Post by richdavies on Dec 11, 2020 22:36:53 GMT
www.fedastro.org.uk No 120: December 2020
Editor: Michael Bryce
Note: The FAS Council Reserves the Right to publish articles, events and reports submitted to the Newsletter by FAS Member Societies
President’s Spot: Dr Paul A. Daniels FRAS
President
Dr Paul A Daniels
Rose Hill
High Green, Bradenham
Thetford, Norfolk
IP25 7RD
president@fedastro.org.uk
07802 324 697
Treasurer
Pat McEvoy
17 Severn Close
Paulsgrove
Portsmouth
PO6 4BB
treasurer@fedastro.org.uk
Secretary
Richard Field
3 Campion Gardens,
Kirkby-in-Ashfield,
Nottinghamshire,
NG17 8RQ
secretary@fedastro.org.uk
Newsletter Editor
Michael Bryce
58 Park Road
Stourbridge
West Midlands
DY8 3QX
newsletter@fedastro.org.uk
07821 896 304
Newsletter No 120, December 2020, Published by the Federation of Astronomical Societies ISSN 1361 - 4126
When I became FAS President just over
three years ago the FAS was seriously
moribund and there’d even been
proposals by some on the previous FAS
Council that it should be wound up! Well,
I’m glad to say that the change of
direction the FAS has since taken (to more
directly support our member societies
rather than our members’ members) has
borne fruit: the hard work of the past three Councils is turning
things around and we now have two successful AGMs &
Conventions under our belt, an online AGM, a number of
guideline documents to advise our members (more to come), a
new membership system, an improved (and more up-to-date)
website, an improved-quality Newsletter (which we will be
publishing more frequently than in the past) and, of course, we
continue to organise subscriptions to a group PLI policy for our
members.
The reputation of the FAS is growing once more amongst our
members and the Council is now also working hard to raise the
profile of the FAS with external organisations so that we can
have more influence where it matters, pass on benefits to our
member societies and improve access to astronomy for all. So,
what’s new and what are we planning?
New Council Members
We have two new Council members: Jerry Stone has taken the
Publicity and Meetings Organiser roles previously occupied by
Adrian Roach and John Evans has filled a new post as Dark Skies
Coordinator. Many of you will know Jerry for his entertaining
Space-themed talks and John, who’s been an FAS council
member before, preceded me as president of Guildford AS’.
Welcome to them both!
FAS Regional Groups
The UK has a range of about 12° in latitude and 10° in longitude
and a similarly large range in weather and other local
conditions. The FAS knows that not all of our members’
requirements are the exactly the same and so the Council
would like to see the resurrection of some of the lapsed
regional groups and the formation of new regional groups
where necessary so that we can encourage communication
between those groups and the FAS Council; it’s much easier for
us to provide our members what they need if we’re getting
feedback and it’s easier for us to get and react to feedback
from regional groups working at a local level than from
individual member societies.
The Megaconstellation Threat
Many of you will have read my article in Newsletter #118 on
the rise of the satellite megaconstellations, the threat they
pose to astronomy, the concerns over the sustainable use of
space and the potential for raising political tensions if the
allocation and use of near-Earth space isn’t fairly managed. I’ve
already given a talk to four of our member societies with
several others in my diary for early next year (and I’m open for
bookings!).
On 25th August this year the Satellite Constellations 1
(SATCON1) Workshop, hosted by the US National Science
Foundation’s (NSF) NOIRLab and the American Astronomical
Society (AAS), released their final report in the form of an
online press conference. The approximately one hour video of
the press conference is very clear and approachable, is
recommended watching and available for viewing on the ‘AAS
Press Office’ YouTube site at www.youtube.com/watch?
v=VCyE8BNYIKM. The workshop was set up to discuss and plan
for the issues surrounding satellite megaconstellations and to
make recommendations to the satellite operators and was
divided into four working groups (WGs): Observations,
Simulations, Mitigation and Metrics. The first WG is tasked with
gathering and analysing brightness observations of the
satellites, the second with modelling the visibility of the
Federation of Astronomical Societies — Newsletter No 120 — December 2020
Page 2
satellites, the third with developing mitigations/workarounds to
cope with the problems caused by the satellites and the fourth
WG with combining the work of the other three to produce a set
of recommendations to policy-makers.
In parallel with the above US effort, the FAS, BAA and SPA were
approached by the RAS to work together to encourage the
involvement of the UK’s amateur astronomical community in
making observations of the satellites. During an online meeting
on 16th October I was tasked with approaching the lead on the
US Observations WG to see how the US and UK groups could best
collaborate. At the time of writing this (2nd December) the
response from the US has been positive and our next step is now
to decide on a date for an online meeting when we can plan the
most effective ways we can work together.
At the moment the project is in its formative stages but we’ll
‘keep you in the loop’ on progress. Once the coordinating groups
have defined a common approach to observation and analysis,
set up a reporting and analysis infrastructure and written guide
notes on how you can all help, we’ll be inviting your
participation.
