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
Scotland’s Sky in June 2023
Watch for noctilucent clouds as planets buzz the Beehive
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.
More news
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.
3 March 2023 Meeting Report
We had an excellent talk from Dr Thomas Wilson of the University of St Andrews. He covered the life-cycle of a planetary system: how they are born, live and die [...]
Telescope Help Shop 2023
The ASE held its fifth Telescope Help Shop on Saturday the 25th Feb at St Thomas Church hall in Corstorphine. 21 people attended aided by 9 ASE members. A diverse range of instruments was brought along supplemented by some members’ scopes. All attendees expressed their gratitude for the opportunity to talk about their specific issues as well as the general points covered.
The Gegenschein
A report by Douglas Heggie about a by-product of an observation he was making of a comet using a telescope at the Utah Desert Remote Observatory in the USA.
17 February 2023 Meeting Report
Tosh White tells us about the talk from Prof. Emily Levesque, zooming in from Seattle, and running through some ideas and themes from her book “The Last Stargazers”. “Have you tried turning it off and on again?”
IOG Meeting Report 8 February 2023
Radim Stano reports on one of our special Imaging & Observing Group meetings with guests. We had 2 special guests, both from the British Astronomical Association Radio Astronomy Section and both trustees of the UK Radio Astronomy Association, Paul Hearn and Andrew Thomas.
3 February 2023 Meeting Report
Unfortunately Dr James Wurster couldn't be with us in person but still delivered a very interesting talk about Using computer simulations to model the formation of stars and their discs. Jim Nisbet also told us about the Sky in February.
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!