Bard Gibson is the Professor of Astrophysics director at the Centre for Astrophysics in Hull.  He and his research team use some of the most powerful computers available to generate simulations of large scale structures in the Universe (such as galaxies).  And that's what his talk was about... [Read more about Astromeet 2017 Talk Summary: Prof Brad Gibson: Building spiral Galaxies with supercomputers ]

In this month's edition:

  • Planetary Skylights: Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn
  • Meteor Showers: Aurigids
  • Comet 45P and 2P Encke
  • February 2017 Sky Charts

"So what are gravity waves", Prof Hendry asked?  How did we detect them, and what can they tell us about the Universe. It took Einstein to figure out gravity’s true modus operandi. Gravity, Einstein showed, did not just make what goes up always come down. Gravity made the universe go round! ... [Read more about Astromeet 2017 Talk Summary: Prof Martin Hendry: ♫ Gravity sang ♫ and LIGO was listening. (How we detected Gravity Waves)]

Betelgeuse is a star constallation of Orion, which is well known for being very unstable and possibly exploding in a supanova at any point.  It's a star that is often studied by astronomers, but before they can understand how a star goes supanova, they need to understand what the steady state of a star really is... [Read more about What is Happening to Betelgeuse?]

Boggle Hole Event

If skies are reasonably clear on Feb 25th we have been invited to host a star party down at Boggle Hole Youth Hostel.  The event commences at 19:00h until around 20:30h.

Last year, the same event attracted large numbers ofthe public; indeed Keith and Mark were swamped at the two scopes deployed.  We will discuss arrangements at the February meeting. [Read more about Boggle Hole Event]

Eskdale School Event

We have been invited to another ‘Star Night’ hosted by Eskdale School.  This year’s event will take place on Wednesday 22nd of March, starting from 19:00h.  The York University people will be on hand with the inflatable planetarium, and there will be food, soup, cakes, drinks etc available... [Read more about Eskdale School Event]

There are just a few copies of Night Scenes 2017 unclaimed, so if you would like a copy it’s just £4 to society members, £5.50 otherwise. [Read more about Night Scenes 2017 – Almost Gone]

Paul Money lecture

All being well Paul is set to return to Whitby in May.  The venue will be the college main hall (Whitby College as was) May 9th is the date ‘inked in’ and we will be looking to start around 19:30h.  No definite topic as yet, although Paul has suggested an updated talk on Voyager, to coincide with its 40th anniversary since launch. [Read more about Paul Money lecture]