In common with other concerned groups, the FAS considers the
advent of satellite megaconstellations to be a significant sky
pollution problem and so falls under the generic ‘dark skies’
umbrella. Our new Council member, John Evans, will lead this
project for the FAS and, as he and I are both on the RAS’
Megaconstellations Group: Optical Subgroup panel I shall be
offering him my full support as and when he requires it.
This important project offers an opportunity for the UK amateur
astronomy community to work with other amateurs and
professionals in the UK, US and, perhaps, elsewhere to gather
and analyse information that will help to protect our view of the
sky and inform the political process in defining international
policy.
The All-Party Parliamentary Group for Dark Skies
The RAS, FAS, BAA, CPRE, CfDS and other organisations
concerned with preserving our dark skies were invited to
contribute opinions as input to the first policy paper from the
above APPG and a final content discussion took place on 9th
December. The finished document is now on release and this can
be downloaded here: appgdarkskies.co.uk/policy-plan.
It’s good to see, at last, that the government are taking the issue
of sky pollution seriously. This policy paper is promoting a
significant improvement over previous policies and is the best
chance we’ve had for years on getting effective legislation that
will force a reduction in light pollution in the UK.
The IAU AstroGPS Project
In mid-August I received an email from Prof Robert Walsh
(UCLAN) who is the International Astronomical Union (IAU) UK
National Outreach Coordinator (NOC) highlighting a possible
international project the UK could get involved with. The project,
called AstroGPS, is still in a pilot form and was originally put
together by the Polish Astronomical Society and the Polish NOC
(Krzysztof Czart) over the last year. Essentially it’s a simple, clean
web interface (website plus mobile app) providing a way of
gathering details of public events related to astronomy and space
science. Although currently prepared for Poland, the software is
ready for making it international (English), and useful across any
country.
The pilot is now looking to expand to cover other IAU countries
(especially the US) and is seeking IAU funding to do this; the level
of national IAU NOC interest in this is high so the chance of
success is quite good. We should know whether the project was
successful in its bid by 15th January 2021 and, if so, the funded
project work would start in earnest in April 2021 and be
completed by December 2021.
FAS Vice-President, Graham Bryant, and I have had a Zoom
meeting with Robert and have agreed that the FAS will provide
support. We now live in a world that’s heavily dependent on
online meetings (via Zoom or similar) but with the ‘silver lining’
that online international meetings are no more expensive than
online national or local ones. This potentially valuable project
offers a tremendous opportunity for opening up your society
meetings to an international audience and vice versa.
FAS AGMs & Conventions
This year’s AGM, held via Zoom for the first time, went very well
with all of the agenda points successfully voted on, constitution
updated and Council members elected or re-elected. There was a
lot of concerned discussion about how and when our members
can safely and legally return to doing outreach – we have some
help for that (see next section).
I’ve long felt that it’s a shame we have to shoehorn the AGM (the
‘boring bit’!) into the middle of the annual FAS Convention; it
breaks the flow, the public have to be excluded and it takes up
time that could have allowed inclusion of another speaker. This
year it hasn’t been possible to have a standard, in-person
convention with speakers and trade- and society-stands but we
were still able to hold the AGM proving that we don’t have to do
it the way we have before and that it’s quite possible to separate
the AGM from the convention.
Earlier in the year, when the pandemic first reared its head, we
were considering whether we might be able to hold the
convention late in the year and it quickly became obvious, as the
Covid-19 cases rose, that the virus had other plans! At the time
of the AGM we were still considering the possibility of a delayed
in-person convention around April/May 2021 time but the
second (current) peak of cases, the predictably likely third peak
in February due to the gregarious Xmas break and the knowledge
that the vaccination programme and consequent immunity won’t
be fully established for most age groups until sometime in
Summer 2021, all point to an in-person April/May convention not
being possible.
The FAS Council have, therefore, decided to hold the 2021 AGM
as an online meeting later in the year (date to be decided – Sep/
Oct?) and to have both an online convention early in the year as
well as working towards an in-person convention near the time
of the online AGM. If, for some reason, the virus persists despite
the vaccinations then we may have to move the later convention
online too. As well as speakers for the online convention we’re
also considering online trade and society ‘side-rooms’ during the
breaks between speakers. We’ll let you know when we’ve firmed
-up on the dates and arrangements.
Seeking someone to join Council to promote
Diversity and Inclusion
At the last Council meeting it was noted that not only is the
Council comprised entirely of able-bodied white males but that
by far the largest demographic amongst our members is the
Federation of Astronomical Societies — Newsletter No 120 — December 2020
Page 3
same. Nowadays this lack of diversity reflects poorly on the FAS
so the Council has decided to create a new Diversity and
Inclusion post and seek another person with suitable experience
to join Council in that role. That person would be appointed in
the first instance but would subsequently be subject to election
at an AGM in common with the other Council positions.
