Meeting Dates for 2026/27
Society meetings are usually held on the first Friday of each month (except August) at 7:30pm light refreshments are available.
Entry free for members £3.00 per person for visitors
Meetings and Events
No Meeting in August
Friday 9th January 2026 19:30 19:30 Main Talk Michael Foulkes "'Herschel's Planet' This is on Uranus"
This talk discusses the most famous of transit events, I.e transits of Mercury and Venus. It looks at the history of Venus transits and the attempts to use these events to measure the distance between the Earth to the Sun. It also discusses other types of transit phenomena including how transits have been used to find exo planets.
Michael is the Director of the BAA Saturn, Uranus and Neptune Section
Friday Febuary 6th 2026 19:30 Colin McGill Cosmology Part 1: Essentially going from 1920 when we still didn’t know whether galaxies were internal or external to our own galaxy until modern day
Friday March 6th 2026 19:30 Colin McGill Cosmology Part 2: Why physicists are so convinced about inflation
Friday April 10th 2026 19:30 Dr Julian Onions Talk TBC
Julian works with computer simulations of large fractions of the universe to understand trends in galaxy formation and evolution. Investigating the tools that help us form and analyse such simulations such as halo finders, tree builders and semi-analytic models. He also does a number of outreach activities, giving talks to astronomy societies and other interested groups such as rotary and U3A, as well as working with schools and scouts/guide groups. He also helps with the teaching of undergraduates in some of the astronomy courses.
Friday 1st May 2026 19:30 Main Talk Ian Smith TBA
I’ve been an amateur astronomer for several decades and used to be chairman of the Abingdon Astronomical Society for many years. My own astronomical interests started with planetary observing and then imaging. Then when the planets effectively disappeared from UK skies, I turned to imaging PNe, which I’ve now been doing now for the last 6 years or so.
Friday 5th June 2026 19:30 James Fradgley Msc FRAS MinstP "Astronomical causes of climate change" More factors than they tell you about in the press: solar effects, Milankovitch etc
September 4th 2026 19:30 Charline Giroud "Tracking and imaging the international space station." As reported by Oxford University screening scientist Charline Giroud managed to capture an incredible photo of the International Space Station as it flew over her home in Oxfordshire on January 30 - only it also features one of the astronauts that has been stranded there for over 240 days.
October 2nd 2026 Will Joyce "The search for intelligent life in the Universe and interstellar travel"
William has worked in space research at Leicester university with Earth remote sensing satellite instruments and in industry in laboratories, space software engineering and later in aerospace systems engineering. William changed career in the mid 2000's and obtained a degree in Earth and Planetary science and followed this with university teaching and astronomy work
Friday November 6th 2026 19:30 Main Talk Les Brand TBC
Les is a part-time astronomer at the Royal Observatory and Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society: delivering shows to schools and the public; leading the Evening with the Srars events. He teaches introductory online courses on astronomy and Astrophotography .
Les has his own back garden observatory, and owns several telescopes and cameras with which he battles London's light pollution and clouds! He was an advisor on the recent BBC series Universe, where he showed it was possible to capture an image of a distant galaxy from Canary Wharf.
Although his knowledge of astronomy and astrophotography is largely self-taught, Les successfully completed a masters degree in astrophysics in 2022 and loves to inspire new learners and the next generation.
Observing Events weather permitting 6
