Meetings and Events

July 3rd 19:30 Tony Roberts “Revd John Flamsteed, first astronomer royal and the foundation of the Royal Greenwich Observatory”.

No Meeting in August

September 4^th 2026 19:30 Charline Giroud "Tracking and imaging the international space station." As reported by Oxford University screening scientist Charline Giroud managed to capture an incredible photo of the International Space Station as it flew over her home in Oxfordshire on January 30 - only it also features one of the astronauts that has been stranded there for over 240 days.

October 2^nd 2026 Will Joyce "The search for intelligent life in the Universe and interstellar travel"
William has worked in space research at Leicester university with Earth remote sensing satellite instruments and in industry in laboratories, space software engineering and later in aerospace systems engineering. William changed career in the mid 2000's and obtained a degree in Earth and Planetary science and followed this with university teaching and astronomy work

Friday November 6th 2026 19:30 Main Talk Les Brand TBC
Les is a part-time astronomer at the Royal Observatory and Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society: delivering shows to schools and the public; leading the Evening with the Srars events. He teaches introductory online courses on astronomy and Astrophotography .
Les has his own back garden observatory, and owns several telescopes and cameras with which he battles London's light pollution and clouds! He was an advisor on the recent BBC series Universe, where he showed it was possible to capture an image of a distant galaxy from Canary Wharf.
Although his knowledge of astronomy and astrophotography is largely self-taught, Les successfully completed a masters degree in astrophysics in 2022 and loves to inspire new learners and the next generation.

Friday 8th January 2027 19:30 Main Talk Michael Foulkes "'TBC"
Michael is the Director of the BAA Saturn, Uranus and Neptune Section

February 5^th 19:30 Claire Bradshaw
Bio: Claire says "I've been interested in space all my life, in astronomy for about 20 years and astrophotography for about 10. Today I am an eLearning Developer and semi-professional astrophotographer who loves turning seemingly complex cosmological topics into something people can easily grasp. I love shooting astrophotos, talking about them at meetings and putting them on display in galleries. I am also part of a five-woman strong team that has created a book on Women in STEM which has been successfully published and distributed.";
Subject: "Astrophotography in the southern hemisphere"

5^th March 19:30 Ian Smith "Comets and astrophotography"
Bio: I’ve been an amateur astronomer for several decades and used to be chairman of the Abingdon Astronomical Society for many years. My own astronomical interests started with planetary observing and then imaging. Then when the planets effectively disappeared from UK skies, I turned to imaging PNe, which I’ve now been doing now for the last 6 years or so.

2^nd April 19:30 Julian Onions TBA
Bio: Julian works with computer simulations of large fractions of the universe to understand trends in galaxy formation and evolution. Investigating the tools that help us form and analyse such simulations such as halo finders, tree builders and semi-analytic models. He also does a number of outreach activities, giving talks to astronomy societies and other interested groups such as rotary and U3A, as well as working with schools and scouts/guide groups. He also helps with the teaching of undergraduates in some of the astronomy courses.

Observing Events weather permitting

The SDAS is supporting the Planetarium on the 26th Sunday - 28th Tuesday July with solar observations using your solar scopes.
Period of support is from 1000 - 1600 each day. If you have a solar scope, either white light or H Alpha and wish to help, please let Meryl know via the FB page or contact Peter Burt.

Peter is hoping to have an Eclipse day on the 12th August, Please see this space for more details.