Main Meetings
Each month, the society has a guest speaker, sometimes a professional astronomer, scientist or journalist, sometimes an experienced amateur, who will talk on their subject in the first half of the meeting. This is followed by free refreshments, after which there is normally a cluster of short talks by society members on topics of interest, plus updates on society activities such as trips, observing sessions or other events taking place.
Meeting Details
The meetings are held on the first Friday of each month from September to June and start at 7.30pm.
2024-2025 Season
Date Topic
6th September 2024 The Next Generation of Space Telescopes: Revealing the Universe in New Ways - Dr Chris Pattison (University of Portsmouth)
4th October 2024 Using a Solar Wind Model to Predict Comet Tail Disconnections - Sarah Watson
1st November 2024 "A Crack in Everything" - Marcus Chown (Writer And Broadcaster)
6th December 2024 Member's Evening - Various Speakers
13th December 2024 NAS Christmas Meal at Newbury & Crookham Golf Club
10th January 2025 Mercury and the BepiColombo Mission - Prof Dave Rothery (Open University) - Note the later-than-usual date!
7th February 2025 A Tale of Two Telescopes: The EELT and the Vera Rubin Observatory - Dr Aprajita Verma (Oxford University)
7th March 2025 Electronically Assisted Astronomy - Chris Lee
4th April 2025 Observations and Analysis of the Most Extreme Extragalactic Explosions - Dr James Gillanders (Oxford University)
2nd May 2025 Observing Highlights and Challenges in 2024 - Pete Lawrence
6th June 2025 The Astronomy of Stonehenge - Simon Banton, plus NAS 44th AGM
2025-2026 Season
Date Topic
5th September 2025 Speaker tbc
3rd October 2025 Speaker tbc
7th November 2025 Speaker tbc
5th December 2025 Speaker tbc - possibly Member's meeting
Date tbc NAS Christmas Meal
9th January 2026 Speaker tbc
6th February 2026 Speaker tbc
6th March 2026 Speaker tbc
27th March 2026 Speaker tbc
Date tbc BAA Winchester Weekend
1st May 2026 Speaker tbc
5th June 2026 Speaker tbc
We also offer an ICS Calendar file of all the meetings (main & beginners) of the session to add to your phone or email client:
The meetings are held at The Fair Close Centre, Newtown Road, Newbury: RG14 7BH. There is a car park at the rear of the hall, the church at the roundabout, and spare car parking spaces at the garage on Newtown Road. Click here for an interactive map.