Activities

A picture of the BAS audience taken by Anthony Jennings to demonstrate three-dimensional anaglyphs during his lecture in October 2008.

Through the year we run a regular series of Activity Nights where beginners can pick up helpful advice from our more experienced observers and astro-imagers:

Finding your way around the sky

Choosing and using your telescope

Astro-imaging and image-processing

DIY projects for the amateur astronomer

Other popular talks at the BAS have included:

A guest lecture by Prof. Colin Pillinger

A live demonstration of imaging through The Liverpool Telescope on La Palma

The South African Large Telescope project

Supernova research at Jodrell Bank

Observing radio echoes from meteor trails

Amateur telescope-making

We've also started an annual series of public lectures given by distinguished guest speakers:

January 2012: "Proving Einstein Right" with Jodrell Bank's Prof. Ian Morison

In addition to our regular programme of Tuesday evening meetings, Society members also take part in the following off-site activities:

Group observing sessions with a local school

Group tutorial sessions for newcomers to observing and imaging

Sky-tours and solar viewing displays for local communities

Group trips to the Equinox Star Camp in Norfolk

But most of all, we like to observe and image the skies from our home observatories

The chart below forecasts the local weather and sky conditions for the next few nights:

And here is an explanation of some of the symbols and terms used.