The Reading Astronomical Society holds the first of the season’s main meetings next Saturday, 17th September at the usual venue, and just less than a week later the AstroBASICS section hold the first of the season’s sessions for beginners and practical hobbyists. All sessions are at St. Peter’s Church Hall, Church Road, Earley, Reading, RG6 1EY.
Please note the AstroBASICS sessions are in the upstairs hall and are regretfully not accessible by wheelchair.
The speaker at the meeting of Saturday 17th will be Professor Mike Hapgood from Rutherford Appleton Laboratory. Mike’s subject will be space weather.
Space weather is the popular term for variations in the stream of energetic and electrically charged particles emanating from the sun.
We make no apologies for repeating this important subject. The sun is embarking on another few years of sunspot activity and each time this happens the human race is depending on more and more vital electronics installed for all manner of functions. It remains to be seen how our electronic infrastructure will stand up to the next big solar storm. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_storm_of_1859
The AstroBASICS session of Friday 23rd will have a talk on observing the sky. How much or how little equipment you need to consider yourself an amateur astronomer. How we report events or phenomena in the sky, and how to avoid being misquoted in the media! We have a wonderful 3 minutes of Richard and Judy which we will inflict on our guests!
Our AstroBASICS accommodation this year is so much more inviting so, for those who can stay a little longer, we are hoping to extend the evenings to extra talks and demos for when we cannot observe outside.
Venue: St. Peter’s Church Hall, Church Road, Earley, Reading, RG6 1EY
http://tinyurl.com/38qxd3w
GPS: 51.443891° -0.928940°
Main meetings start at 7.00pm. 3rd Saturday except July and August.
AstroBASICS sessions are in the upstairs rooms: Open from 7.00pm for 7.30 start. 4th Friday except July and August.