BRINGING ASTRONOMY AND SPACE INTO YOUR HOME
A compilation of resources and events for bringing us together even in isolation
Wells & Mendip Astronomers resources and events
Please note the Terms & Conditions of our online events
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Our next Monthly Online Meeting: 7:30pm Saturday 17th April 2021
'The formation of the Universe, the Chemical Elements and Life – a story told in colour'
by Dr Bob Fosbury, European Southern Observatory (Emeritus) and University College London
An abbreviated history of the Universe which demonstrates the importance of colour as a representation of the fundamental interactions between light and matter. The gradually increasing complexity of these interactions during the passage of nearly fourteen billion years has resulted in the wonderfully rich and beautiful world we inhabit today.
Free tickets at the following link: https://billetto.co.uk/e/wma-meeting-the-formation-of-the-universe-chemical-elements-and-life-tickets-513771/
Webinars
Our last webinar was Saturday 9th Jan at 7:30pm 'The World's Biggest Eye' by Richard Hook our Membership Secretary, with the history of the telescope culminating in the giant equipment that is coming on line this decade. Richard brought a unique perspective having previously worked at the European Southern Observatory.
Please email wellsmendipastro@gmail.com if you'd like to present a webinar on your passion in astronomy or space exploration.
Live video observing
Fred and Ed Vanner would have presented live views of Mars after our Mars Night monthly meeting on Saturday 14th November 2020, but the weather was terrible! So we settled for a video they'd prepared earlier :-)
Simon Holbeche presented 'Skies from my Shed' on Thursday Apr 23, 2020 - thanks Simon, it was great fun. We saw Venus, Castor (binary star), Messier 51 Whirlpool Galaxy and Messier 44 Beehive Cluster
Naked eye astronomy events
Brian Davidson posts a monthly blog on our Blog Page explaining how to find your way around the sky
External resources and events
Great Conjunction Live Stream Although the two planets will appear closest together on Monday 21st December, the weather forecast doesn't look like its on our side. Jupiter and Saturn will be close enough to see simultaneously through the telescope on Saturday. Along with views from the telescope on top of the physics building at the University of Exeter, the universities' panel of experts plan to answer some of your questions. The live-stream will be recorded so you can watch it later. Remember to try to see the conjunction yourself, through a telescope, binoculars, or simply using your eyes! We plan for the live-stream to start at 16:15 GMT (4:15pm UK time) on Saturday 19th December. The direct link to the YouTube live-stream is: https://youtu.be/Rx1-JjfCjdA
TED talk and online articles Chris Starr, the founder of Wells & Mendip Astronomers, has suggested a fascinating TED talk by Dr. Marc Rayman of JPL, who led the Dawn Mission to Ceres and Vesta. Chris met him a couple of times at Spacefest and had a chance to interview him in depth. Dr Rayman is a wonderful advocate for science and exploration, and has recently done a TED Talk on this for which he gave Chris the following link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0PbFp-y6Dc
Related to Dr Rayman's talk Chris published a couple of interesting RocketSTEM articles on the Dawn mission which are well worth a read:
https://www.rocketstem.org/2015/03/01/exploring-the-dawn-of-the-solar-system/
https://www.rocketstem.org/2017/01/03/dawns-rich-harvest-as-ceres-gives-up-secrets/
Space Detectives is running regular online events for families https://spacedetectives.com/
British Astronomical Association webinars, on occasional Wednesday evenings 19:00 BST https://britastro.org/node/21142
On Wednesday 6th May 2020, Hugh Allen gave the BAA's Wednesday Webinar on hunting for molecules with a spectroscope
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6x1wuwKK20 British Astronomical Association video archive is also now publicly available https://britastro.org/node/21026
British Interplanetary Society are streaming previous lectures and live Q&A sessions https://www.bis-space.com/2020/04/06/24452/streaming-bis-lectures
The Virtual Astronomy Club - online get togethers https://www.star-gazing.co.uk/WebPage/virtual-astro-club/
Cambridge Institute of Astronomy - pre-recorded and live online talks https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCa7e55mYI2xQAoV_0hRmL-g
Astrobites - daily summaries by students of the latest astronomy research https://astrobites.org
Greenway Talks Online from the Palomar Observatory in California - a fortnightly lecture series delivered by experts in their field of astronomy. The lectures are recorded and can be found at Observatory’s YouTube
Would you like to become a member?
If you are interested in becoming a member of Wells & Mendip Astronomers or wish to renew your membership,
please follow this link to our shop where you can pay online and we will then contact you for further details if needed.
Or contact us at wellsmendipastro@gmail.com
The membership year runs from 1st April - 31st March
please follow this link to our shop where you can pay online and we will then contact you for further details if needed.
Or contact us at wellsmendipastro@gmail.com
The membership year runs from 1st April - 31st March
Copyright © Wells and Mendip Astronomers 2019