Public TalksMonthly Talks on Astronomical Topics of Interest |  |
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Monthly Public Talks
Our popular monthly talks are for members and the public to learn about some aspects of astronomy. These talks are aimed at ‘middle of the road’ level so the talk will appeal to members of the public with no prior knowledge, newcomers as well as those who have been interested in the subject for a number of years.
Topics from imaging the night sky, through to Cosmology, we invite speakers from all over the UK and the World.
We make a small charge on the door of £3.00 to cover our expenses. Unless otherwise stated, there is no need to book, simply turn up on the evening.
Our local venue:
Clanfield Memorial Hall,
South Lane,
Clanfield
Waterlooville
Hampshire
PO8 0RB
If you wish to view this location on MultiMap please click here
All talks start at 7:45pm unless otherwise stated
Friday, 14th May 2021
You can almost touch the stars
A talk by Tom Field
Cost: No charge for members or non-members for a Zoom meeting
Even if you wanted to touch a star, they’re all impossibly distant. Despite these great distances, astronomers have learned an enormous amount about stars. How? The most common method to study the stars is called spectroscopy, which is the science of analyzing the colorful rainbow spectrum produced by a prism-like device.
Until recently, spectroscopy was too expensive and too complicated for all but a handful of amateurs. Today, though, new tools make spectroscopy accessible to almost all of us. You no longer need a PhD, dark skies, long exposures, enormous aperture … or a big budget! With your current telescope and FITS camera (or a simple web cam or even a DSLR without a telescope) you can now easily study the stars yourself. Wouldn’t you like to detect the atmosphere on Neptune or the red shift of a quasar right from your own backyard?!
This talk, with lots of interesting examples, will show you what it’s all about and help you understand how spectroscopy is used in research. Even if you are an armchair astronomer, understanding this field will enhance your understanding of the things your read and the night sky. We’ll do a live Q&A after Tom’s 45-minute presentation.
Due to Covid restrictions, this talk will be held via Zoom - if you want to attend, please email lindy.bryant@hantsastro.org.uk for your ZOOM link and "doors" will open at 7.30pm for a 7.45pm start.
Tom Field has been a Contributing Editor at Sky & Telescope Magazine for the past 7 years. He is the author of the RSpec software (www.rspec-astro.com) which received the S&T “Hot Product” award in 2011. Tom is a popular speaker who has spoken to hundreds of clubs via the web and in-person at many conferences, including NEAF, the NEAF Imaging Conference, the Winter Star Party, the Advanced Imaging Conference, and others.
Friday, 11th June 2021
Gravitational Waves
A talk by Dr Laura Nuttall
Cost:
Friday, 8th October 2021
The Fermi Paradox
A talk by Dr Stephen Webb
Cost: No charge for members or non-members for a Zoom meeting
Named after Enrico Fermi, the paradox asks us "If they are out there, where is everyone??"
More details of this talk will be added later
Friday, 10th December 2021
Science of Santa
A talk by Dr Steve Barrett
Cost: No charge for members or non-members for a Zoom meeting
A short tongue-in-cheek 'stocking-filler' talk for the festive season. Is Santa Claus real? Can the myth be reconciled with scientific reasoning?
Our speaker tonight, on a return visit, is Dr Steve Barrett who is a Senior Researcch Fellow in the Department of Physics of Liverpool University, where his research interests span all aspects of imaging, image processing and image analysis. This includes medical imaging (biophysics), scanning probe microscopy of atoms, molecules and surfaces (nanophysics), microscopy of earth materials (geophysics) and astrophotography.
Dr Steve MAY be unable to travel to us and, if this is the case, this talk will be held via Zoom - if you want to attend, please email
lindy.bryant@hantsastro.org.uk
for your ZOOM link and "doors" will open at 7.30pm for a 7.45pm start.
Friday, 14th January 2022
Time in Einstein's Universe
A talk by Colin Stuart
Cost: No charge for members or non-members for a Zoom meeting
Due to Covid restrictions, this talk may be held via Zoom - changes to that status will be confirmed here
if you want to attend, please email
lindy.bryant@hantsastro.org.uk
for your ZOOM link and "doors" will open at 7.30pm for a 7.45pm start.
Friday, 11th February 2022
Appley Bridge meteorite - The Space Rock that Hit Lancashire
A talk by Russell Parry
Cost: No charge for members or non-members for a Zoom meeting
Join Russell Parry presenting the fascinating story of the fall and find of the Appley Bridge meteorite in 1914 as told through newspaper reports and archive documents of the time.
It tells the story of the confusion with enemy Zeppelins, the confiscation of the meteorite by the police and its subsequent release for analysis.
The presentation includes many previously unseen photographs of the meteorite and images provided by various organisations around the World.
Russell has appeared on several TV and radio programmes talking about the Appley Bridge meteorite, has presented talks on several voyages on Cunard's Queen Mary 2 and at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.
