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Meetings
Monday 14 October 2024
Lee Macdonald: Refugees, star clusters and relativity – astronomy at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich during the First World War.
During WW1 the call to arms affected men from all walks of life, including those at the Royal Observatory. Yet despite that, the observatory continued to do a surprising amount of important science in these years – including a catalogue of star clusters and organising the eclipse expeditions to Principe and Brazil that confirmed Einstein’s General Theory of relativity – arguably among the greatest contributions to science in the 20th century.
Astro-historian Lee Macdonald explains how the observatory kept going, partly by welcoming women and refugees to its ranks. His book on the history of the observatory is published next year.
Following this, David Arditti will present his round-up of members' observations and tell us what to look for in the coming month.
The meeting takes place at Christ Church, Redford Way, Uxbridge, starting at 8 pm.
Forthcoming meetings
11 November 2024 (RBL Harrow): TBA
9 December 2024 (Christ Church, Uxbridge): TBA
List of previous meetings
Links are provided to talks now available online.
9-Sep-24 | Peter Goodhew | Pro-Am cooperation |
8-Jul-24 | Tim Marshall | Space: How, where and why |
10-Jun-2024 | AGM + Howard Brown-Greaves | Solar observing |
13-May-24 | Members | The day the Sun went out (eclipse tales) |
8-Apr-24 | Greg Smye-Rumsby | If Venus had a moon |
11-Mar-24 | Dr Arik Kerschenbaum | Life in the Universe |
12-Feb-24 | John Davies | Secrets of an Urban Astrophotographer |
9-Jan-24 | Colin Stuart | A Universe of Infinities |
11 -Dec-23 | Dr Ashley King | The Winchcombe Meteorite |
13-Nov-23 | Phil Halpin | Aurorae |
09-Oct-23 | Karen Devoil | Frozen: Icy Worlds of the Solar System |
11-Sep-23 | Prof Clive Ruggles | Archaeoastronomy – a brief history |
10-Jul-23 | Ziri Younsi | The Event Horizon Telescope |
12-Jun-23 | AGM + Sue Latham, Tim Milton | Our Australian Adventure |
15-May-23 | Steve Tonkin | Two eyes are better than one |
03-Apr -23 | Prof Giovanna Tinetti | Planets of Our Galaxy |
13-Mar-23 | Dr Chris Crowe | Journey to the Edge of the Universe |
13-Feb-23 | Mark McIntyre | Meteor Observing – a guide |
09-Jan 23 | Helmut Kessler | H-alpha etalons and solar observing |
12-Dec-22 | Members | Mars at its closest |
14-Nov-22 | Mark Radice | Winter Star Party |
10-Oct-22 | Grant Bowskill | New Astro Products |
12-Sep-22 | Simon Kidd | Asteroid Occultations |
11-Jul-22 | Prof Andrew Norton | Gamma-ray bursters |
13-Jun-22 | AGM + Willian Herschel's Telescopes | Robin Scagell |
9-May-22 | Telescope Teach-in | WOLAS members |
11-Apr-22 | Mary McIntyre | Reflection, refraction and excitation: atmospheric optics |
14-Mar-22 | Jerry Stone | Measuring the Universe |
14-Feb-22 | Emily Charles | The Local Group and Dwarf Galaxies |
10-Jan-22 | Andrew Lound | Fire in the sky |
13-Dec-21 | Colin Stuart | Time in Einstein's Universe |
8-Nov-21 | Szabi Nagy | Photographing the ISS from London |
11-Oct-21 | Martin Lewis, Stewart Coulter | Venus Then and Now |
13 Sep-21 | David Arditti | The History of the Telescope |
12-Jul-21 | Tom Scott | Galaxy Clusters |
14 -Jun-21 | Online: Bob Mizon | The Night – an Unoccupied Country |
10-May-21 | Online: Melissa Thorpe | Cornwall's Spaceport |
12-Apr-21 | Online: Pete Williamson | Remote Observing |
08-Mar-21 | Online: Dr Hugh Deighton | Designing ESA's launch system |
08-Feb-21 | Online: Dr Olivia Keenan | The Missing Galaxy Mystery |
