The Moon is a shy body, it only ever shows one sides of itself to the Earth. Before the space age we had no idea what was on the far side of the Moon. This has led to a number of conspiracy theories that it is a haven for aliens. In this talk, we’ll chart the…
This talk is all about Pluto, how it was discovered in 1930 and how discovery and observations of KBOs eventually led the International Astronomical Union (IAU) in 2006 to declassify Pluto from being a planet. Although ‘what is a planet?’ Might seem to be an easy question to answer, it turns out that the ensuing…
The Sunderland Astronomical Society AGM (Via Zoom) will be taking place on Sunday 16th October 2020 from 7:00 pm. Zoom AGM meeting details will be distributed via our SAS SMS text service or upon request from zoom-meetings@sunderlandastro.com. SAS members are invited to attend, listen to chair’s reports and vote in the election of the committee and nominations are…
SAS have been invited by St Mary’s Lighthouse & Visitor Centre to participate in this event: observing, talks & SAS stuff at St Mary’s lighthouse on Friday 7th October 2022. This is one of the biggest annual events in our calendar and it’s not too late to decide to come, we always need as many…
The search for Vulcan (not that one!) and other solar system enigmas The history of astronomy is littered with ‘sightings’ of objects that subsequently turned out not to exist. Some of these observations were from reputable observers. What was going on? In this talk, Ann will describe several examples including the famous intra-Mercurial ‘planet’ Vulcan. In this…
September is the start of our new season. SAS Memberships will be due from 1st September 2022 (payable throughout September) for this season 2022/2023 Joining/Renewing helps support your local astronomical society & community. So come on down to the Cygnus Observatory (based at the Washington Wetlands Centre) to join or renew your SAS membership. The SAS is the largest…
SAS Starbeque event at Derwent Reservoir Car Park. Date: Saturday 3trd September 2022 Time: From 7 pm until very late, observing afterwards if weather is favorable. Venue: Will take place at at Derwent Reservoir located at our Millshield dark sky site. This is our traditional celebration of the return of darker nights and, as in previous years…
Astro Boot. Come down to the Wetlands Centre and sell your unwanted astro gear. You can post you items for sale on our related FB pages. We have accumulated a lot of astro gear over the over the last few years and we’re running out of space. We’re therefore holding an Astroboot sale on Sunday…
In this talk Dr Steve Barrett will give an overview in the ABC of galaxy evolution from the Big Bang to their evolution. Accretion Galaxies were formed by matter created in the Big Bang accreting under the influence of gravity. Black Holes Supermassive black holes are at the centres of galaxies; some are very active,…
A view of one ,old, mans approach to astro-imaging and the journey that let him to it, in addition to an overview of the methods he uses it also covers the mistakes and lessons learned along the way. The talk will held at the Washington Wetlands Centre on Sunday 17th July If you haven’t…