The 2025/2026 programme is almost ready for publishing. Below is the completed 2024/2025 session programme. Watch this space over the next few weeks for updates.
2024/2025 RAS Programme.
Monthly Main Meeting.
Sept 21st 2024 7 pm
St Peter’s Church Hall
This will be a physical meeting in the hall with remote access via ZOOM. Non-members, having enjoyed the talk, donate £5 via online banking:
Reading Astronomical Society: Sort code: 60-17-21: Account No: 54137268
Guest Speaker: Peter Campbell-Burns UK meteor observing network (UKMON)
TThe UK Meteor Network (UKMON) is a UK-wide network of observers collating data on meteor and fireball occurrences. Peter will explain the important scientific objectives and latest data-capturing techniques.
This month’s Outreach meeting will be held on Friday 27th at 1st Wokingham Scout Hut. Weather permitting we will have 2 short talks followed by observing the sky through telescopes. Please bring coats as it may get chilly. See the FridayCLUB page for more details. It would be great to see you there.
Monthly Main Meeting.
Oct 19 2024 7 pm
St Peter’s Church Hall
This will be a physical meeting in the hall with remote access via ZOOM. Non-members, having enjoyed the talk, donate £5 via online banking:
Reading Astronomical Society: Sort code: 60-17-21: Account No: 54137268
Guest Speaker : Dr Lillian Hobbs FRAS – Astronomy Using a Phone or a Tablet
Portable devices now allow us to do astronomy in entirely new ways, unencumbered by expensive or heavy equipment. Dr Hobbs is an amateur astronomer, astrophotographer and author.
This month’s Outreach meeting will be held on Friday 25th at 1st Wokingham Scout Hut. Weather permitting we will have 2 short talks followed by observing the sky through telescopes. Please bring coats as it may get chilly. See the FridayCLUB page for more details. It would be great to see you there.
Monthly Main Meeting.
Nov 16 2024 7pm
St Peter’s Church Hall
This will be a physical meeting in the hall with remote access via ZOOM. Non-members, having enjoyed the talk, donate £5 via online banking:
Reading Astronomical Society: Sort code: 60-17-21: Account No: 54137268
Guest Speaker: – Danny Thomas (Farnham AS and SAGAS Secretary) – 3D Constellations
Danny wrote his own software to take the stellar coordinates of stars from surveys of our galaxy and model the constellations. Using this, he can spin the constellations around and see how they look from a sideways viewpoint and animate how they change over time. He uses the software to tell a story of the well known Northern and Southern hemisphere constellations including names of stars, mythology and moving groups.
This month’s Outreach meeting will be held on Friday 22nd at 1st Wokingham Scout Hut. Weather permitting we will have 2 short talks followed by observing the sky through telescopes. Please bring coats as it may get chilly. See the FridayCLUB page for more details. It would be great to see you there.
Email info@readingastro.org.uk or text 07510444630 for further information.
Please ignore information at gostargazing(dot)com.
Christmas Social Evening.
Dec 14 2024 7 pm
St Peter’s Church Hall
This social evening is not suitable for zoom connection. Resuming this service next month.
RAS Christmas Special
Members will show their latest equipment and software, with quiz, raffle and a Christmas buffet.
This month’s Outreach meeting will be held on Friday 27th at 1st Wokingham Scout Hut. Weather permitting we will have 2 short talks followed by observing the sky through telescopes. Please bring coats as it may get chilly. See the FridayCLUB page for more details. It would be great to see you there.
Email info@readingastro.org.uk or text 07510444630 for further information.
Please ignore information at gostargazing(dot)com.
Monthly Main Meeting.
Jan 18 2025 7 pm
St Peter’s Church Hall
This will be a physical meeting in the hall with remote access via ZOOM. Non-members, having enjoyed the talk, donate £5 via online banking:
Reading Astronomical Society: Sort code: 60-17-21: Account No: 54137268
Guest Speaker – Members Talks
Title of talks – A miscellany of short talks by Reading AS members. Subjects varied and TBS! – If you would like to give a talk please let us know
This month’s Outreach meeting will be held on Friday 24th at 1st Wokingham Scout Hut. Weather permitting we will have 2 short talks followed by observing the sky through telescopes. Please bring coats as it may get chilly. See the FridayCLUB page for more details. It would be great to see you there.
Email info@readingastro.org.uk or text 07510444630 for further information.
Please ignore information at gostargazing(dot)com.
OPEN DAY
National Astronomy Week Open Day
February Sunday 9th 2025
A day for celebration of Astronomy.
12:30 to 17:30
NATIONAL ASTRONOMY WEEK 2025 – details to follow
Monthly Main Meeting.
Feb 15 2025 7 pm
St Peter’s Church Hall
This will be a physical meeting in the hall with remote access via ZOOM. Non-members, having enjoyed the talk, donate £5 via online banking:
Reading Astronomical Society: Sort code: 60-17-21: Account No: 54137268
Society Speaker – Brian Skidmore (RAS ) – The Power of Gravity
The Power Of Gravity – How gravity – despite being by far the weakest of the 4 forces – produces Nature’s most powerful events.
This month’s Outreach meeting will be held on Friday 28th at 1st Wokingham Scout Hut. Weather permitting we will have 2 short talks followed by observing the sky through telescopes. Please bring coats as it may get chilly. See the FridayCLUB page for more details. It would be great to see you there.