11-Jan-21 | Online: Jay Tate | The Science of Armageddon |
14 Dec-20 | Online: Dr Simon Steel | The SETI Institute and the Search for Intelligent Life in the Universe |
09-Nov-20 | Online: Dr Laura Nuttall | Detecting gravitational waves with LIGO and Virgo |
12-Oct-20 | Online: Dr Megan Argo | In the Blink of a Cosmic Eye: Predictions for the next 200 years |
14-Sep-20 | Online: | Members' observations |
Live meetings suspended as a result of COVID 19 | ||
09-Mar-20 | Robin Scagell | How Tycho changed the Universe |
10-Feb-20 | Ian Morison | Proving Einstein Right |
13-Jan-20 | Rachael Livermore | Gravitational lensing |
09-Dec-19 | Colin Stuart | Rebel Star; The Greatest Mysteries of the Sun |
11-Nov-19 | Prof Richard Nelson | Exoplanets |
14-Oct-19 | Nick James | Comets |
09-Sep-19 | Stewart Coulter | Apollo @ 50 |
08-Jul-19 | Owen Brazell | Planetary Nebulae |
10-Jun-19 | AGM and Members | |
13-May-19 | Prof Martin Hardcastle | Black Holes |
08-Apr-19 | Steve Tonkin | Ten Ways the Universe Tries to Kill You |
11-Mar-19 | Robin Scagell | The Story of the Nebulae |
11-Feb-19 | Dave Eagle | New Horizons: Pluto and Ultima Thule |
14-Jan-19 | David Arditti | Observing the Moon |
10-Dec-18 | Colin Stuart | How we'll get to Mars |
12-Nov-18 | Dr Guido Roberts-Borsani | Galaxy Formation |
08-Oct-18* | Andrew Lound | Sputnik |
10-Sep-18 | Colin Forsyth | Space weather |
09-Jul-18 | Prof James Hough | What astronomy can tell us about the origins of life on Earth |
11-Jun-18 | Duncan, Martin | 2017 eclipse, Llanerchindda review |
14-May-18 | Dr Dirk Froebrich | The HOYS-CAPS Citizen Science Project |
09-Apr-18 | Prof Paul Murdin | Universe: Exploring the Astronomical World |
12-Mar-18 | Prof Alec Boksenberg | What did Dark Matter ever do for us? |
12-Feb-18 | Rallia Velliou | Humans in Space |
08-Jan-18 | Ray Doran | Reaction Engines |
11-Dec-17 | John Zarnecki | Cassini |
13-Nov-17 | Jerry Stone | The next 50 Years in Space |
09-Oct-17 | Andrew Lound | Herschel's Lunatick Friends |
11-Sep-17 | Members | History of WOLAS plus Great Eclipse Roundup |
10-Jul-17 | Michael Foale | The Amazing Space Adventures of Michael Foale |
12-Jun-17 | Robin Scagell | AGM plus Ancient Stars |
08-May-17 | David Fishwick | Seven Stars |
Apr-17 | Colin Stuart | 13 Journeys Through Space and Time |
13-Mar-17 | Dr Tom Kitching, MSSL | Cosmology, Dark Matter and Dark Energy |
13-Feb-17 | Greg Smye-Rumsby | The History of Longitude at Greenwich |
09-Jan-17 | Members | Winter Constellations and Lucky Imaging |
12-Dec-16 | Jo Eberhardt | Exoplanet atmospheres |
14-Nov-16 | David Arditti | Astrophotography from the City |
10-Oct-16 | Libby Jackson | Controlling ISS |
12-Sep-16 | Dr Melanie Windridge | Aurora -- the search for the Northern Lights |
11-Jul-16 | Guy Hurst | Optical Transients |
13-Jun-16 | Members | Eclipse roundup |
09-May-16 | Bob Mizon | Seven moons |
11-Apr-16 | Dr Geraint Jones | JUICE to Jupiter |
14-Mar-16 | Prof. Simon Green | Flying with a Comet |
08-Feb-16 | Prof Steve Miller | The Impact of Impacts |
11-Jan-16 | Dr Morgan Fraser | Gaia |
14-Dec-15 | Becky Smethurst | Galaxies and the Galaxy Zoo |
09-Nov-15 | Dr Ian Crawford | The Origin of the Moon |
12-Oct-15 | Robin Scagell | The Universe according to Hubble |
14-Sep-15 | Michelle Lochner | SKA |
13-Jul-15 | Mona Evans | Caroline Herschel |
08-Jun-15 | Robin Scagell | Combating Light Pollution |
11-May-15 | Jerry Stone | Pluto |
13-Apr-15 | Dr Benjamin Joachimi | Big Telescopes |
09-Mar-15 | Members' Own | |
09-Feb-15 | David Rothery | Mercury: new views of the Sun's innermost planet |
12-Jan-15 | Ian Ridpath | Eclipses |