The person taking on this new role would, for example, review
the FAS constitution to recommend updates to make explicit our
commitment to diversity and would create and maintain
guideline documents for our members advising them on best
practise for organising meetings, observing sessions, outreach,
etc, that did not discriminate. See the advert in this issue of the
Newsletter.
As you can see, the FAS Council is keeping busy on your behalf
with several ‘irons in the fire’. If you have any comments or good
ideas we’re always ready to listen and I can be contacted at
president@fedastro.org.uk.
Clear skies!
Dr Paul A Daniels FRAS
FAS President
2nd December 2020
The Royal Society has unveiled this new oil painting of Dame Jocelyn
Bell Burnell by artist Stephen Shankland which marks the date over
50 years ago when Dame Jocelyn, aged just 24, discovered a new
type of star while a PhD student at Cambridge University on 28
November 1967.
More information can be found at the Royal Society website:
www.royalsociety.org
FAS Council: New Diversity & Inclusion Post
The Council of the Federation of Astronomical Societies is looking for a person to take up a new position of
Diversity and Inclusion Council Member. Ideally they should be a member of an FAS affiliated society.
The post holder will be a full member of the Council and advise Council on BME and disability matters as well
as promoting and advising on social inclusion amongst member societies.
Interested individuals are encouraged to contact the FAS President, Dr Paul Daniels, at
president@fedastro.org.uk or on 07802 324697.
Special Portrait unveiled for
Dame Jocelyn Bell-Burnell
An FAS Webinar on ‘Outreach after Covid’ –
Saturday, 9th January 2021
Following the discussions at the FAS AGM on returning to doing
safe outreach within the constraints of government rules and
guidelines, the FAS Council have decided to organise a webinarstyle
conference for the afternoon of Saturday,
9th January 2021 discussing how we can manage that return
once the Covid-19 threat abates following mass vaccination.
The Zoom webinar will be free and open to all member societies
and their members as well as school and college teachers,
university outreach staff and other outreach organisers.
Registration will be via Eventbrite and will also be live-streamed
on YouTube. The programme will consist of a half-dozen invited
short papers with opportunities for questions and discussion.
We’ll let you know when the registration process is open and
the programme and timing for the day soon.
A Note from your Editor:
If you are reading this on a computer (Windows) you can select the
hyperlinks in articles by using your mouse pointer and simultaneously
selecting ctrl. Click on the mouse and your browser or email program
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are available."
Michael Bryce (FAS Newsletter Editor)
Email Address: newsletter@fedastro.org.uk
Federation of Astronomical Societies — Newsletter No 120 — December 2020
Page 4
John Evans
Dark Skies Coordinator
John is a Committee Member and former President of the
Guildford Astronomical Society. He has been a Committee
Member of the South East Kent Astronomical Society and has
previously served on the FAS Council. He is a member of the
BAA, The Webb Society and the European Astronomical Society
and is a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society.
John has been an active observer for more than 40 years and is
an experienced imager. He has given many talks on imaging,
observing techniques and instrumentation. He was fortunate to
observe and image for several years from the pristine skies of the
observatory site on La Palma and continues to visit the island
regularly.
Recently, he has been focusing mainly on visual astronomy from
his observatory at home and on developing the Dark Skies
Matter initiative that he founded in 2019 with the support of
local organisations sharing an interest in landscape beauty, the
environment and biodiversity.
Jerry Stone
Publicity and Meetings Organiser
Jerry Stone is a Fellow of the British Interplanetary Society (FBIS),
is a Freelance Space Presenter, and runs Spaceflight UK
He is a space expert, presenter and broadcaster! He has given
presentations on astronomy and space exploration for over 50
years, all over the UK and abroad. He is often interviewed on
radio and TV. He was on Sky News covering Tim Peake’s mission
on the International Space Station, and was on both Sky and BBC
News when Neil Armstrong died. He is an acknowledged expert
particularly on the Apollo missions.
He has spoken about space at the British Science Festival, the
Edinburgh Festival, the Palace of Westminster, the Royal
Institution, the World Science Fiction Convention ... and a rock
festival! He now gives presentations online.
He is a space author. His book, "One Small Step" commemorating
the Moon landings - on sale at the National Space Centre, Jodrell
Bank and Kennedy Space Centre - was described by Sir Patrick
Moore as "Marvellous!". His latest book is “Find Out - Space
Travel”. Both are described as "suitable for 8-year-olds of
all ages"!
Should anyone reading this like to buy signed copies of Jerry’s
books, please write to jerry.stone2001@gmail.com. This is
because if people buy them on amazon or elsewhere, he doesn’t
receive a penny!
He is an interplanetary poet! NASA's Mars probe, MAVEN, is in
orbit around the Red Planet. Like various other spacecraft, it has
Jerry's name on it, stored on a DVD, which also includes a poem
he wrote! No other space presenter in the UK can make this
claim.
