What has ESA ever done for us? Everybody has heard of NASA and could list some of their greatest achievements. Less familiar are the successful projects of the European Space Agency (ESA) and this is a situation which our August speaker Paul Hill was keen to put right. Here are some of the unmanned projects …
Category: Past Talks
Planetary imaging
Geof Lewis shares his imaging secrets Geof Lewis achieved a first in his recent talk – a gasp of astonishment. His theme was Planetary Imaging and the gasp came as he was demonstrating the tricks of the trade to improve the level of detail in an image of Jupiter. He showed us one version which …
The unsung heroes of the Big Bang Theory
If I were asked to name the scientists most closely associated with the Big Bang theory , I wouldn’t hesitate before saying Edwin Hubble and then, after a brief head-scratch, I would say Penzias and Wilson for their discovery of the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation. I would not say Vesto Slipher, George Lemaitre or Robert …
Constellations in 3D
Constellations as you have never seen them – or ever will see them The title of the September talk by member Danny Thomas was “Constellations in 3D” – intriguing, very intriguing! The challenge that Danny had set himself was to model constellations so that they could be viewed from different locations far away from Earth. …
Is Jupiter a planet?
Is Jupiter a planet? What a bizarre question. Of course Jupiter is a planet, it’s the biggest by far in our Solar System! And yet … as our speaker, Jerry Stone of Spaceflight UK , argued at our May meeting, if you apply the definition of a planet developed by the International Astronomical Union in …
Occultations and asteroid hunting
I am often amazed by the knowledge, skills and commitment of the so-called amateur astronomers who give presentations to us at our monthly meetings. An excellent example of this was when we welcomed Tim Haymes who gave a very engaging talk about observing occultations. Now, one of my top “Wow” moments is from a few …
Top Tips on using DSLR
Geof Lewis shares his top tips on DSLR astrophotography I am always amazed by the images of the night sky captured by society members. They seem to me to be every bit as good as those from the Hubble Telescope. Indeed when we include a display of them at our public events, the first thing …
UKMON update
UKMON Presents at Farnham Astronomical Society Many amateur photographers /astronomers would be very satisfied if they captured a picture of a meteor. Two Society members, Peter Campbell-Burns and Richard Kacerek, are just a tad more ambitious than that. They are co-ordinating a network of observers who have now recorded over 20,000 images of meteors, with …
Einstein and tractor drivers
How Einstein helps tractor drivers“Turn off SATNAV” – advice during Farnborough Air Show to allow for the various road closures and diversions which are meant to facilitate traffic flow. Many people would find it hard to imagine life now without SATNAV and all the other functions which the GPS system allows. Presumably Einstein would have …
What is the Universe made of ?
What is the Universe made of? Most people could come up with a simple answer to that : atoms. Our May speaker, Professor Phil Walker Head of the Centre for Nuclear and Radiation Physics at Surrey University, put us straight on that; the answer is anything but simple. Let’s though stay with the basic ideas …