08-Dec-14 | Greg Smye-rumsby | 12756 |
10-Nov-14 | Martin Lewis | Imaging the ISS |
13-Oct-14 | Francisco Diego | Unweaving Star Rainbows |
08-Sep-14 | Steve Fossey | Our local supernova |
14-Jul-14 | Jon Butterworth | Smashing Physics: News from the Energy Barrier |
09-Jun-14 | Sally Russell | An Introduction to Astronomical Sketching |
12-May-14 | Stewart Coulter | The Uganda eclipse |
07-Apr-14 | Paul Hyde | Practical Radio Astronomy for Amateurs |
10-Mar-14 | Graham Marett | Calendars |
10-Feb-14 | Rob McNaught | Great Comets |
13-Jan-14 | David Arditti | Planetary imaging (replaced Stewart Coulter due to accident) |
09-Dec-13 | Lucie Green | Solar Max |
11-Nov-13 | Meeting cancelled as hall locked | |
14-Oct-13 | How Do They Do It? (Deep-sky imaging) | Robin Scagell, David Hepwood, Bob Garner |
09-Sep-13 | Andrew Norton | The New Cosmology or How the Universe Works |
08-Jul-13 | Rupert Smith | Telescopes |
10-Jun-13 | Members | AGM |
13-May-13 | David Arditti | Trip to Australia |
08-Apr-13 | Alistair Scott | The British Interplanetary Society and the UK Space Industry |
11-Mar-13 | Mandy Bailey | What's that Bubble we're in? |
11-Feb-13 | Prof Jonathan Tennyson | Water in the Universe |
14-Jan-13 | Dr Joe Michalski | Exploring Mars From 200 Million Miles Away |
10-Dec-12 | Leigh Fletcher | The Atmospheres of Jupiter and Saturn |
12-Nov-12 | Robin Scagell | It's About Time |
08-Oct-12 | Louise Alexander | The Legacy of Apollo |
10-Sep-12 | Prof David Southwood | 10 Years on the Final Frontier |
09-Jul-12 | Susan Rowe | Voyager: Humanity's Greatest Journey |
11-Jun-12 | AGM and Martin Lewis | Planetary Imaging with a Dobsonian |
14-May-12 | Transits | Stewart Coulter |
02-Apr-12 | Who Wants to be an Astronomer? | Quiz |
12-Mar-12 | Francisco Diego | Aliens, Where Are You? |
13-Feb-12 | Prof John Zarnecki | Landing on a Comet |
09-Jan-12 | Richard Fleet | Night Sky Glows |
12-Dec-11 | David Arditti | A A Common, Pioneer of Astrophotography |
14-Nov-11 | Suzanne Aigrain | Extrasolar planets |
10-Oct-11 | Nick Hewitt | Wolf-Rayet Stars? |
12-Sep-11 | Graham Bryant | Lunar impacts |
11-Jul-11 | Robin Scagell | In Search of the Northern Lights |
13-Jun-11 | Members' talks incl, James Hilder on Near-horizon objects. Susan Rowe Hampton Court clock | |
09-May-11 | Emily Baldwin | An Impact Cratering Tour of the Solar System or the Moons of Mars |
11-Apr-11 | Jerry Stone | 50 years of Man in Space |
14-Mar-11 | Andrew Lound | Solar sailing |
14-Feb-11 | Robin Scagell | Love of Comets |
10-Jan-11 | Dale Holt | Sketching the Deep Sky |
13-Dec-10 | David Arditti | Astronomy from Paris |
08-Nov-10 | Ian Morison | Proving Einstein Right |
11-Oct-10 | Stewart Moore | Galaxies |
13-Sep-10 | Richard Hook | How to make a Hubble image |
12-Jul-10 | Alan Longstaff | Lives of the stars |
14-Jun-10 | Kaustav | Imaging |
10-May-10 | Allan Chapman | Harriot to Hubble -- Telescopes |
12-Apr-10 | Roberto Soria | Black Holes |
08-Mar-10 | Graham Marrett | Galileo |
08-Feb-10 | Max Alexander | Explorers of the Universe |
11-Jan-10 | David Arditti | History of Cosmology |
14-Dec-09 | Tom Scott | Radio astronomy |
09-Nov-09 | Robin, Martin | Intorduction to Deep Sky Observing |
12-Oct-09 | Prof Carl Murray | The View From Saturn: Images from the Cassini Spacecraft |
14-Sep-09 | Prof. Barrie Jones | Pluto |
13-Jul-09 | Jerry Stone | Would you believe we put a man on the Moon? |
08-Jun-09 | Members | Who Wants to be an Astronomer? |
11-May-09 | Nick Howes | Three sides of the Sun |
06-Apr-09 | Robin Scagell | Choosing your telescope |
09-Mar-09 | Colin Pillinger | Space is a Funny Place |
