This 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 long period variable stars which is due to brighten any time now. Its increase in magnitude will be spectacular when it finally goes off!

Image credits : Stellarium (L) and Pete Lawrence / Sky at Night Magazine (R)

From 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 the Universe.

Refurbishment 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 Digata will describe the progress that has been made and show some impressive images taken with our upgraded equipment. We will also outline further upgrades that we hope to complete next year.

This 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 world, the development of active optics has kept this instrument at the cutting edge of astronomical research.

Astronomy in Flatland

We will be welcoming Dr Colin Steele, from the Manchester University school of Mathematics who last spoke to us in 2017.

This time Colin’s talk is inspired by the satirical novella ‘Flatland’ by Edwin Abbott, published in 1885.

Colin will consider what astronomy would be like in a 2-dimensional universe. One significant feature would be that gravity, rather than following an inverse-square law, would simply be inversely proportional to distance. The shapes of orbits would be different as a result.

Solar Flares: The Most Powerful Explosions in the Solar System.

Our speaker is Philippa Browning, Professor of Astrophysics in the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics at the University of Manchester.

Solar flares are dramatic explosions in the outer atmosphere of the Sun – the solar corona. They produce electromagnetic radiation and beams of high-energy charged particles, which can have serious detrimental effects on space instrumentation and on power systems and communication on Earth

From Black to White… where a second can last an eternity.

Mark Holmes will bring us the story of Black and White Holes, possibly the greatest of mysteries in our Universe

Our speaker will be Nicholas Booth and his topic is “Adventures In the Space Trade”.

Nicholas Booth is the youngest Briton to have ever worked for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. After studying science at college, he became a writer, first on Astronomy Now, then newspapers. He has written several books on science and eventually became a technology editor on The Times.

His most recent book is ‘The Search For Life On Mars’, co-written with Dr Elizabeth Howell – one of the few people who has lived on a simulated Mars base.

Nicholas will talk about some of the people he met including Nobel laureates and famous names. He will also discuss many of the unsung heroes of the space age. He will tell us what it was like to report on space missions and what can be done to keep the promise of space alive.

John Anderson will give a talk entitled “The James Webb Space telescope – the what, where and how”. He will be looking at the early life of the James Webb Telescope from its design and launch to how it deployed autonomously to the L2 position.

L2 is one of five Sun-Earth Lagrange points, positions in space where the gravitational pull of the Sun and Earth combine such that small objects in that region have the same orbital period (length of year) as Earth. This makes it possible for Webb to remain in constant communication with Earth.