Wednesday 17 September, 7.15 for 7.30pm

Jerry Workman will present: 'Curiosity at Mars'

Outline:  The Curiosity rover landed on Mars during Aug 2012 and is due to finish next year sometime when its Plutonium which powers the spacecraft will run out. The rover, which is officially known as MARS SCIENCE LABORATORY, is still climbing the mound within Gale crater called Mount Sharp. The mission was to find water and look for favourable conditions for ancient life. Both criteria have been met.

After briefly discussing the rover and its instruments, the talk discusses the chemical analysis of the rocks and soil on Mars, and is illustrated by many dramatic images of the Martian surface.  This talk also discusses the route that Curiosity took along the crater floor and up into the mound itself.  It now seems likely that 3.5 billion years ago Gale crater was flooded with water.

Short biography: Jerry Workman has given over 1000 talks to various clubs over a 35-year talking career. He has also been the Chairman and Meetings Secretary of a number of Astronomy clubs. For a number of years, he ran an Astronomy evening class at a school near Upminster Bridge. He currently works in a private girls school in Hammersmith, and has held this position for 27 years.

Image (above right): Self-portrait by Curiosity at the foot of Mount Sharp in 2015.  Credit: Wikimedia Commons

• Club members slot: John Neal will present 'Practical experiences with backyard radio astronomy'

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Wednesday 15 October, 7.15 for 7.30pm

Vladimir Brljak, University of Durham, will present:

'From a Bright to a Dark Universe in the Western Cosmological Imagination'

Outline: The universe is a vast sphere of everlasting daylight, and night, as seen from Earth, is merely a shadow cast by the planet with the sun behind it: ‘the circling canopy’, as John Milton describes it, ‘Of night’s extended shade’, beyond which there are only ‘happy climes that lie / Where day never shuts his eye’. Mounting evidence shows that Milton was not an exception: that belief in a bright universe was common throughout most of European history, and that widespread acceptance of a dark universe is a much more recent phenomenon than we might think. When did space go dark, and what happened to us in the process? How has this shift transformed our experience of our cosmic environment? How has it changed our view of planet Earth? For centuries, the Earth was a dark body floating in the bright blue heavens. Now it is the ubiquitous ‘blue marble’: an image powerfully reinforcing the modern view of space as a hostile, lifeless environment, and of the Earth as a luminous oasis in this dark cosmic desert—a ‘fragile’ planet, as the Apollo astronauts famously described it, imperilled by the prospect of nuclear warfare and anthropogenic climate change. Drawing on textual and visual evidence from antiquity to the present, the lecture explores how the shift from bright to dark space has shaped the modern cosmological imagination, and along with it, our planetary and environmental consciousness.

Biographical details: Vladimir Brljak is Associate Professor in the Department of English Studies at Durham University. His primary specialization is in English literary history, while his recent work has turned to the history of outer space and the cosmological imagination. He is currently working on a monograph titled When Did Space Go Dark? (under contract with Reaktion Books), examining the shift from a bright to a dark universe in the Western cosmological tradition. He is also involved in projects exploring wider perspectives in space history and the emergent space humanities. He co-organized Space in Time: From the Heavens to Outer Space (Warburg Institute, 2023), the first event devoted to bridging the premodern-modern divide in these fields; a follow-up collection with MIT Press and further activities are in preparation.

Images: Left: The Earth of Genesis 1:2—‘without form, and void’—as a ‘black marble’ in a bright blue cosmos, surrounded by the ‘waters above the firmament’; Book of Hours of Louis de Laval, 15th ct.; Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, MS Latin 920, fol. 3r.

Right: Earth photographed by the crew of Apollo 17 on 7 December 1972, subsequently rotated, cropped, and colour-edited as the widely distributed Blue Marble; NASA ID AS17-148-22727.

• This will be followed by our AGM, to which all club members are welcome. 

Wednesday 19 November, 7.15 for 7.30pm

Nik Szymanek will present 'New Paths in Image Processing'

Outline:  The format will be quite similar to Nik's previous talks, so lots of pretty pictures from the robotic scopes abroad. He'll also incorporate some of the new image processing techniques he's working on. he has also recently invested in a new powerful laptop that will allow him to run the demonstrations in real-time, which will help a lot.  The talk won't be technical so should be suitable for all audiences.

Biographical details: Nik is an HAS member, and astrophotographer based in North Essex. He has been using CCD cameras to image the deep sky from a back garden observatory since they were first introduced in the early 1990s. He has written a monthly ‘Masterclass’ astroimaging column in Astronomy Now magazine for the last ten years, as well as three books on astronomical imaging; the latest of which is ‘Shooting Stars II’.

• Club members slot: to be confirmed, but we're considering a sort of “imaging forum”, where members can discuss their images, and perhaps any issues they’re having – or indeed any tips. If it works well, it might become a regular feature. It would give people a chance to chat and swap notes about their imaging, which many members enjoy doing.
  

Wednesday 10 December, 7.15 for 7.30pm

Peter Morris and Magda Wheatley will present the annual Christmas Quiz, with a break halfway through for festive nibbles.