Email info@readingastro.org.uk or text 07510444630 for further information.
Please ignore information at gostargazing(dot)com.
Monthly Main Meeting.
Mar 15 2025 7 pm
St Peter’s Church Hall
Guest Speaker – Neil Phillipson (Science communicator) – Mankind’s Next Big Leap
This will be a physical meeting in the hall with remote access via ZOOM. Non-members, having enjoyed the talk, donate £5 via online banking:
Reading Astronomical Society: Sort code: 60-17-21: Account No: 54137268
Title of talk– Mankind’s Next Big Leap
“Neil explains the incredible achievements of the post-Moon era – showing how the vast body of work the scientific community has done since the Moon landings has led us to the moment when we shall, at last, become a space-faring civilisation, ready to explore and colonise the Solar System and beyond – bringing vast benefits to Earth and transforming society for the better. He presents a bold vision of a better future – one in which innovation and progress flourish while war, poverty, illness and hunger are finally relegated to history”
This month’s Outreach meeting will be held on Friday 28th at 1st Wokingham Scout Hut. Weather permitting we will have 2 short talks followed by observing the sky through telescopes. Please bring coats as it may get chilly. See the FridayCLUB page for more details. It would be great to see you there.
Placeholder for outreach
Email info@readingastro.org.uk or text 07510444630 for further information.
Please ignore information at gostargazing(dot)com.
Monthly Main Meeting.
Apr 12th 2025 7 pm – Note 2nd Saturday, due to Easter
St Peter’s Church Hall
This will be a physical meeting in the hall with remote access via ZOOM. Non-members, having enjoyed the talk, donate £5 via online banking:
Reading Astronomical Society: Sort code: 60-17-21: Account No: 54137268
Guest Speaker – Danny Owen (University of Surrey) – NOVEL DESIGNS FOR SPACE MISSIONS
Title of talk – NOVEL DESIGNS FOR SPACE MISSIONS
Just as sat-nav did away with the need to argue over the best route home, scientists from the Surrey Space Centre have developed a new method to find the optimal routes for future space missions without the need to waste fuel.
This month’s Outreach meeting will be held on Friday 25th at 1st Wokingham Scout Hut. Weather permitting we will have 2 short talks followed by observing the sky through telescopes. Please bring coats as it may get chilly. See the FridayCLUB page for more details. It would be great to see you there.
Email info@readingastro.org.uk or text 07510444630 for further information.
Please ignore information at gostargazing(dot)com.
Monthly Main Meeting.
May 17 2025 7 pm
St Peter’s Church Hall
This will be a physical meeting in the hall with remote access via ZOOM. Non-members, having enjoyed the talk, donate £5 via online banking:
Reading Astronomical Society: Sort code: 60-17-21: Account No: 54137268
Society Speaker Gerry Bond
Subject:- Observing the Universe Acronym by Acronym
From the very basic problems of nature, such as the day not being a precise fraction of a year, humanity quickly got the idea that naming and sorting all of science was challenging. Into this soup of knowledge, humans introduce more and more instruments and methods to make sense of it. Well, everything needs a name, these instruments and methods included. There’s good evidence a sense of humour naturally arises in brains grappling with gravity, so this talk will deal with the unusual ways researchers give themselves and their toys a certain individuality.
Besides! We will learn a bit of astronomy along the way.
We are taking a Summer Break for our FridayCLUB outreach meetings. There are no FridayCLUB outreach meetings in May, June or July. The Sky is very bright during the summer months (May,June,July) making observing with telescopes highly challenging in the early evening. We will restart the meetings on 22nd August 2025. Please put this date in your diary’s as we would love to see you there.
Email info@readingastro.org.uk or text 07510444630 for further information.
Please ignore information at gostargazing(dot)com.
Monthly Main Meeting and AGM
Jun 21 2025 7 pm
St Peter’s Church Hall
Last year’s entry repeated probably
This will be a physical meeting in the hall with remote access via ZOOM. Non-members, having enjoyed the talk, donate £5 via online banking:
Reading Astronomical Society: Sort code: 60-17-21: Account No: 54137268
RAS Speaker – Kenelm England – Astronomical Centenaries for 2025
Kenelm England (FRAS), an amateur astronomer with an interest in astronomical history, a longtime member of the Reading AS.
Title of Talk – Anniversaries in “2025”. Kenelm England (Reading AS and historian)Kenelm’s annual look at notable astronomical and scientific anniversaries in years ending “25”Plus 54th Annual General Meeting
Sunday 22nd June 2025
1200-1800
EAST READING FESTIVAL Palmer Park
Reading Astronomical Society stand.
Exhibition and solar observing.
Join us on Sunday 22nd June for The East Reading Festival 2025.
The festival is a free community-focused event, with a music stage, spoken word/poetry stage, a funfair, a small food court with a variety of different cuisines and a wide range of community, charity and commercial stalls.
We will be attending this annual local event with our telescopes suitably filtered for safe observing of sunspots and other activity on our local star.
Images of previous event.
We are taking a Summer Break for our FridayCLUB outreach meetings. There are no FridayCLUB outreach meetings in May, June or July. The Sky is very bright during the summer months (May,June,July) making observing with telescopes highly challenging in the early evening. We will restart the meetings on 22nd August 2025. Please put this date in your diary’s as we would love to see you there.