Handy table of dates for 2023-2024
| Month | Dates of main meetings | Potential outreach dates. Location TBD |
| Sep | Sat 16th 2023 – Mike Cruise | Fri 22nd 2023 – 1st Wokingham |
| Oct | Sat 21st 2023 – Hugh Allen | Fri 27th 2023 |
| Nov | Sat 18th 2023 – Mary Mcintyre | Fri 24th 2023 |
| Dec | Sat 9th 2023 – Dr Victoria Fawcett | Fri 29th 2023 |
| Jan | Sat 20th 2024 – members | Fri 26th 2024 |
| Feb | Sat 17th 2024 – Brian Skidmore | Fri 23rd 2024 |
| Mar | Sat 16th 2024 – Martin Lewis | Fri 22nd 2024 |
| Apr | Sat 20th 2024 – Prof Nick Evans | Fri 26th 2024 |
| May | Sat 18th 2024 – Owen Brazell | Fri 24th 2024 |
| Jun | Sat 15th 2024 (+AGM) – Ken England | Fri 28th2024 |
| Sep | Sat 21st 2024 -(prov) Peter Campbell-Burns | |
Monthly Main Meeting.
Sept 16th 2023 7 pm
St Peter’s Church Hall
This will be a physical meeting in the hall with remote access via ZOOM
Professor Mike Cruise University of Birmingham
What Gravitational Waves are Trying to Tell Us
In 2019, a team of astronomers led by Dr. Samantha Oates of the University of Birmingham discovered one of the most powerful transients ever seen – where astronomical objects change their brightness over a short period. Oates and her colleagues found this object, J221951, using the Ultra-Violet and Optical Telescope (UVOT) on NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory while searching for the source of a gravitational wave that was thought to be caused by two massive objects merging in our galaxy.
Mike Cruise, will bring us up-to-date with the field of gravitational wave astronomy.
Date reserved for beginners’ evening. Location TBD
Fri 22nd 2023
Monthly Main Meeting.
Oct 21 2023 7 pm
St Peter’s Church Hall
This will be a physical meeting in the hall with remote access via ZOOM
Guest Hugh Allen
Spectroscopy: Cracking starlight’s hidden code
Analysis of starlight by spectroscopy is inspirational and is a pillar of professional astronomy. But take a look inside popular astronomy magazines and you will not find much mention of amateur spectroscopy. The language of spectroscopy can seem obscure and for many the technique is poorly understood. The light from stars is however like the cover of a book. Carefully spreading the starlight into a spectrum is like opening the book’s pages. A new world is revealed where there is beauty, science and detective work in equal measure, and it is all readily accessible to the amateur astronomer. The talk will demystify amateur spectroscopy and show how it offers a unique way to observe the Universe.
The atomic structure of hydrogen is revealed in the light from the bright, A-class star Theta Aurigae 8″ Meade LX90 telescope, Atik 314L+ mono camera, Alpy 600 spectroscope with a 23µ slit, BASS software
Speaker biography:
I am an industrial chemist with a career in the printing ink industry, having studied Natural Sciences at Downing College, Cambridge. My interest in astronomy became a passion (some would say obsession) when my wife bought me a telescope in 2008. I started with visual observing and then astrophotography. Since 2014 spectroscopy has become my main focus, the passion for which I share through talks and courses. I am Chairman of the Wells & Mendip Astronomers and a member of the Herschel Society in Bath.
Date reserved for beginners’ evening. DETAILS
Fri 27th 2023
Monthly Main Meeting.
Nov 18 2023 7pm
St Peter’s Church Hall
This will be a physical meeting in the hall with remote access via ZOOM for members who are unable to attend. £3 to non-members. Donations via online banking:
Reading Astronomical Society: Sort code: 60-17-21: Account No: 54137268
Mary MacIntyre an Oxfordshire based amateur astronomer and astrophotographer who has had a life-long interest in Astronomy.
“A History of Women in Astronomy Part 2” – Following on from part one, this talk looks at the trailblazing women working in astronomy after Caroline Herschel, through the Victorian era and into the modern day. It covers some of the challenges women faced during this time period, particularly around education.
Friday 24th November
1st Wokingham Scout Hut in Evendons Lane, Wokingham. RG41 4DX.
Email info@readingastro.org.uk or text 07510444630 for further information.
Please ignore information at gostargazing(dot)com.
We no longer meet in Swallowfield.
Christmas Talk followed by
Social Evening.
Dec 9 2023 7 pm
St Peter’s Church Hall
This will be a physical meeting in the hall with remote access via ZOOM for members who are unable to attend. £3 to non-members. Donations via online banking:
Reading Astronomical Society: Sort code: 60-17-21: Account No: 54137268
Guest speaker, Dr Victoria Fawcett
Monster black holes and quasars.
In this talk I will discuss black holes: how we find them, what a “supermassive black hole” is, and the first ever images of a black hole. I will also present my own research area, “active galaxies”, which are incredibly bright galaxies powered by a supermassive black hole.”