Wednesday 15 January, 7.15 for 7.30pm

Ian Ridpath presented:

'Pictures in the sky: The origin and history of the constellations'

Outline: In the days before writing, storytellers used the sky as a picture book to illustrate their tales of gods, mythical heroes and fabulous beasts. Those pictures among the stars were the origin of our system of constellations. Today, the entire sky is divided into 88 constellations of varying shapes and sizes. This talk, which included illustrations from some of the world’s greatest star atlases, traced the origin of the constellation system back to Greek times and explain who filled in the gaps between the ancient Greek figures, who decided on the official boundaries between constellations, and how the names of certain stars came about.

Biographical details: Born in Ilford, Ian Ridpath has been a full-time writer, editor, broadcaster, and lecturer on astronomy and space since 1972. Previously he worked for two years at the University of London Observatory and then in publishing. He is a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society (Council member 2004–07) and a member of the International Astronomical Union (IAU). A particular interest is the Greek and Roman myths of the constellations, which he wrote about in his book Star Tales.

His website, http://www.ianridpath.com, is now a major online resource. Ian is editor of the authoritative Oxford Dictionary of Astronomy, and of the Collins and Princeton Stars & Planets Guide (UK and US), and lectures on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. He is a winner of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific's Klumpke-Roberts Award for “outstanding contributions to the public understanding and appreciation of astronomy”. He is also a noted UFO skeptic and is well-known for his investigation and explanation of Britain's leading UFO case, the Rendlesham Forest Incident.

• Club members slot: Steve Foster presented (via Zoom) a talk about recurrent nova T Coronae Borealis.

Wednesday 19 February, 7.15 for 7.30pm

This talk was presented at Thames Chase, via Zoom

Dr Sam Pearson presented:

'Planetary Mass Objects and JuMBOs in the Trapezium Cluster'

Outline:  In recent observations of the Trapezium Cluster with the James Webb Space Telescope, we have discovered and characterised hundreds of planetary-mass candidates with masses down to, and below, the mass of Jupiter. In an unexpected twist we find that 8% of these planetary-mass objects are in wide binaries. The binary fraction of stars and brown dwarfs is well known to decrease monotonically with decreasing mass such that the binary fraction for the planetary-mass regime is expected to approach zero. The existence of substantial population of Jupiter Mass Binary Objects (JuMBOs) raises serious questions of our understanding of both star and planet formation. In this talk Sam presented the discovery of these JuMBOs and discussed the implications for our understanding of planet formation.

Biographical details:  Dr Samuel Pearson is a European Space Agency Research Fellow based at the European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) in the Netherlands. He obtained his PhD at the University of St Andrews.  His research focuses on the formation of low mass stars, brown dwarfs and planets. This means he spends the majority of his time observing nearby star forming regions, as this provides a unique window to study these formation processes in action.

Recently his work has been focusing on isolated Planetary Mass Objects (PMOs). These are objects below the deuterium burning limit of 13MJup. PMOs are not massive enough to sustain hydrogen fusion like a star. They are inherently faint and will cool over time, becoming fainter throughout their life. However, when PMOs are young they are still warm from their formation and are observable in the infrared. This provides a valuable window into a very exciting mass range that contains both the extreme lower limits of star formation (brown dwarfs) and rogue planets that have been ejected from their host star system. PMOs present a unique opportunity to study both star formation and planet formation at the same time.

• Club members slot: Cheryl Brice presented a talk entitled 'So the Moon is not made of cheese'

Wednesday 19 March, 7.15 for 7.30pm

Professor Simon Green, Emeritus Professor of Planetary and Space Science, The Open University, presented:

'The Hera mission – validation of the DART asteroid kinetic impactor test'

Outline: In 2022 the NASA DART mission performed the first full-scale test of the kinetic impactor technique to change the orbit of an asteroid, successfully demonstrating the precise targeting required to impact within a few metres of the centre of Dimorphos, the 160 metre moon of the 800 metre near Earth asteroid Didymos, after a 500 million km flight. The moon’s 11.9 hour orbital period was reduced by more than 30 minutes, with thousands of tonnes of ejected material forming a long-lasting tail, and may have drastically changed the shape of the moon.

The ESA Hera mission, planned to rendezvous with Didymos in 2027, will provide critical measurements of the mass and physical properties of Dimorphos to quantify the efficiency of the test. In this talk Professor Green explained how asteroids like Didymos, that formed between Mars and Jupiter, can become potential terrestrial impactors, and the role of missions like DART and Hera in preventing a future potential asteroid impact on the Earth.

Biographical details: Simon Green, Emeritus Professor of Planetary and Space Science at The Open University, has studied asteroids through ground- and space-based observations since his discovery of the unusual near-Earth asteroid (3200) Phaethon in 1983. He has worked on numerous space missions including Giotto, Cassini, Stardust and Rosetta, and most recently the DART and Hera planetary defence test missions.

