Astronomy in Edinburgh
Sharing our love of astronomy with Edinburgh, the Lothians, UK and around the world, since 1924.
Come along to one of our meetings. Visitors are welcome to join us on our YouTube channel or in person at our physical meetings.
Stay involved and keep watching here, on Facebook and Twitter.
We aim to have something happening at least three times a month. The first Friday of each month will be a hybrid meeting at 7:30pm at the Augustine United Church, George IV Bridge, Edinburgh. This will also be broadcast on Zoom for ASE members and YouTube for visitors. Our second talk, sometime around the middle of the month, will just be on Zoom and YouTube.
We also have the monthly Imaging & Observing Group (IOG) meetings for ASE members on the Wednesday after the first monthly meeting.
If you want to get more involved in astronomy and learn together in our IOG, consider joining us. More information on our Membership page.
Observing forecast for Edinburgh
A green block indicates a clear sky, orange partially clear, red cloudy. Blue blocks show cloud level – darker blue is clearer. Click on the chart for hourly detail and ISS passes. Forecast provided by clearoutside.com
Main banner image: M42, Orion Nebula by Pat Devine
Featured news
15 September 2023 Meeting Report
Nigel Goodman reports on an excellent talk by Charlie Bracken and Max Whitby on their attempt to create a single image of the entire night sky.
Members Night 8 September 2023 report
A really excellent Members Night with a wide-ranging selection of short talks from ASE members. Lazy and cheap astronomy, Neutrinos and galaxy rotation, Smartscopes, Great Melbourne Telescope, Ralph Copeland and the Sky in September.
Scotland’s Sky in September 2023
Nightly planetary procession ends with Venus at brightest before dawn
More news
Visit to the paradise of meteorites
Radim Stano tells us about his visit to the Naturhistorisches Museum Wien to see its meteorite collection. A great place to visit if you're in the area.
Image of the Quarter Competition winner, Apr – Jun 2023
Congratulations to Pat Clough, one of our remote members who lives in London, for his amazing image of a huge solar prominence. Well done to to everyone who entered - all images were really good.
Meeting Report Friday 7th July 2023
To start the meeting our Vice President Peter Black updated us on the upcoming Society programme. Peter also pointed out that our membership now stands at a very healthy 182. [...]
2 June 2023 Meeting Report
Prof. Andy Lawrence gave us a really interesting talk on 200 years of the history of astronomical imaging at the Royal Observatory Edinburgh. Jim Nisbet also covered the Sky in June and this was followed by an SGM and our AGM.
Meeting Report 19 May 2023
Indigenous Australian Astronomy - Dr Pete Kuzma. This evening we had a fascinating and thought provoking talk from Dr Pete Kuzma of Edinburgh University. We were first introduced to the complexity and likely means of arrival, 45 - 65,000 years ago, in what would become modern Australia of the many nations of indigenous people from the Torres Strait to Tasmania.
Noctilucent Clouds
Ramsay McIver tells us about these beautiful, ethereal "night-shining clouds" as we approach NLC season towards the end of May.
Northern Lights Trip
ASE member, Eros Tang, tells us about his trip to Norway and the amazing aurora images he captured.
7 April 2023 Members Night report
We had a really enjoyable members night on Friday with a number of short presentations from members. The personal stories and journeys were really fascinating and well-told.
Image of the Quarter Jan – Mar 2023 Winner
The winner of the Image of the Quarter Jan - Mar 2023 is M31 Andromeda Galaxy by Pat Devine.
Icelandic Northern Lights
Ian Smith reports on his recent trip to Iceland and his successful observations of the aurorae
17 March 2023 Meeting Report
We had a very interesting talk from Dr Roberta Zanin from Bologna in Italy about The Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory: a new eye on the most extreme Universe. Jim Nisbet reviews the talk for us.
Flashes of Creation by Paul Halpern book review
Pate Devine reviews the book "Flashes of Creation" by Paul Halpern, a readable and fascinating account of the lives of theoretical physicist, George Gamov, and physicist, Fred Hoyle, and their competing theories on the formation of the universe.
Ask an Astronomer
Is there something you always wanted to know about our universe?
How to observe a planet? Take a photo of the stars? Which telescope to buy? Why is space black? …
Well here’s your chance: just ask your question in the form and we’ll try and get back to you with an answer. The answer may just be: “we have no idea” – but that’s the beauty of astronomy!