Fri 29th Dec 2023
1st Wokingham Scout Hut in Evendons Lane, Wokingham. RG41 4DX.
Email info@readingastro.org.uk or text 07510444630 for further information.
Please ignore information at gostargazing(dot)com.
We no longer meet in Swallowfield.
Monthly Main Meeting.
Jan 20 2024 7 pm
St Peter’s Church Hall
This will be a physical meeting in the hall with remote access via ZOOM for members who are unable to attend. £3 to non-members. Donations via online banking:
Reading Astronomical Society: Sort code: 60-17-21: Account No: 54137268
Members’ Evening quiz and fun.
Members’ talks and lots of chat.
Fri 26th Jan 2024
1st Wokingham Scout Hut in Evendons Lane, Wokingham. RG41 4DX.
Email info@readingastro.org.uk or text 07510444630 for further information.
Please ignore information at gostargazing(dot)com.
We no longer meet in Swallowfield.
Monthly Main Meeting.
Feb 17 2024 7 pm
St Peter’s Church Hall
This will be a physical meeting in the hall with remote access via ZOOM for members who are unable to attend. £3 to non-members. Donations via online banking:
Reading Astronomical Society: Sort code: 60-17-21: Account No: 54137268
Brian Skidmore
The Multiverse
Fri 23rd 2024
1st Wokingham Scout Hut in Evendons Lane, Wokingham. RG41 4DX.
Email info@readingastro.org.uk or text 07510444630 for further information.
Please ignore information at gostargazing(dot)com.
We no longer meet in Swallowfield.
Monthly Main Meeting.
Mar 16 2024 7 pm
St Peter’s Church Hall
This will be a physical meeting in the hall with remote access via ZOOM for members who are unable to attend. £3 to non-members. Donations via online banking:
Reading Astronomical Society: Sort code: 60-17-21: Account No: 54137268
Guest Speaker Martin Lewis, West of London Astronomical Society
I am an active planetary imager, living about 35km north of London on the east side of St Albans. telescope builder and sketcher of deep-sky objects. Most observing is done from my back garden with relatively unobscured views S, W and NW.
Fri 22nd 2024
1st Wokingham Scout Hut in Evendons Lane, Wokingham. RG41 4DX.
Email info@readingastro.org.uk or text 07510444630 for further information.
Please ignore information at gostargazing(dot)com.
We no longer meet in Swallowfield.
Monthly Main Meeting.
Apr 20 2024 7 pm
St Peter’s Church Hall
This will be a physical meeting in the hall with remote access via ZOOM for members who are unable to attend. £3 to non-members. Donations via online banking:
Reading Astronomical Society: Sort code: 60-17-21: Account No: 54137268
Guest Speaker Prof Nick Evans
Understanding Nothing
The history of the vacuum Dark Energy String Theory and Cosmology.
Fri 26th 2024
1st Wokingham Scout Hut in Evendons Lane, Wokingham. RG41 4DX.
Email info@readingastro.org.uk or text 07510444630 for further information.
Please ignore information at gostargazing(dot)com.
We no longer meet in Swallowfield.
Monthly Main Meeting.
May 18 2024 7 pm
St Peter’s Church Hall
This will be a physical meeting in the hall with remote access via ZOOM for members who are unable to attend. £3 to non-members. Donations via online banking:
Reading Astronomical Society: Sort code: 60-17-21: Account No: 54137268
Guest Owen Brazell
Evening of Deep Sky
Owen is a fount of all knowledge on the history and observation of the deep sky. Currently President of the Webb Deep Sky Society I have known Owen from the early days of my involvement in astronomy in the area. There is no title decided for Owens talk so we leave it to Owen for the Evening of Deep Sky.
GB
Fri 24th 2024
1st Wokingham Scout Hut in Evendons Lane, Wokingham. RG41 4DX.
Email info@readingastro.org.uk or text 07510444630 for further information.
Please ignore information at gostargazing(dot)com.
We no longer meet in Swallowfield.
Monthly Main Meeting and AGM
Jun 15 2024 7 pm
St Peter’s Church Hall
This will be a physical meeting in the hall with remote access via ZOOM for members who are unable to attend. £3 to non-members. Donations via online banking:
Reading Astronomical Society: Sort code: 60-17-21: Account No: 54137268
Astronomical Centenaries for 2024 title
Kenelm England, an amateur astronomer with an interest in astronomical history, a longtime member and Librarian of the Reading AS.
Continuing the series, this will include stories from astronomical history that celebrate their centenaries in 2024.
Date reserved for beginners’ evening. Location TBD
Fri 28th
A Sunday 23rd June 1200-1800
EAST READING FESTIVAL Palmer Park
Reading Astronomical Society stand.
Exhibition and solar observing.
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.
Notes: 52nd year programme.
Sat 21st 2024 – pencilled in Peter Campbell-Burns of the UK meteor observing network (UKMON) for Saturday 21st Sept.