was again in danger of being cancelled due to bad weather. At least that’s what each of the 6 forecasting sites I looked at said. However one did say it was going to be patchy cloud instead of a thick blanket and it also seemed to be agreeing […]
The ROG was preparing for new galleries called ‘Observatory Lives’ focusing on two of the Astronomers Royal, Maskelyne and Airy, and their families who lived at the Observatory in Flamsteed House. By way of contrast, Graham Dolan spoke to us about some of the nineteenth century assistants at the Observatory, people who did the work […]
A party from the History Group enjoyed a visit to the RMG Caird Library to look at a selection of rare and interesting books from the astronomy collection. The visit was hosted by Gareth Bellis and Stawell Heard of the library staff, and by Louise Devoy, Curator of the ROG. The books were divided into […]
Sir Fred Hoyle was never far from controversy and is probably most widely remembered for his passionate advocacy of a ‘steady state’ universe in opposition to the ‘Big Bang’ (a term he coined). But Fred made many breakthrough contributions to astrophysics, a point often overlooked. Malcolm’s thorough review of Hoyle’s life and work began with […]
Friday 11th saw us returning to Blackheath for an observing session. After what seemed like a never ending spell of bad weather which had caused previous observing sessions to be cancelled, we finally got a break! Unfortunately while generally clear, the evening had a quantity of dew in the air which significantly reduced what we […]
On the evening of Tuesday 8 March, a group of Flamsteed members visited the Institute of Astronomy in Cambridge. The members were treated to a short talk on the astrophysics of star formation by one to institute’s research students, Nimisha Kumari. She outlined her work comparing star formation rates between nearby galaxies to gain a […]
Bobby Manoo treated the Flamsteed audience to another highly entertaining review of what to see in the night sky in the month of March 2016. His presentation covered: The Moon – including a challenge to take a photo of the Alpine Valley (Vallis Alpes) Planets – Jupiter, Mars and Saturn Deep Sky Objects – M104, […]
A big Flamsteed audience welcomed Dr Francisco Diego back to the society, where he gave a fascinating and thought-provoking lecture about the “Think Universe!” project. “Think Universe!” is an educational project to bring big science to elementary classrooms. Francisco took us on a journey from the creation of the universe to the present day… using […]
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