09-Feb-09 | Members | How I got interested in astronomy |
12-Jan-09 | Bob Mizon | Light Pollution FAQs |
08-Dec-08 | How to discover a comet | |
10-Nov-08 | Andy Burns | The Herschel Dynasty |
13-Oct-08 | Will Gater | Hubble -- not just pretty pictures |
08-Sep-08 | Members | Eclipse roundup |
14-Jul-08 | Ian Ridpath | Star Tales |
09-Jun-08 | David Arditti | Astrophotography from the City |
12-May-08 | Janet Drew | Milky Way Survey |
14-Apr-08 | Mike Dryland | Working the Line -- RGO |
10-Mar-08 | Robin Scagell | 20 things you didn't know about astronomy |
11-Feb-08 | Dr Isobel Hook | Next Generation of Large Telescopes |
14-Jan-08 | Members | Miscellany |
10-Dec-07 | John Naylor | Out of the Blue |
12-Nov-07 | David Arditti | Setting-up a Small Observatory |
08-Oct-07 | Prof. Iwan Williams | Our Solar System -- 1967-2007 |
10-Sep-07 | Members | 40th Anniversary meeting |
09-Jul-07 | Helen Walker | Seeing the Invisible -- Infrared Astronomy |
11-Jun-07 | Martin Lewis | AGM plus The Eye |
14-May-07 | Robin Scagell | Stargazing with Binoculars |
16-Apr-07 | Roger O'Brien | 40 Years of Cosmology |
12-Mar-07 | Glen Cowan | Antimatter |
12-Feb-07 | Tony Marsh | The Sky is Falling |
08-Jan-07 | Members | Quiz |
01-Dec-06 | Ian Crawford | Interstellar Travel |
01-Nov-06 | Martin Andrews | Extrasolar Planets |
01-Oct-06 | Lucie Green | The Sun |
01-Sep-06 | Jerry Stone | Space Colonies |
01-Jul-06 | Bob Mizon | Time and the Stars |
12-Jun-06 | Members | AGM/Room 101 |
08-May-06 | Nick King | Astrophotography from Harrow |
01-Apr-06 | Members | Solar eclipse roundup |
01-Mar-06 | Konrad Malin-Smith | Magellanic Cloiuds |
01-Feb-06 | Simon Green | Stardust Mission |
15-Jan-06 | Ollie Penrice | Getting Away from it All |
01-Dec-05 | Robin Catchpole | Overview of Astronomy |
01-Nov-05 | John Murray | Mars Express |
10-Oct-05 | Chris Lintott | Cosmology for the Terrified |
12-Sep-05 | Bob Lambourne | Time travelling |
11-Jul-05 | Robin Scagell | Eclipse DVD |
01-Jun-05 | Martin Lewis | AGM + Getting the Most from your Telescope |
09-May-05 | Andrew Coates | Cassini Mission |
01-Apr-05 | Chris Riley | The Making of Space Odyssey |
01-Mar-05 | Greg Smye-Rumsby | A Forgotten Telescope |
01-Feb-05 | Members | Astrophotography |
01-Jan-05 | Jerry Stone | Huygens Mission |
01-Dec-04 | Guy Hurst | Star Clusters |
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Meetings
Meetings are held every month (except August), at Christ Church, Redford Way, Uxbridge UB8 1SZ (even months) and the Royal British Legion Harrow Club, 76 Northolt Road, South Harrow, HA2 0DW (odd months). Admission to meetings is free to members, and non-members are welcome to attend one or two meetings before deciding if membership is for them. Meetings begin at 8 pm sharp and finish at 10 pm.
Each meeting begins with the talk by the main speaker, which usually lasts 60-75mins. This is followed by a slot where we show astronomical observations made by members. The meetings close with society notices and we often have time for refreshments afterwards. Here you can socialise with other members, speak to WOLAS committee members, or even talk directly with the main speaker.
We run an observing competition over the year where each meeting where a member has items shown in the observing slot earns them a point. In September of each year, a trophy is given to the member with the most points. This is the Geoff Smith Award which commemorates a former secretary of WOLAS who was a very keen observer of the night sky. As a member you can read more about the trophy by logging in and clicking here.