He has a space-related Blue Peter badge! A few years ago at the
UK Space Conference he showed Zoe Salmon and the Blue Peter
team how rockets work.
Welcome to the FAS Council
Federation of Astronomical Societies — Newsletter No 120 — December 2020
Page 5
Cornwall Astronomy Society
Celebrates Twenty Five Years
Robert Beeman (Publicity Officer)
Cornwall Astronomy Society celebrates its 25th birthday in
December 2020 being founded in 1995 by an enthusiastic group
who held meetings in Ship Inn Porthleven.
Over the years as numbers grew, close to 50 for a number of
years, the Society met twice a month at the Godolphin Club
Helston. Currently (Covid 19 permitting) we hold the first
meeting of the month at Degibna Chapel Helston which has an
adjacent National Trust carpark which gives the opportunity for
telescopes to be set up given suitable weather. The second
meeting of the month being held at the WI Hall in Mabe which is
better suited for talks.
The Society has always focused on outreach events at schools,
local shows, village events and on numerous occasions has
provided speakers to groups such as the WI and U3A. In the
current situation all this is on hold but hopefully we shall get back
in due course to doing what we like best in promoting Astronomy
to others as a hobby and science.
Thanks to the efforts of several members we have been able to
host our meetings on Zoom since March this year. Meeting
attendances of 18 or so are often achieved, compromised on
occasions by slightly flaky internet connections due to rurality.
Being almost as far south west as one can get we have always
relied on the membership to make a major contribution to the
programme and we have not been disappointed in having had a
number of very interesting short talks on diverse topics in
addition to our “routine events”, debate evening, quiz night,
members 2 minute talks and a virtual Perseid BBQ (it was
cloudy!!) We were able to live image the remnants of Comet
C/2019Y4 (ATLAS) using members telescopes at Porthleven and
St Ives in a Zoom meeting. We were also lucky enough to secure
a brilliant talk from Professor Nathan Mayne of Exeter University.
And from Fred Deakin (Secretary)
For me, the biggest, and most shocking story of twenty-twenty
came on 23rd March when Boris Johnson came on the television
to put the country into lockdown because of the rising spread of
the Novel Coronavirus. I’d known about virus, and had followed it
from early January, when it was still confined to China; and even
then I’d predicted it would be a pandemic in more countries.
What I didn’t wholly expect was that it was to affect me
personally, or the small group of astronomers that twice a month
would meet up for nights of stargazing, presentations and
discussions.
My name is Fred Deakin, and I am the Secretary of the Cornwall
Astronomy Society and, this is a how the group of passionate
stargazers changed direction in how we did our meetings, and
with it, how we added a new level to them. A couple of weeks
before the official lockdown, we had decided to postpone our
meetings. A lot of our members are elderly or frail, and the rest
had family members who were the same, and so we didn’t want
to take any chances. I decided when we stopped the meetings to
do everything I could to somehow keep the society going.
I did a few days research, and tried to find options to do virtual
meetings. I am very computer literate, but had never heard of
the software known as Zoom. After reading about it, it became
the platform I pinned my hopes on. I joined the subscription
before spending my first couple of days of lockdown solely
testing the software, and seeing what I could do with it. I
contacted a few society members and got them to join with me
for testing what others could see. I purchased on eBay a couple
of green-screens, not believing they would arrive before our first
scheduled Zoom meeting on 26th March 2020.
I am a keen astrophotographer, and over the years have built my
imaging equipment up to be a mobile setup, but with complete
autoimaging capabilities. This is useful as I work full time (under
normal conditions), and with Cornwall being about the worst
place in England for clouds, wind and rain, when there is a clear
night I can set things up, write a script of what I want the
telescope to capture, and still get a fairly good night’s sleep.
On the day of the 26th March, rarely, the forecast was for clear
skies. I videoed myself as I set up my Takahashi FS-78 (Scopey
McScope Face), and connected it up by ethernet to the computer
I was going to use for the evening’s meeting. I also have an
account with iTelescope, the remote telescope company that I
have used before for imaging things in the Southern Hemisphere,
so I made sure that was up on the computer; already logged in.
Stellarium was loaded up, and then finally the Zoom app itself. I
had no idea how it was going to go, but hoped somehow that I
could find an hour or so of stuff to show to whoever joined me
for the evening.
A couple of hours before the meeting started, and the greenscreens
arrived, so there was a frantic time putting them up and
sorting out some backgrounds. I had a phone call from Kevin, a
society member who has an observatory. He said that he would
put his telescope online so we could do some live viewing
together – this did help the butterflies that were brewing in my
stomach. I knew that this could be either a game-changer or
could flop massively; and I had no idea which way it would go.
