Wednesday 20 January, 7.15 for 7.30pm

Tony Roberts will give a talk entitled:

'The Great Refractor'

Outline: A look at the two major refractors at the RGO, the 12 3/4” Merz and the 28” Grubb. Why was an agricultural machinery manufacturer chosen to make the mount (which was common to both telescopes) and indeed why did an observatory focused on positional work decide to suddenly acquire these telescopes?

Biographical details:  Steve became fascinated by astronomy at the age of nine, and never really grew up. During the ensuing acquisition of steadily larger instruments, Steve has always been interested in the technical enhancement of telescopic observation; this has included the enhancement of planetary detail through use of Kodak’s Wratten filters and (during those halcyon days prior to digital cameras!) use of specialised Kodak celluloid films for infra-red, ultra-violet and micrographic (high resolution) imaging. 

  In parallel with his interests in practical astronomy there runs a fascination with astronomy’s history – which has included an RAS published study of Galilean observations using an optical replica of Galileo’s third instrument. A stronger thread is an enjoyment of astronomy’s quirkier stories and many pratfalls with which the science is littered. 

  Steve has been writing published work since he was 15, and has since written articles for the journals of both the BAA and RAS, New Scientist, Modern Astronomer, Quest, Astronomy magazine and Astronomy Now (for which he is currently Equipment Editor).   

• To be followed by our AGM, to which all club members are very welcome.

Wednesday 17 February, 7.15 for 7.30pm

Professor Sanjeev Gupta will give a talk entitled:

'Adventures in Martian deep time – tales from the Perseverance and Curiosity rovers'

Outline: We send robots to Mars in general to search for evidence for extraterrestrial life, in particular ancient life. This is not such an easy task. Crucial to this endeavour is finding the right rocks that might contain signature of ancient life. But how do we go about this? Sedimentary rocks are the ‘go to’ archives for this search. One of the goals of geologists exploring Mars with robots is to work out what the Martian landscape was like early in Mars’ history – deep time Mars – at a time when life is thought to have got going on Earth. Were ancient environments on Mars suitable for life to have formed, flourished and its evidence preserved in the rock record? 

    On 18 February 2021, NASA’s Perseverance rover successfully landed at Jezero crater in a nail-biting landing sequence. The mission represents the most complex, capable rover ever sent to Mars. It is also the first step in a multi-stage campaign to return surface samples back to Earth in order to seek signs of ancient life on the red planet. 

    In this talk, Professor Gupta will discuss the adventures of the rover in its geological exploration of Jezero crater plus provide an update on what the Curiosity rover has been up to Gale crater. 

Biographical details: Sanjeev Gupta is Professor of Earth Sciences at Imperial College London. He is a geologist by training and has spent much of his career studying sedimentary rock formations in places such as the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt, and landscapes under the sea in the English Channel. In the past 10 years, he switched his attention to exploring the geology of Mars. Sanjeev is a science team member on NASA's Curiosity and Perseverance rover missions, and also on ESA’s Rosalind Franklin rover mission..

Wednesday 9 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 21 January, 7.15 for 7.30pm

Presented (at Thames Chase) via Zoom

Dr David Clements presented:

'Venus, Phosphine and the Possibility of Life'

Outline:  In 2020 the discovery of phosphine, a potential biomarker, in the atmosphere of Venus was announced. This discovery was tested and challenged by a variety of astronomers which, in the public sphere at least, has left the status of this detection unclear. Since then, a major project has been underway at the James Clerk Maxwell telescope to monitor the atmosphere of Venus to better understand what is going on. Dr Clements presented some of the first results from this project, discuss the status of the phosphine detection and possible resolutions to the previous challenges. He then looked into some of the speculations regarding Venus cloud life and the prospects for future projects that can resolve the question of phosphine, and life in the clouds of our nearest neighbour planet.

