On Saturday, 18th January 2020, we gathered on Blackheath Common looking thoughtfully up at what the night sky was offering. Members with telescopes entertained the public with views into the cosmos, trying to dodge the cloud patches that skimmed past, and as the evening rolled on, whimpers could be heard as the cold air was […]

So after being away for almost two years… Slingshot around the sun, charge the flux capacitor or use the force – whatever your favourite film is, there’s no way round it: we’re baaaack in the lecture theatre! And boldly doing what no other astronomy society has done before (probably): we’re only zooming at the same […]

A short review of what to see in the night sky in May 2020: Light phases at sunrise and sunset Sky conditions during lockdown Starlink comments Messier 3 – Globular Cluster Markarian’s Chain Mercury Eta Aquarids meteor shower “Supermoon” Presented by Mike Meynell

Agnes Mary Clerke was born in Skibbereen in Co Cork in and grew up in the midst of the horrific Irish Famine.  Her mother Catherine was one of the talented and wealthy family of the Deasy’s and her father John Clerke was a talented amateur astronomer and general scientist who ran the local bank.  She […]

View of the Lovell Telescope

On the 22nd June 2019, a group of Flamsteed members visited Jodrell Bank, part of the University of Manchester’s School of Physics and Astronomy and the home of the famous Lovell Radio Telescope. The site is also home of the Discovery Centre with its Planet and Space Pavilions which house interactive displays on radio telescopes […]

Eddie Yeadon delivers talk

“I have no idea what time is and I am not going to attempt an explanation.” This was the opening line for Eddie Yeadon’s talk for the fourth session of the History of Astronomy talks this season. Eddie has a PhD in physics from Manchester University and has had a long career largely focused on […]

Tony Sizer

Who actually invented the refracting telescope? This was the opening question which was put to the audience in our second session for the History of Astronomy group this season. The presenter was Tony Sizer, a former teacher of Chemistry, Science and Astronomy at Warwick School and Chigwell School and is currently one of the astronomers […]

Graham Dolan with Bobby Manoo

In our first talk for this season, we were taken back to the Royal Observatory during the period 1890 to 1895 to explore the work of five women who were employed as ‘Lady Computers’. Isabella Clemes, Alice Everett, Harriet Furniss, Edith Rix and Annie Russell all have very intriguing history relating to their work at […]

On 8th November Martin and Jane made welcome a small group of star-starved Londoners and gave us a dazzling guided tour of the star-spangled sky over Romney Marsh. Martin trained his Meade 14” SCT (Schmitt Cassegrain Telescope) on a fascinating variety of deep sky objects and planets. With such a powerful telescope we were able […]

On Saturday 12th May, a group of 20 Flamsteed members ventured out to the University of Cambridge’s Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory. Located at Lord’s Bridge near the small village of Barton in Cambridgeshire, the site was once a railway station on the Varsity Line that ran between Oxford and Cambridge. That, in fact, is where […]