I am not a confident public speaker. If you want to hear someone
who is sweating inside and verbally stuttering and overusing lots
of ‘Umms’, then I’m your man. I have done many talks to the
members before, but not one has been without the sense of
dread until they were over. The idea of sitting in front of a
computer with five or ten faces in front of me, expecting me to
inform and entertain them on the subject at hand almost
stopped me a couple of times, but I swallowed my insecurities.
Member Society Reports
Federation of Astronomical Societies — Newsletter No 120 — December 2020
Page 6
The sky outside started to go dark when I initiated the meeting.
An email had gone out to our twenty-seven current members,
and I had my fingers crossed a few of them would join me.
There was a beep, and Kevin came online. He had used Zoom for
his work before, and said he would help and guide me if I needed
it. Then another beep, and our Webmaster, Greg came online.
Another beep, and then another came in, then another beep.
Soon there were seventeen faces in front of me, all waiting
expectantly, so I started. I talked about the current situation and
how strange it was, and then I shared with the group some of my
screens to make sure they could all see what I had put up… then
we got started properly.
The meeting was a resounding success. I must have talked for
England as I took people on a tour using my scope of the night
sky. Between me showing everyone some things, Kevin would
take over and show everyone what was being seen through his
scope. There was a supernova in M61, so we took some images
of that, and Comet C/2019 Y4 Atlas was in the sky, so we tracked
on that for a bit, as well as a load of other targets. People joined
in and asked questions or suggested new targets to look at. I
showed off the video of when I set up the telescope and there
was discussion on that. Before I knew it, well over three-hours of
constant engagement had passed, and everyone was still there
enjoying every one of those passed minutes.
After long goodbyes and the promises that we would be doing it
again and again, the meeting was closed and the recording of it
saved. I felt quite proud of myself. I was actually so piped up
after the meeting that I didn’t sleep that night, and instead
carried on making the most of the crystal-clear sky. We had
proved a new method to our meetings, and had realised that
even in dire situations, such as we were in, that we could still
meet up, enjoy together our hobby and passion, as well as bring
some kind of strange normality in a time where normal had taken
a break.
Now, Zoom has become a part of the worldwide vocabulary, and
it is accepted as one of the best ways for groups to keep in touch.
I am glad I picked the right platform. At the time of writing this,
the Novel Coronavirus is still ravaging its way around the World.
Normal still doesn’t exist, or not the way we used to know it.
The Cornwall Astronomy Society still meet up twice a month, on
the same day and time that we would have previously when we
were all able to meet and have a coffee and biscuit in person. We
have more members, and often there are new faces. We have
done some more live viewing, we have had talks from all our
members during those meetings, we’ve had a debate evening, a
hero’s evening, a talk from a University Professor, and much,
much more. I am still hosting it; and I’m still feeling quite proud.
If you want to see for yourself some of what we have been up to,
then have a look at a brief video I made: youtu.be/EQSu0URkS8
www.cornwallas.org.uk
Southport
Astronomical Society
1) Due to the pandemic we’ve suspended ‘live’ monthly
meetings, and are hosting two Zoom meetings each month
instead. These Zoom meetings include members of the
Astronomical Society of Botswana (ASB) that our President,
Professor Michael Bode, helped establish in Gaborone. The aims
of the ASB are to encourage the people of Botswana to look at
the night sky, wonder at their place in the universe, encourage
educational learning, and help develop amateur astronomical
societies throughout the country.
2) Sefton MBC who owns the Hesketh Park Victorian observatory
that Southport AS manages on their behalf, instructed us not to
open it to the public or use it for Society events, again because of
the pandemic.
3) For these reasons Southport AS's management committee
decided to suspend subs, normally due in September for the
20/21 year, and agreed the society would fund the cost of Zoom
meetings.
4) Several local visitors to our website have been contacting us to
ask if they could join the society, so based on this understanding
we add them to our membership email list, and include them in
Zoom notifications. These prospective new members plus
existing honorary & paid-up members from last year, means our
total membership is at a record 61, the highest since 1986 when
the current society reformed, the same year Halley's comet was
visible.
Rick Tyers
Southport Astronomical Society
Guildford
Astronomical Society
In March we suspended our monthly lectures, outreach activity
and the use of our observatory. Since then we have offered live
e-training in PixInsight and in navigating the night sky,
commenced a society newsletter and in October provided live
Zoom talks for Virtual World Space Week (organised by the IoP
South Central Branch).
We are now holding our monthly meetings successfully via Zoom
and offer recordings on a private YouTube channel for members
who are unable to participate in the live meeting.
Unsurprisingly, experience to date is that invited lecturers are
less reluctant to demur as the need to travel is no longer a
barrier and the time commitment is short and that the talks
seem more personal and engaging (“lean forward”) than if held
in a University lecture theatre.
