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 and how advances in both ground- and space-based telescopes have [...]
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.
2022 When ASE caught the Meteor Bug
Pat Devine tells us about the ASE's new interest in meteor cameras. Over the past year the ASE have setup cameras operated by four members in the UK, a camera in Slovakia and soon to be one in Germany, with others in the pipeline.
20 January 2023 Meeting Report
Clara Brasseur gave us an excellent talk on Friday about turning astronomical data into sounds. Quite different from anything else we've had but very creative and engaging.
6 January 2023 Meeting Report
Our first meeting of 2023 was by ASE member Viktoria Urban who took us on a stage from our Losing the Sky event in June 2021 by telling us how the issues with space debris are currently being addressed. Nigel Goodman also gave us a run-down of what's in the sky for January 2023.
Meeting Report Friday 16th December 2022
Our final guest speaker of 2022 was Dr Jenifer Millard, who spoke to us about “Exploring the invisible Cosmos through island universes”.
Occultation of Mars
That was a fascinating event early in the morning of 8 December 2022. The full Moon occulted Mars, which was at opposition - a rare event indeed. Various ASE members braved the freezing early morning air to grab some amazing images.
Image of the Year 2022 results
Congratulations to Ramsay McIver who won with his excellent Maasai Mara Milky Way Mosaic. Also to Eros Tang and Andrew Farrow who took 2nd and 3rd places.
2 December 2022 Meeting Report
We had a really interesting and challenging talk from Dr Indranil Banik of the University of St Andrews on Going beyond Einstein to understand the Universe. Alan Pickup also gave us a very comprehensive talk on the Sky in December.
Meeting Report 18 November 2022
Our guest speaker was Patrick Barth, a PhD student from the University of St Andrews, who spoke to us about “ What makes a planet habitable”. The possibility of life in the wider universe has greatly increased in the past 25 years. We had a detailed explanation of the factors influencing the chance of life on exoplanets and the search for these “biosignatures”.
John Rostron
John Rostron, who passed away on 24 October aged 94, was a familiar sight at ASE meetings in the last century. He had been President, a Council member and a Trustee of the Astronomical Society of Edinburgh Trust, although most long-standing members will probably remember him as Society Treasurer for many years. A chemistry teacher at Ross High School in Tranent, John’s interests were wide-ranging, particularly in relation to the natural world, which sometimes spilled over into his distinctive book-keeping for the Society! Although he had been a keen cyclist in his younger years often arriving at meetings in all weathers, sadly his declining health meant that he relinquished his membership in 2017.