Main Programme
**COVID-19 Policy: Covid regulations may eventually permit some physical meeting. Use will be made of zoom software as well as physically meeting in the hall when it becomes possible. Zoom policy requires passcodes which will be issued by email before each meeting.Programme 2020-2021All meetings start at 7.00pm in St. Peter’s Church Hall, Earley. If you are a speaker who would like to talk to the society or have a recommendation for a speaker or subject please email [email protected] please note Meetings are wheelchair accessible unless mentioned otherwise |
August 28th 7pm.**Friday club virtual meeting.Zoom talk – access details will be provided by news-list Owen Brazell Webb Society The Deep Sky Story. Owen has a life long interest in the deep-sky objects of all types and is currently President of the Webb Society dedicated to encourage amateur observations of double stars and ‘deep-sky’ objects such as star-clusters and nebulae, and to provide a forum where observers can communicate and publish the results of their work. |
September 19th 2020**Society AGM
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September 25th 7.30pmFriday club virtual meeting.Zoom talk – access details will be provided by newslist Trevor Gainey Basingstoke and Readng AS’s Space Junk and the Argus Project. Ridding space of discarded material and debris is becoming a major problem occupying the space-going powers. Trevor will share his studies with us in this major talk.
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October 17th 2020 7pmZoom talk – access details will be provided by newslist Supermassive Black Holes: The Ultimate Galaxy Killers?Rebecca Smethurst – Junior Research Fellow, Dpt of Physics, U of Oxford, REPLACINGFrom Galaxies to LifeRoger Davies – Wetton Professor of Astrophysics, Dpt of Physics, U of Oxford, |
Friday club held over ’til 2021 |
National Astronomy WeekSaturday 14 November to Sunday 22 November 2020 |
November 21st, 2020**Is there life in the clouds of Venus?Brian Skidmore – Lunar mission architect SSTL On Sept 14th 2020 it was announced that the gas phosphine had been detected in the atmosphere of Venus, where the temperatures and pressures (though not the acidity) can be surprisingly Earth-like. Since phosphine in Earth’s atmosphere is only produced naturally by life, this caused a great deal of excitement: is the same true of Venus – are there microbes floating around in its atmosphere too? This will be a virtual talk on zoom. |
Friday club held over ’til 2021 |
December 12th, 2020**(Nb. 2nd Saturday) Virtual Tour of Members’ Observatories.
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Friday, January 8thNewbury exchange meeting.ReadingAS invited to do three short talks for the Newbury January Main Meeting. Talks by John Talbot and Brian Skidmore were presented This will be a virtual talk on zoom.
Sat, January 16thNewbury Guest Meeting.Members from NewburyAS will do three short talks Talks by Steve Harris, George Sallit, Chris Hooker This will be a virtual talk on zoom.
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22nd Jan – Friday Club date |
Sat. February 20th 7pm. ReadingAS February Main Meeting90-minute theatrical presentation. Andrew Lound of Odyssey Productions will be presenting one of his celebrated costumed talks, on ZOOM of course. CARL SAGAN – MAN OF THE COSMOSThe middle to late 18th century saw a rise in scientific enquiry that fuelled and was in turn aided by the industrial revolution. Freethinking stimulated human imagination that questions everything and wondered at the mysteries of the universe. Men of the calibre of those 18th-century thinkers were rare in the 20th century as a more cynical and structured approach to science and thinking was promoted. There were however exceptions and one Carl Sagan became one the century’s greatest science popularisers and thinkers. Sagan became one of the most influential astronomers of the 20th century bringing a fresh approach to planetary science and in the face of much criticism questioned established theories about Venus, Mars, the formation of life and the manner in which to popularize space science. Andrew who was inspired by Carl to support space science gives a very personal view of the man and his work. The presentation is illustrated with slides, audio, video and several surprising props! |
26th Feb – Friday Club date |
event cancelled |
March 20th, 2021, 7 pmQuasars and Galaxy Evolution.Victoria Fawcett – Durham University Red quasars: the missing link in Galaxy evolution? Quasars are THE brightest known objects in the visible universe. They are so bright that they outshine the entire galaxy they sit in and are useful in all areas of astronomy, especially cosmology where they can be used as a probe for the early Universe. Most quasars appear very blue, but there are some that show much redder colours. These “red quasars” could be an important link in galaxy evolution and so understanding their properties is very important; our group have found fundamental differences in the radio properties of red quasars that support this scenario. In my work I use high resolution radio data and optical-near-infrared quasar spectra to explore the differences in red quasars; we find the red colours are caused by dust and that red quasars have a preference for compact radio morphologies. These results add weight to the emerging picture of red quasars being fundamentally different objects to blue quasars, and potentially represent an important phase in galaxy evolution.
This will be a virtual talk on zoom. |
26th March – Friday Club date |
BAA Winchester Webinarhttps://britastro.org/node/24984 Details from BAA website. |
April 17th 2021, 7 pmThe Appley Bridge MeteoriteGuest Speaker – Russel Parry Author This is the fascinating story of the fall and find of the Appley Bridge meteorite in 1914, confusion with enemy Zeppelins, the confiscation of the meteorite by the police and its subsequent release for analysis. This will be a virtual talk on zoom.
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23rd Apr – Friday Club date |
May 15th 2021, 7 pmSubject TBN
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28th May – Friday Club date |
June 19th 2021, 7 pmAGM NightIncluding the Annual General Meeting.Have your say in running the society. Stand for election for posts. Lively discussion. Definitely not boring! Followed by:Astronomical Centenaries in 2021(provisional)Ken England FRAS After the coffee break the usual announcements and members’ activities. |
Not expected to take place this yearEAST READING FESTIVAL Palmer Park
Sunday ?? JuneReading Astronomical Society stand.Exhibition and solar observing. Images of previous event.
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25th June – Friday ClubThe Summer Triangle
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16th July – Friday ClubRegular Friday meetingTalk with emphasis on understanding basic astronomical topics. |
NO MAIN MEETINGS IN JULY & AUGUST |
Notes for diary: |
The venue is St. Peter’s Church Hall, Church Road, Earley. Parking is available in the hall car park. Typical meeting timings are…. 7.00 – 8.30pm :: Announcements and speaker as detailed above. 8.30 – 9.00pm :: Refreshments and an opportunity to chat and browse the library. 9.00 – 9.45pm :: Miscellany of topics by members. |