Nick Tanton
President Guildford Astronomical Society
Bridgend
Astronomical Society
Like lots of other societies, Bridgend Astro have been extremely
busy during what’s been a difficult year for everyone. Lockdown
has given our society the opportunity to grow and flourish in a
way that has, until now, has been a time challenging
exercise. With everyone turning to technology, our society
Facebook page has grown by nearly 500%. Our society
Federation of Astronomical Societies — Newsletter No 120 — December 2020
Page 7
membership numbers are now reaching 90 and growing. All this
activity during a season where we cannot actually get together in
ways we normally would! It’s been rather heart warming to see
like minded individuals including juniors, beginners and amateurs
come together, learn and support their local society like never
before!
The committee team have been working tirelessly to plan and
bring ‘Zooming’ sessions to the forefront with speakers and quiz
nights. The few socially distant observation events have seen
members enjoy the Perseids, the planets, deep sky treasures and
the unforgettable Comet NEOWISE. When the pandemic
subsides, Bridgend Astro have many moremember events lined
up. An exciting Rocket Science day, telescope workshops and
star parties to name a few.
But it’s been our educational courses that have really truly
engaged our members! Due to demand, we are currently running
our second eight week ‘Astronomy for Beginners’ course via
Zoom! An excellent opportunity has been opened up for
distance learning that we will be expanding upon in 2021 with
another course entitled ‘Observing the Skies’ that we are sure
will be just as popular!
The Sky is certainly not the limit at Bridgend Astronomical
Society! Check out our Facebook, Instagram and Twitter feeds as
well as our website here.....
www.bridgendastro.org.uk
Mansfield and Sutton
Astronomical Society
Mansfield and Sutton Astronomical Society were going great
guns up until March, in as much we were heading for the second
-best outreach figures since our records began.
Since closing the observatory we have moved online with at first
google meet and lately Zoom.
Accompanying this our monthly guest speakers have been
regular ”visitors” alongside our weekly Wednesday night
members meeting, with quizzes (we're looking forward to our
online Obs Christmas bake-off as the warm-up act before the
Christmas quiz) members talks and general meetings.
We quickly set up our online meetings as well as a new members
forum, allowing a safe and casual platform which has proved
useful and popular.
During the summer we set about making the observatory as
Covid as safe as possible. We managed to conduct a safe Solar
viewing event for members.
Viewing was done with a camera on our Solar scope, and talks
were socially distanced outside, so minimising any risk of virus
transmission.
We intended to conduct blended meetings. This is where a safe
number of members can attend the Obs and a talk was given and
live-streamed to the rest of our members ( the rise of infections
and the subsequent 2nd lockdown put this on hold )
NEOWISE and Mars have been a welcomed distraction and the
latter is also our topic for our contribution to National Astronomy
week on the 21st of November.
We are encouraging members to live stream viewings from their
scopes and again this is proving popular.
When we can get back to real normal we will keep certain things
that have proven benefits for our society and it's members, like
for example cameras on scopes and blended meetings.
The bake-off is fun and light-hearted as it's a feature of our public
open events, but the competition is keen. Please see the below
image from our youngest member Freya.
An FAS Webinar on ‘Outreach after Covid’ –
Saturday, 9th January 2021
Following the discussions at the FAS AGM on returning to doing
safe outreach within the constraints of government rules and
guidelines, the FAS Council have decided to organise a webinarstyle
conference for the afternoon of Saturday,
9th January 2021 discussing how we can manage that return
once the Covid-19 threat abates following mass vaccination.
The Zoom webinar will be free and open to all member
societies and their members as well as school and college
teachers, university outreach staff and other outreach
organisers. Registration will be via Eventbrite and will also be
live-streamed on YouTube. The programme will consist of a
half-dozen invited short papers with opportunities for
questions and discussion. We’ll let you know when the
registration process is open and the programme and timing for
the day soon.
Federation of Astronomical Societies — Newsletter No 120 — December 2020
Page 8
May 2020 marks World Museum’s planetarium’s
50th anniversary, it is the longest surviving
planetarium in a British museum and this is the
story so far... In 1941 the Liverpool Museum, as it
was known then, suffered a direct hit from a bomb
during the Liverpool Blitz. It was reopened in 1956
and was to see huge redevelopment. A lot of that
work happened in the late 1960s. The director at
that time, Tom Hume, had the vision of creating a
modern museum that would embrace science and
technology. The 1960’s was a decade of change
and of belief in a new and better future, forged, as
the Prime Minister Harold Wilson phrased it, ‘in
the white heat of technology’. Hume set up a new
Astronomy Department early in 1969, establishing
a new time and space gallery and installing the
planetarium.
The driving force behind the planetarium and
space gallery came from Dr Patrick V. Sudbury, a
scientist who had previously worked with NASA
surveying possible landing sites for the Apollo
missions using the telescope at the Pic Du Midi
observatory in the Pyrenees. With his knowledge
of telescopes and astronomy, he became the first
head of the Astronomy Department and manager
of the planetarium. He used the telescope at the
Pic Du Midi observatory in the Pyrenees to do this
and earned his PhD for his efforts. He also served
as President of Liverpool Astronomical Society
between 1970 – 72.
