Newbury Astronomical Society
Pegasus
The October edition of Pegasus, NAS's monthly newsletter, and the latest edition of What's Up, can both be found at the link below:
Forthcoming Meetings
For our next speaker meeting of the 2024-2025 season, we have something a little bit special - a presentation from award-winning writer and broadcaster Marcus Chown https://marcuschown.com/, who will be giving a talk based on his new book "A Crack in Everything". Once upon a time, black holes were considered so ridiculous as not to even be the preserve of science fiction. Now we know they play a crucial role in the universe and may even explain why you are alive to read this. A Crack in Everything is the story of how Black Holes came in from the cold and took cosmic centre stage. Copies of Marcus' books will be for sale after the talk, and Marcus will conduct a Q&A after the break (where have no fear, we will have the usual doughnuts!)
The speaker meeting will start at 7.30pm and be held at the usual location of The Fair Close Centre, Newtown Road, Newbury: RG14 7BH. (click here for a map and further details of the session's meetings).
For November's beginners meeting, we cannot avoid the looming presence of Christmas, and so after Nicky Fleet's highly informative "What's Up" covering all manner of phenomena in the skies in the coming weeks, we'll have two useful sessions. A first that looks at your options if you're thinking about a First Telescope for Christmas - a daunting challenge given the multitude of scopes on offer, the often giddy pricing and sometimes lurid claims on the boxes. And then, after a break, we will then have an observing-focussed session that will look at what kind of objects and phenomena you can see in a telescope. If it's clear, of course, we will get the telescopes out for some practical observing.
Beginners Meetings start at 7pm and are held at Stockcross Village Hall (Sutton Hall), RG20 8LN. (click here for a map and further details of the session's meetings).
If you wish to be a member of the society for this season and haven't completed your membership form yet, please complete a copy and bring it with you to the meeting.
We also offer an ICS Calendar file of all the meetings (main & beginners) of the session to add to your phone or email client:
Recent meetings:
For slides and other details from recent meetings, head to the Meeting Presentations page. The latest addition is Chris Lloyd's excellent presentation on Astronomy Apps from a beginners meeting a few months ago.
Headlines.....
Comet 2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) puts on a display
Despite challenging weather conditions, many members have managed to image Comet 2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) since it emerged from its closest approach to the Sun and started to appear in the evening sky. To the left is an image from George Sallit using a Seestar S50 from here in Berkshire, below one by Steve Knight taken from the summit of La Palma. There are still a few days left to get a decent look at the comet, and if you have a Smart Scope like a Seestar, do go to the Smart Scope Group page of the website for some hints and tips to get the best image
NAS chair Paul Gibson and BAA Pres David Arditti
Solar observing in the car park
BAA Autumn Meeting 2024
By all accounts, the joint BAA/RAL/NAS Autumn weekend was a great success, with a sell-out crowd enjoying informative talks, and even the chance of solar observing during the breaks. We will have a full write-up in the next edition of Pegasus, but for now our thanks to the NAS volunteers who worked so hard to pull it off.
Rapt attention from the capacity crowd
Outreach - call for volunteers
NAS has a thriving outreach programme as anyone who looks at the Outreach page on the website will know. Earlier this summer saw multiple events including the Tadley Treacle Fair, RAL Open Week and Thatcham Family Fun Day. The events have all been busy, but the long queues of eager visitors keen to view the sun, plus dozens of contacts gathered, invitations received to visit schools, and hopefully new members recruited shows how hugely valuable these events can be in bringing the joy of astronomy to audiences young and old. As we head into the autumn, and another packed programme, the critical need is for volunteers - many hands make light work, and you don't need loads of astronomical knowledge to help out. If you can spare any time for any events on the schedule, please do let George know at Outreach@newburyastro.org.uk
Some of the society members who helped out at the RAL Open Week
Observing Evenings
Often the nicest way to enjoy astronomy under a dark sky is with the company of like-minded friends. They can provide reassurance in an unfamiliar dark environment, give you the encouragement to keep going if you are tiring, help you if your kit misbehaves or you are struggling to find an object, or rib you mercilessly if you turn up and forgot your eyepieces (before potentially lending you one of theirs for the evening).
One key finding of the survey NAS conducted last year was that members wanted more opportunities to observe as a group, so as a result, NAS are proposing a series of observing nights in the coming months. Tentative dates have been identified that coincide with key meteor showers, so even if you don't want to lug a telescope with you, you may just want to sit and enjoy the spectacle of dust grains vaporising in the upper atmosphere. The dates are:
Orionids peak - 21st and 22nd October
Leonids peak - 18th November
Geminids peak - 15th December
Quadrantids peak - 4th January
Lyrids peak - 22nd April
Aquarids peak - 5th May
Obviously this is the UK, and so we may have to contend with clouds. As a result, we will be using the society WhatsApp group to co-ordinate whether we'll proceed, who will be there, and where we will hold the event (hopefully a nearby relatively dark sky location). So if you're a NAS member and are interested, but not yet on the WhatsApp group, please reach out to me at Communications@newburyastro.org.uk and we'll get you enrolled.