Biographical details: David L. Clements is an Associate Professor of Astrophysics in the Physics Department of Imperial College London. He has a degree in physics and a PhD in astrophysics from Imperial College. He has worked at Oxford University, The European Southern Observatory Headquarters, near Munich, the Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale, near Paris, and at Cardiff University. His research is in the broad areas of extragalactic astronomy and observational cosmology, specialising in studies of dust in galaxies and the role that dusty galaxies play in galaxy formation and evolution. He has worked on the Herschel and Planck missions as well as other planned and operating space missions including SPICA, PRIMA and Euclid. He has most recently been working on astrobiology in our Solar System using millimetre telescopes to study the atmosphere of Venus. He is the author of over 400 scientific papers and also writes science fiction stories and popular science articles which have been published in Analog, Nature Futures, Shoreline of Infinity, and Astronomy Now, among others.

• Club members' slot - talk by Les Brand, entitled 'Here Comes the Sun: An Introduction to Solar Image Processing' 
  

Wednesday 18 February, 7.15 for 7.30pm

Dr Emma Curtis-Lake, University of Hertfordshire, presented:

'Early galaxies revealed by JWST and why they puzzle us'

Outline: Emma gave a talk to HAS in 2023 entitled "Webb and the most distant galaxies in the Universe" where she introduced some of the exciting discoveries we had made in the first year of science with JWST, including the most distant confirmed galaxies (at the time). She now gave a follow-up talk highlighting some of the exciting discoveries made since then from many different surveys, including the new high-redshift record and why it's puzzling to us, and a completely new class of object that might hold the answer to the question of "which came first, the chicken or the egg, the galaxy or the black hole?".

Biographical details: Emma is STFC Webb Fellow at the Centre for Astrophysics Research, University of Hertfordshire. Her research is based on studying galaxy formation and evolution in the Early Universe. She primarily uses space-based observatories to search for and characterise galaxies inhabiting the Universe in the first billions of years after the Big Bang. She is a member of the JWST (James Webb Space Telescope) NIRSpec guaranteed time observations (GTO) team. They are observing two patches of sky that have been previously observed with many other observatories, including the Hubble and Spitzer Space telescopes. With the NIRCam GTO team, they are taking imaging and spectroscopy of objects identified with Hubble (and other observatories) and JWST. This is the JADES survey (JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey). Emma is co-lead of the target selection and data analysis sub work packages. 

Wednesday 18 March, 7.15 for 7.30pm

Jerry Workman presented:  'Solar Eclipses'

A change of talk: Dr Richard Greenwood was unable to speak on this date, due to unforeseen circumstances.  He will speak to us on a future occasion (date tbc).

Jerry Workman kindly agreed to present a talk instead, his title being ‘Solar Eclipses’.  The talk was mainly about total eclipses, and also the places where he has seen them.  We were very grateful to Jerry for stepping in at this short notice.  

• Followed by a slideshow of members' images, covering March 2025 to Feb 2026, presented by Peter Morris and Magda Wheatley

Wednesday 15 April, 7.15 for 7.30pm

Pre-recorded talk by Konrad Malin-Smith:

'Unique Nature of Radiation'

Outline: Visible light is part of radiation in general. Radiation travels at the universal speed of 300 million metres/second, and remains this value for all observers regardless of their own speed. The wave nature of light and radiation is general is relevant throughout astronomy and, with the advent of Earth-orbiting telescopes, opens many windows in observational astronomy, from infrared views through to X-ray astronomy and beyond. 

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!

• Followed by nibbles, to celebrate our club's 32nd anniversary. 

Wednesday 20 May, 7.15 for 7.30pm

Les Brand presented a talk entitled:

'350 years of the Royal Observatory Greenwich and my very small part in its history'

To mark the 350th anniversary last year of the Royal Observatory Greenwich, founded in 1675, Les talked about 350 years of the ROG, and also about his role there, where he works part-time.

Wednesday 17 June, 7.15 for 7.30pm

Dr Matt Bothwell presented: 

'How fast is the Universe expanding?'

