2009 A Space Odyssey
Edinburgh Science Festival - IYA event April 18 2009
EDINBURGH STUDENT UNION DEBATING HALL BRISTO SQUARE
I - From Galileo to Hubble and backyard telescopes
A Series of star-studded lectures (or - how to become a skywatching addict)
10.00-17.30 Admission - free
Participants may attend any part or all of the event, though all day attendance is encouraged. All ages welcome.
PROGRAMME
MORNING
10.00-10.25
Professor John C. Brown (The Astronomer Royal for Scotland)
Welcome Remarks
10.25-10.50
Dr Bill Samson (Former Director of Mills Observatory, Dundee)
Public Astronomy in Scotland
10.50-11.15
Ms Pauline McRae (Former Chairwoman Highland Astronomical Society)
The Dark Skies Scotland Project
11.15-11.40
Dr David Gavine (Former President Astronomical Society of Edinburgh)
Variable Star Observing
11.40-12.05
Mr Charles Gleed (Astronomical Society of Edinburgh)
Robotic Telescopes for All
12.05-12.30
Mr Philip Perkins (Astrocruise)
Imaging the Cosmos
LUNCH BREAK
12.30-14.00
AFTERNOON
14.00-15.00
Dr Chris Lintott (Sky at Night Presenter; University of Oxford; STFC Science in
Society Fellow)
400 Years of Unveiling the Cosmos
15.00-15.30
Mr John Braithwaite (Clydesdale Astronomical Society)
Buying, making and using telescopes
15.30-16.00
Dr Francisco Diego (University College London;
STFC Science in Society Fellow)
Fire in the sky: The magic of solar eclipses and aurorae
16.00-16.30
Mr Tom Boles (Coddenham Observatory, World record holder for supernova
discoveries)
Supernova Hunting and Cosmology
16.30-17.00
Dr Helen Fraser (University of Strathclyde)
How to hunt for life in the universe.
17.00
Professor John C Brown
Closing discussion
Followed by
II - Grand Galilean Ceilidh
from 19.30, same venue.
Dance the night away like a Galilean Satellite to the sound of famed band The Occasionals. Bar on site. Minimum age 18. Tickets £8 from Ed Sci Fest.
If skies are clear, between dances see Saturn as Galileo saw it. More details will be available mid-February in the Edinburgh Science Festival programme and Website and on http://www.johncbrown.org. Email enquiries to < lmccalman @ blueyonder.co.uk > or < john @ astro.gla.ac.uk >
Organisers: John Brown, Lorna McCalman, Charles Gleed
Sponsors: Institute of Physics, Royal Society of Edinburgh
Adapted from an email sent to members of the Institute of Physics.
