Next meeting
Thursday 4th April at Egerton Park Indoor Bowls Club
Speaker: Prof David Rees
In Search of the Aurora
Prof. Rees will be talking about aurora—and with the Sun being at maximum activity we should be in for some wonderful treats!
Biography
Prof. Rees has been involved in the development of Lidar Systems and their exploitation for atmospheric science since 1970. After running the Atmospheric Physics Laboratory at University College London, UK, for more than 30 years, through his companies, he has subsequently been involved in providing the 24 / 7 capability for the ALOMAR Observatory in N. Norway, as well as the development of the Direct Detection Technique currently exploited by Aeolus. He has participated in a number of ESA design and development studies for Aeolus and ATLID / EarthCARE, among other Projects. He has also worked on several large Astronomical Telescopes. A current hot R&D topic is Imaging Lidar, exploiting very high-performance imaging photon detectors with 100 psec time tagging.
Forthcoming meetings
Thursday 2nd May at Egerton Park Indoor Bowls Club
Speaker: John Mallett FRAS
Astronomy Imaging, how do they get those pretty images?
Techniques used to get deep sky images using telescopes. Some useful tips to getting those elusive pictures!
Thursday 6th June at Egerton Park Indoor Bowls Club
Speaker: Greg Smye-Rumsby
Mapping Worlds
One of Greg's new talks - Mapping worlds. Greg is one of our speakers most asked to return!
Previous meetings
Thursday 4th February 2024 at Egerton Park Indoor Bowls Club
Speaker: Rosemary Selmes
My time at Herstmonceux Observatory and photographing with the Isaac Newton Telescope (INT)
Rosemary Selmes a Fellow of The RAS and founder Member of ESAS, will entertain us with enthusiasm and humour as she shares her reminiscences of life at Herstmonceux as an Astronomer in the late-60's & early 70's
Thursday 4th January 2024 at Egerton Park Indoor Bowls Club
Speaker: Peter Goodhew FRAS
Searching The Cosmos For Planetary Nebulae
Peter will describe how he and his fellow team members go about discovering planetary nebula. He will explain some of the challenges in conducting such research, and how new discoveries become recognised and confirmed by the professional community. He will present many of the most beautiful and remarkable recent discoveries made by the team - including several that turned out to be quite unexpected!
Biography: Peter is part of an international team of amateurs collaborating in searching the cosmos for planetary nebula. His role in the team is to take deep images of potential discoveries. He does this using a remotely-operated dual rig located at a dark site in Spain. His images are frequently published in Astronomy Now magazine and many have received awards. He is a member of the British Astronomical Association, and has been elected as a Fellow of The Royal Astronomical Society.
Thursday 7th March 2024 at Egerton Park Indoor Bowls Club
Speaker: Dr David Mannion
History of Astronomy (A New Perspective)
Dr David Mannion—an old friend of ESAS—will be giving us some new views on the History of Astronomy.
Biography
Dr David Mannion has three degrees in Astronomy and has taught in Schools and Colleges for 30 years in the UK, Austria and Turkey. He has also been a tutor for the Open University in both Physics and Astronomy. He became a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1984 and was a member of its Education Committee 2005 - 2010.
David has run numerous Astronomy Clubs and was a founder member and a Vice President of the Association for Astronomy Education. He co-authored a book on Galileo—Galileo and 400 Years of telescopic Astronomy, published by Springer in 2010.
He has numerous Astronomy videos on his YouTube channel, for instance The Search for Dark Matter and Dark Energy, Canterbury Festival
As a promoter of astronomy, he has given Astronomy talks to Royal Astronomical Society, Society of Popular Astronomy and dozens of astronomical societies in South East England. He has also lectured on Cruise Ships and is an RAS (Royal Astronomical Society) speaker for CUNARD and will next year be lecturing on Queen Victoria V409 – this will be his 20th Cruise ship voyage giving Astronomy and Space Talks. He has produced 14 varied and interesting talks ranging from the Search for Extra-terrestrial Life in our Galaxy, the Future of Space Travel and the Search for Dark Matter and Dark energy which makes up 95% of the Universe but to date is unknown! He combines a great knowledge of astronomy with humour and excellent communication skills.
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