Meetings are held on the second Thursday of every month, at 7:15 for a 7.30 start, at St John’s Church Room, The Avenue, High Legh, WA16 6ND
A charge of £4 is made for the meeting – but that includes refreshments. There is no charge for students or juniors.
The Avenue is a one-way road. After entering The Avenue, turn left at the T-junction and immediately left again into the car park. The church and meeting room are opposite the car park entrance.
When you leave turn left out of the car park to continue in the one-way system.
Recent Meetings
- November 13th 2025Scilly Astronomy and the HLCO Winter Project There will be a double presentation by Mark Holmes for the November meeting. The first half will be ‘Scilly Astronomy’ in which Mark will describe the success of an HLCO outreach project. In the second half he will turn to practical matters at our own observatory here at … Continue reading
- October 9th 2025Some Strange Characteristics of Gravity Andy Verwer of MaccAstro will present a two-part talk to answer the questions: a) Why do we get two identical high tides per day? b) Lagrange points: what are they and why are they useful in space flight?
- September 11th 2025Mapping the Universe to reveal its dark secrets Our speaker will be Dr Steve Cunnington from the Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation, Universities of Portsmouth and Manchester. Steve says “We sort of understand how our Universe works and evolves. However, this relies on the existence of dark matter and dark energy, which should make up … Continue reading
- August 2025We will be taking a break in August but we will be back in September. Meanwhile, as mentioned at the July talk, you might want to head over to FaceBook to take a look at the HLCO-branded merchandise that is now available. Just search for the group called “High Legh Community Observatory”. If you are … Continue reading
- July 10th 2025Eric through the looking glass Eric McElroy will take us on his personal journey into astrophotography, from conception to reality.He will describe the adventure step by step, from being a complete beginner to producing images like this (NGC 4565 The Needle Galaxy ) in only a matter of months… despite the challenge of working in … Continue reading
- June 12th 2025The Blue Jewel that is Neptune Mark Holmes will tell you everything you ever wanted to know about the furthest planet from the Sun but were afraid to ask… Image creditNASA / Voyager 2 / PDS / OPUS / Ardenau4 Slides from this talk can be found here
- May 15th 2025Jupiter the bully, and Saturn the saviour David Temperley of ADAS will present the story of how the solar system developed from tiny dust particles to mighty planets, concentrating on the role of Jupiter and Saturn in planetary formation, and introducing some of the latest research on the topic.
- April 10th 2025 – 2 talksThe Parker Solar probe – ‘touching’ the Sun John Anderson will start our evening by outlining the story of this remarkable spacecraft and the discoveries it has made. Launched in 2018 and having already completed several close approaches, the probe came within 3.8 million miles of the Sun’s surface on December 24th, 2024… and survived! … Continue reading
- March 13th 2025Cosmic Rays We welcome back Dr. Steve Barrett from the University of Liverpool for another of his mind-blowing and fascinating talks. High-energy charged particles are continually raining down on the Earth. Where do they come from and how do they gain so much energy? This talk includes a demonstration of a cloud chamber that allows … Continue reading
- February 13th 2025Weights and MeasuresRichard Bullock from Altrincham and District Astronomical Society will take us on a journey around the “top10” objects in our solar system. A stylized illustration of our solar system (Image credit : NASA/JPL)
- January 16th 2025 – rescheduled from 9thThis talk was originally scheduled for January 9th BUT, due to the freezing conditions, it was postponed and has been rescheduled for January 16th. Things that go ‘Bump’ in the Dark.Mark Holmes will present the story behind the ‘Blaze Star’, better known perhaps as T Corona Borealis. This object is one of a family of … Continue reading
- December 12th 2024It’s all Quantum: How the Aurora get their colours. There will be a short talk about what many of us saw earlier in the year… and some managed to photograph. … and it will be followed by the legendary HLCO Christmas Quiz provided by Colin. There will be a prize!
- November 14th 2024From the Rainbow’s end to Armageddon, our relationship with Messier 31. Mark Holmes will describe just how long our relationship with M31 (the Andromeda Galaxy) has been and, hopefully, how long it will last. He will also outline the key role that M31 has played in the development of our understanding of our place in … Continue reading
- October 10th 2024Refurbishment and Upgrade of HLCO After standing for 10 years, the wooden elements of the observatory (the fence and warm room) have been showing signs of their age. Taking advantage of the summer break, significant refurbishments and technical upgrades have been achieved and we are now ready for the autumn season. Terry Griffiths and Chris … Continue reading
- 12th September 2024This presentation sees the return of Steve Barrett from Liverpool University, who, in his own inimitable style, will tell the story of the development, construction and history of the truly iconic ‘Hale 200″ Telescope’, which has operated on Mount Palomar since ‘first light’ in 1949. Despite it no longer being the largest telescope in the … Continue reading