Outline: Around a century ago, Edwin Hubble made one of the most important discoveries in astronomical history; the Universe is expanding. Ever since Hubble, understanding exactly how fast the Universe is expanding has been one of the most important tasks in cosmology. Today, astronomers are faced with two puzzles: why is the expansion of the Universe speeding up? And why do different experiments disagree about how fast our Universe is expanding? This talk discussed the expanding Universe, dark energy, and the ongoing 'Hubble tension' (which many people are calling a 'crisis' for cosmology!).

Biographical details:  Dr Matthew Bothwell is an astrophysicist, science communicator and author, and the current Public Astronomer at the Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge. He received his PhD in astronomy from the University of Cambridge, and worked as a galaxy evolution researcher for a decade before turning his love of science communication into a full-time position. He now delivers outreach to schools, runs stargazing evenings, give public lectures, and writes about all things astronomical.

The third book in his ‘Astrophysics for Supervillains’ children’s astronomy series, Mastering the Multiverse, has been recently published by Dorling Kindersley.

• Club members' slot - Peter Morris' talk about his experiences with his Vaonis Vespera to be re-scheduled (new date tbc).

Wednesday 15 July, 7pm start - AMENDED START TIME, brought forward from 7.30pm 

*This talk was presented at Thames Chase via Zoom*

Dr Lee Macdonald presented:

'Isaac Roberts, E. E. Barnard and the Nebulae'

Outline: Isaac Roberts (1829–1904) made his fortune in the building trade and became one of the wealthy amateur astronomers who played an instrumental role in Victorian astronomy. Roberts pioneered photography of deep-sky objects: his photographs revealed previously unknown details in star clusters and nebulae, including the spiral structure of M31 in Andromeda. However, he met his match in the form of an up-and-coming American astronomer, Edward Emerson Barnard (1857–1923). Lee discussed the controversies between these two strong personalities in late nineteenth-century astronomy.

Biographical details: Between 2020 and 2022, Dr Lee Macdonald held a research fellowship with Royal Museums Greenwich, which he used to research and write a book about the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, recently published as ‘The Royal Observatory, Greenwich, 1881–1939: Astronomy, astronomers and heritage in a changing world’ (UCL Press, 2026). He is now Librarian and Archivist at the History of Science Museum, University of Oxford. He is the author of ‘Kew Observatory and the Evolution of Victorian Science, 1840-1910’, published in 2018 by University of Pittsburgh Press. A long-time amateur astronomer, he has also written ‘How to Observe the Sun Safely’ (Second Edition, Springer, 2012).

No club meeting in August; however, we are holding the following event:

Wed 12 August: An afternoon and evening of solar observing, partial solar eclipse viewing and Perseids observing at Thames Chase.

This included a mobile planetarium (for which tickets were available for purchase - LATER SOLD OUT) and a BBQ; the observing aspects were free of charge.  A photo of the mobile planetarium from our June 2024 Open Day is above right.

We are very grateful to members who helped in the afternoon and/or the evening. Eclipse glasses were provided per group whilst stock lasted, and other safe methods for viewing were available.

Please contact Les Brand on enquiries@havastro.co.uk with any queries/offers to help. 

See also https://ukeclipse.com/  for information; HAS/Thames Chase is mentioned as one of the event planners.

Never look directly at the Sun, as you can seriously hurt your eyes.

Proper eye protection, like eclipse glasses or a special solar filter, is the only safe option.

Wednesday 16 September, 7.15 for 7.30pm

To be presented (at Thames Chase) via Zoom

Paul Money presented:

'Atmospheres of the Solar System'

Outline: Paul explored what makes up the wide variety of atmospheres we see in our Solar System, and how unique our own atmosphere is in comparison to the rest.

Biographical details: Paul Money is a Fellow of the RAS and BIS, and has been giving talks to societies since 1982 on a wide range of astronomical subjects. He was one of three Northern Lights Flights astronomers from 2004 to 2013, and until recently was the Reviews Editor for the BBC 'Sky at Night' magazine; a position he had held for 17 years.  He is also now a self-published novelist with 16 novels and two short stories collections covering ghost mysteries, apocalyptic and Sci-Fi topics.