Would you like to help keep the JWST safe?
Pat Devine tells us about the UK- and Global- Meteor Networks, and how the cameras, built and operated by amateurs, can help to keep spacecraft safer.
15 July meeting report
We had a very thought-provoking talk from Grant from First Light Optics on Friday, telling us all about the Ikarus observatory hosted in Spain.
John Murrell FRAS
Sadly I have to report the passing of one of our members, John Murrell, on 25 June 2022, after a short illness.
1 July Members Night meeting report
We had our second member night on 1 July and had some great presentations from ASE members: UK Astro Shows Ian Smith put together some info about these: There are (at least) 3 astronomy shows in the UK coming up: [...]
17 June 2022 Meeting Report
Geologist and cosmochemist Dr Natalie Starkey gave a fantastic talk about the science of fire and ice vulcanism found in our solar system.
3 June 2022 Meeting Report
Jim Paterson spoke to us about “The mustard seed which grew into an observatory”, the story of his involvement in International Dark-Sky Association (IDA) accreditation for Moffat and how that led to a brand new community observatory !
20 May 2022 Earth Explores Mars: 25 years of Discoveries
Emily Ladkawalla joined us from the West Coast of America to talk about the development of our exploration of Mars.
6 May 2022 Meeting Report
To open the meeting our President Mark Phillips gave us the usual highlights of the upcoming Society programme. Adding to the good news, the Society grew by no less than eight new members, taking membership to a record 169 ! [...]
Making a Breeze Block Telescope Pier
Andrew Farrow describes how he built a simple breeze-block garden pier to stop having to carry his tripod and mount into the garden and going through the alignment process every time.
1 April 2022 Members Night meeting report
We had our first Members Night on Friday 1st April. This was an opportunity for members of the ASE to get together and present a variety of topics of interest. The meeting took place as a hybrid meeting at the [...]
18 March Meeting Report
We had a very interesting talk from Whitham D Reeve about observing HF Meteor Trail Reflections from Anchorage in Alaska.
4 March 2022 Meeting Report
Dr Max Ruffert gave a dynamic talk on gamma-ray bursts, black holes, neutron stars and gravitational waves, and provided excellent practical explanations for his theoretical work. Alan Pickup also presented the Sky in March.
Book review: The Stargazer’s Sister by Carrie Brown
Hilary Phillips reviews The Stargazer’s Sister, a fictionalised account of the life of Caroline Herschel, sister of the much more famous William. A great read that manages to combine a personal and somewhat romanticised life story with some real astronomy.
18 February 2022 Meeting Report
We had an excellent talk from Lyn Smith of the BAA. With the help of some stunning images and video clips and her normal infectious enthusiasm, Lyn explained the many features of the Sun's atmosphere to a large online audience.
The ASE Charles Tulley Telescope
This is the document produced by Andrew Farrow following on from his presentation at the 4 February 2022 meeting. The ASE Charles Tulley Telescope
4 February 2022 Meeting Report
We were pleased to return to the physical/hybrid meetings at the Augustin United Church on Friday. The invited speaker this week was Professor Giles Hammond from the University of Glasgow who gave an interesting and personal account of his work renovating the 20” Grubb-Parsons telescope.
How to record an eclipsing binary transit light curve
As well as taking impressive pictures, why not use your imaging skills to record some real science data and work out what's going on in an eclipsing binary star system.
The Banks Transit Table and Telescope
Andrew Farrow recently took this instrument out of storage to check on its condition and do a bit of research.