Report by Rupert Smith In celebration of International SUNday we held a solar observing session at our regular Blackheath location on……Saturday! This was due to the better forecast offered on this day, which, despite some cloud from time to time, proved to be the right choice. There was a good turnout of scopes, which as […]
Report by Mike Meynell There can’t be many astronomy societies that can boast of having arranged two trips to CERN in Geneva within a year! However, following on from the huge success of our first trip in September 2013, we decided to run a second trip in order to meet the obvious demand from Flamsteed […]
One of the great pleasures of being a member of the Flamsteed Astronomy Society is the opportunity to chat to other members of the society about an incredibly wide range of topics. The knowledge of our membership never ceases to amaze me and has again been demonstrated by the quality of debate on our new […]
Professor Ian Crawford is Professor of Planetary Science and Astrobiology at Birkbeck College, University of London. Apollo 17 was the last space mission to the moon in December 1972. One of the astronauts on this trip, Harrison Schmitt, was the first (and so far, only) scientist on the Moon; having gained his PhD is Geology […]
About 30 members came along to our last History Group lecture evening of the 2013/4 season. We were treated to two talks, each by a very knowledgeable member – scholars and gentlemen both! Mesopotamian Astronomy – Tim Newling Tim Newling kicked off and spoke about ‘Mesopotamian Astronomy’. Tim is a long-standing Flamsteed member and spends […]
Professor Louise Harra is professor of solar physics at UCL Mullard Space Science Laboratory and came to the Flamsteed to talk about the current solar cycle and why it might (or might not!) be unusual in comparison to previous solar cycles. Louise started with an explanation of solar cycles. Solar cycles have been known about […]
by Chris Mann The clocks went forward at the end of March and the Earth is motoring along its orbit such that between mid March and mid May, the real night (minus astronomical twilight) will have nearly halved from 9 hours to just over 5½ hours. Disaster! What’s more all those beautiful winter constellations are […]
Roy Hookway entertained us with a splendid talk about Charles Messier. Roy has been a Flamsteed member for over 10 years, and for 13 years was Secretary of the Thurrock Astronomy Society. Roy’s interest in Messier began when he came across ‘Messier objects’ and was told only that Messier was a French bloke who found […]
Report by Clive Inglis The Flamsteed SID detection system uses a VLF receiver and a small loop antenna purchased ready-built from the United Kingdom Radio Astronomy Association (UKRAA). A detailed description of SID detection and the UKRAA VLF Receiver system can be found on their web-site: http://www.ukraa.com/www/vlf-range.html. The UKRAA website states: “The receiver has a […]
Professor Carl Murray from Queen Mary College, London, returned to the Flamsteed for his 4th appearance over the last 10 years, to give us an update on the Cassini mission to Saturn (see links to previous lecture reports at the end of this report). Carl joked that the Flamsteed were like a second family, as […]
