Peter Morris gave a short talk on the April night sky, and then - as this month's 'Space news' - spoke about a possibly imminent outburst nova in the constellation of Corona Borealis. 


Les Brand then gave a talk on black holes, a topic requested by the YAs, divided into two parts. In the first half, he spoke about the life-cycle of massive stars and how they end their lives in a supernova explosion, producing a very dense neutron star or a black hole, depending on the initial mass of the star. This was followed by a hands-on activity, using balloons wrapped in tin foil; the balloons are then burst - showing how stars keep their mass despite internal changes within the star, then how they are compressed into a small ball with the same mass.


The second half was about how black holes were first found and how they can be detected. Les then spoke about the supermassive black holes at the centre of the elliptical galaxy M87 (in Virgo) and our galaxy (called Sagittarius A*). The evening ended with the second activity, which used buckets and stretchy fabric to explore how "matter tells spacetime how to curve, and curved spacetime tells matter how to move". Straws and tiny balls were used to find out how the escape velocity varies with mass of the object.   


Photo credits: Les Jones


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About Us

Formed in 1994, the Havering Astronomical Society (HAS) is based in Upminster, Essex and contains about 40 members. HAS was formed by members of an astronomy evening class taught by Konrad Malin-Smith of the Croydon Astronomical Society. When the course finished it was decided to create a new astronomical society to allow the members to continue meetings on a regular basis.
Meetings are on the third Wednesday of each month. Doors open at 7:15pm for 7.30pm start
Thames Chase Forest Centre 
Pike Lane
Upminster
RM14 3NS

Email: enquiries@havastro.co.uk
Havering Astronomical Society also holds a Junior Astronomers Group every last Thursday of each month.
Please contact  Liz Watson on 07706885948 for location details.
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