Sudbury began the astronomy and science
collections, particularly rocketry and telescopes,
and created the new Space gallery next to the
Planetarium. He was also responsible for the
oceanography, modern physics, photography,
scientific instruments and medicine collections,
some of which are nationally significant.
The restored museum was launched in January
1970 with a display of moon rock brought back by
the Apollo 11 crew. There were queues stretching
hundreds of yards outside the museum and more
than 32,000 people visited during the three-day
showing.
The planetarium opened a few months later on
Friday the 22nd May 1970. It was only the second
planetarium to be built in a museum – the first,
the London Planetarium, was built in Madame
Tussauds in Baker Street in 1958, but was closed in
2006 but a new one was established Greenwich a
few years later.
The new Planetarium featured sixty-seven seats
and initially there were two shows each afternoon,
except on Monday’s which were kept for
maintenance of the equipment. As with all new
equipment there were some initial difficulties with
the £5,000 (about £85,500 in today’s money) Zeiss
projector.
There was a suite of 150 projectors using almost
50 different motors for images of planets, galaxies
and other extras that were not built into the main
projector. Each week four to five projector lamps
had to be replaced along with bulbs around the
dome. When new shows were introduced, new
projectors had to be filled with slides, checked and
installed; the planet projectors had to be moved to
keep them correctly positioned in the sky.
A little after opening the Liverpool skyline was
added to the base of the dome. Even though the
shows were mainly pre-recorded, everything had
to be done manually: bringing up images, moving
the sky and pointing out items. The audio was
played on a two track reel tape recorder and the
audio to the public was fed through speakers
whilst the operator wore headphones with the
track of the show playing in one ear and the
prompts of what to do and when playing in the
other! The newly installed console the operator’s
had to used, took some learning and patience to
work out which knob and switch did what.
Liverpool A.S. became a recruiting agent for many
of the operators, and in return was used as a
recruitment tool for society members.
The Space and Time Gallery followed, opening on
the 9th September 1993. Leading towards the
Planetarium on Level 5, the cost for the renovation
was £375,000 and was a new home for the
collection of rockets and telescopes. The opening
ceremony was overseen by Dr Stephen Hawking
via video telephone link. At the time, Dr Hawking
was the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at
Cambridge University, a position once held by Sir
Isaac Newton. This renovation made the gallery an
exciting and fascinating prelude to the
planetarium. New comfortable padded seating
was installed in the planetarium for visitors to sit
back and enjoy the shows.
The first big improvement to the planetarium
equipment since its opening was in 2012 when
Zeiss (who made the original projector – the ‘Star
Ball’) donated two digital projectors. The new
projectors allowed us to present higher quality
and more immersive shows without the need for
filters, slides and weekly calibration.
Unfortunately, because of the way the projectors
work we had to remove the skyline from around
Liverpool’s Very Own Planetarium: 1970 - 2020
By Patrick Kiernan - National Museums Liverpool
Submitted by Gerard Gilligan (Chairman: The Society for the History of Astronomy)
50 Years of Star Gazing – With the Roof On!
Images above:
First
Saturn looms large on
the dome of the
planetarium above the
Zeiss projectors
Second
Dr Patrick Victor
Sudbury (1941 – 2007)
Third
The Space and Time
Gallery
Federation of Astronomical Societies — Newsletter No 120 — December 2020
Page 9
On opening the entrance
fee was 2 shillings (or £1.41
today), after decimalisation
that price became 15p (or
about £2.50 today).
Above left - Members of The Society for the History of Astronomy visit the Liverpool Planetarium during their annual summer picnic event
and visit to Liverpool, July 2017. © SHA James Dawson. Above right—ESA/UK Astronaut Tim Peake event in 2016.
All Images with thanks © World Museum Liverpool, The Liverpool Echo, ™Google Images
This picture shows the dome
we still use being built, and
by 1970 Phase two of the
museum’s development was
complete
Federation of Astronomical Societies — Newsletter No 120 — December 2020
Page 10
the base of the dome. The feature is greatly missed by our visitors
to this day, many of whom remember seeing it when visiting the
Planetarium as children.
Over the years our programme has changed; the first school shows
began in 1979 nine years after opening and continue to this day.
Since 1979, we have welcomed around half a million school
children! Over the years we increased the number of shows from
two a day to our current full schedule of eight shows a day at
weekends and holidays, with five public shows a day and three
school shows a day during school term.
One of the highlights of the last few years took place in February
2016 when we had a live link-up with the International Space
Station to talk with British astronaut Tim Peake. Schools from
around the country attended the museum for the event and others
watched it live online. Pupils were able to ask him questions which
he then answered whilst whizzing over the Earth at 27.000 Km an
hour!