Pictured left: As he did in 2023, Prof Simon Green kindly brought a small display sample of meteorites from the Open University’s School of Physical Sciences collection, used for laboratory studies on the origin and evolution of the Solar System.

• This was followed by a slideshow of members' images, taken over the last year (from March 2024).  Members were asked to send their material (up to six/seven items per person), with any suitable info - e.g. target names/equipment/conditions - by end February to Magda and Peter, either c/o meetings@havastro.co.uk, or as a DM to Magda on Whatsapp.  Many thanks to all who contributed!
  

Wednesday 16 April, 7.15 for 7.30pm -  Club anniversary meeting

Pre-recorded talk by Konrad Malin-Smith: ‘The passage of time'

Outline: This talk mentioned different kinds of timepieces as an introduction, leading on to a discussion of various astronomical aspects of time.  Konrad chose this subject partly in celebration of his 90th birthday, which is this year. 

Biographical details: Konrad is known with great affection by many as a founder member of the HAS, and a regular speaker to our club.  He is a retired senior schoolteacher of chemistry and physics, and was Head of Science for a number of years. He has been a peripatetic lecturer on various astronomical topics to adult education establishments (especially in Havering) and astronomical societies around South England since the early 1970s. 

     His interests include eclipse-chasing, astrophotography, DIY, classical music, church, golf and snooker. Avoids doing housework; and especially avoids dabbling with computers!

Wednesday 21 May, 7.15 for 7.30pm

Dr James Kirk presented:

'Transiting exoplanet science with the James Webb Space Telescope'

Outline: Over the last 30 years, astronomers have detected over 5700 extrasolar planets. These discoveries have revealed that the population of exoplanets is incredibly diverse, with the solar system’s architecture being the exception and not the rule. Of these detected exoplanets, 75% transit in front of their host stars, periodically blocking out a fraction of the background star’s light. These transiting exoplanets enable atmospheric observations and thus, studies of a planet’s formation, evolution and, ultimately, habitability. The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has revolutionised the observation of exoplanet atmospheres since its launch in December 2021.

James presented an overview of exoplanet science performed with JWST to date, including the ground-breaking first detections of previously unseen molecules and dynamics in exoplanet atmospheres. 

Biographical details:  James Kirk is an Imperial College Research Fellow who uses observations of transiting exoplanet atmospheres to test theories of planet formation and evolution. He obtained his PhD from the University of Warwick, where his thesis work focussed on using ground-based telescopes to observe clouds and hazes within the atmospheres of short-period gas giant exoplanets (hot Jupiters). He subsequently moved to the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics where, as a postdoc, he led new discoveries of escaping exoplanet atmospheres via measurements of exoplanetary helium and was a key member of the JWST Early Release Science Transiting Exoplanet Programme. At Imperial College he has continued his heavy involvement in JWST science, including directing a programme to test how the compositions of hot Jupiters depend on their evolutionary pathways and leading studies of whether Earth-sized exoplanets can retain their atmospheres in the face of intense stellar radiation.

• Club members slot: Ian Moss presented a talk entitled 'A Brief History of the NGC'.

Wednesday 18 June, 7.15 for 7.30pm

Paul Whiting presented:

'Multi Messenger and Radar Astronomy'

Outline: A talk of two halves: first a look at the future of observation combining different channels or “messengers”, and then a look at the birth and history of radar astronomy.

Short biography: Paul Whiting, FRAS, is one of our regular speakers and an outreach astronomer providing talks, activities and courses to schools, youth and adult groups. A major astronomical interest is travelling the world chasing eclipses and the aurora.  Paul is also Treasurer for Orwell AS (Ipswich).

• Club members slot: Peter Morris gave a talk entitled 'Double Stars for pleasure'.
  

Wednesday 16 July, 7.15 for 7.30pm

Professor Garry Hunt led a discussion with club members entitled:

'A lifetime with Voyager'

Presented at Thames Chase, via Zoom

Outline: Professor Hunt introduced himself and talked briefly about his academic background and career.  Then, in a break from our usual format, members had the opportunity to quiz him, via a set of pre-submitted questions (hosted by our Chair, Les Jones) on more than half a century's association with a wide range of space activities. The format was based on a “Michael Parkinson”-type discussion.  As Prof Hunt had pointed out, this was a rare chance to speak to someone who has been involved in the space programme for a long time!  The questions also covered the future of space exploration and spaceflight; and also his experiences in the worlds of broadcasting and business. 

Some club members might recall Prof Hunt's many appearances on the 'Sky at Night' with Patrick Moore, of whom he was a good friend. 

** Club members were invited to send in advance (by 9 July, to Les Jones) any questions that they would like put to Professor Hunt, so that we could collate and prepare them. To assist with this, a brief summary of Prof Hunt's background and work was circulated to members on 29 June. **

• Club members slot: Les Brand gave a talk about galaxies - the many different types, and how they evolve, and sometimes merge with other galaxies. 
  

No club meeting in August - Summer break

Perseids viewing took place at Thames Chase on Thursday 14 August.

A very enjoyable evening, with a great turnout.  Please see our Events and Activities page for further info and some photos!