The planetarium remains a very popular and entertaining attraction
with over 2 million visitors and counting! It is a unique venue and
something of which the people of Liverpool and the region are
rightly proud. The future for the planetarium is exciting: when we
re-open why not pop in and say ‘Hi’. Let’s talk space and become
part of the next 50 years of our journey through the cosmos.
Planetarium Fast Facts
• Opened 22nd May 1970, entrance fee 2 shillings (£1.41 at today’s prices).
• 1972 after decimalisation entrance fee 15p (£2.50 at today’s prices).
• Today’s entrance fee is great value and similar to 1972; £3.00 for adults, £2.50 for concessions!
• From two shows a day we now show up to eight a day!
• 1 Millionth visitor arrived in June 2002.
• Half a million school children have visited the planetarium for unforgettable school trips.
• There have been 2.18 million public visitors
• Space & Time Gallery opened 1993
• New projectors installed in 2012
• A live link to the International Space Station in 2016.
Text and several of the images with thanks to Patrick Kiernan, Education Demonstrator. Learning & Participation Department,
National Museums Liverpool, plus SHA member and appreciation also to Phil Phillips, New Media Development Manager Systems
Department. National Museums Liverpool.
Starlink Orbits
Do you want to monitor the orbital paths of the Starlink
megaconstellation of satellites? The satellite tracking website
Heavens Above has a great animated graphic which you can
have centred on your observing location. The site also produces
a table of sightings like those it produces for the ISS.
Heavens Above: www.heavens-above.com
Federation of Astronomical Societies — Newsletter No 120 — December 2020
Page 11
RAS GCSE Astronomy Student 2020
Online Poster Competition!
The Royal Astronomical Society online GCSE Astronomy
poster competition is now on!
Did you study for GCSE Astronomy with a view to taking the exam in the summer of 2020? If so, you
are eligible to enter our RAS GCSE Astronomy online poster competition. The RAS invites you to
present an astronomy or geophysics topic of your choice as an academic style poster with book token
prizes of 1st = £100, 2nd = £50, 3rd = £25.
All entries will be displayed on our website, and judges from the Royal Astronomical Society Education
and Outreach committee will pick three winners!
Eligibility:
1. You must have studied for GCSE Astronomy.
2. You must have been due to take the exam in the summer of 2020.
Criteria:
• Your poster must cover an astronomy or geophysics topic.
• The poster must be: ∙ Portrait or landscape ∙ Electronic ∙ Created in PowerPoint or similar
• You must include your name, your school address (if applicable) and your GCSE Astronomy
teacher's details (name and email address) in your entry. This is so we can check that you are
eligible to enter the competition.
• A document containing full entry criteria details can be downloaded from ras.ac.uk/
education-and-careers/ras-gcse-astronomy-student-2020-online-poster-competitionlaunched
Deadline:
Editor: Michael Bryce
Note: The FAS Council Reserves the Right to publish articles, events and reports submitted to the Newsletter by FAS Member Societies
President’s Spot: Dr Paul A. Daniels FRAS
President
Dr Paul A Daniels
Rose Hill
High Green, Bradenham
Thetford, Norfolk
IP25 7RD
president@fedastro.org.uk
07802 324 697
Treasurer
Pat McEvoy
17 Severn Close
Paulsgrove
Portsmouth
PO6 4BB
treasurer@fedastro.org.uk
Secretary
Richard Field
3 Campion Gardens,
Kirkby-in-Ashfield,
Nottinghamshire,
NG17 8RQ
secretary@fedastro.org.uk
Newsletter Editor
Michael Bryce
58 Park Road
Stourbridge
West Midlands
DY8 3QX
newsletter@fedastro.org.uk
07821 896 304
Newsletter No 120, December 2020, Published by the Federation of Astronomical Societies ISSN 1361 - 4126
When I became FAS President just over
three years ago the FAS was seriously
moribund and there’d even been
proposals by some on the previous FAS
Council that it should be wound up! Well,
I’m glad to say that the change of
direction the FAS has since taken (to more
directly support our member societies
rather than our members’ members) has
borne fruit: the hard work of the past three Councils is turning
things around and we now have two successful AGMs &
Conventions under our belt, an online AGM, a number of
guideline documents to advise our members (more to come), a
new membership system, an improved (and more up-to-date)
website, an improved-quality Newsletter (which we will be
publishing more frequently than in the past) and, of course, we
continue to organise subscriptions to a group PLI policy for our
members.
The reputation of the FAS is growing once more amongst our
members and the Council is now also working hard to raise the
profile of the FAS with external organisations so that we can
have more influence where it matters, pass on benefits to our
member societies and improve access to astronomy for all. So,
what’s new and what are we planning?
New Council Members
We have two new Council members: Jerry Stone has taken the
Publicity and Meetings Organiser roles previously occupied by
Adrian Roach and John Evans has filled a new post as Dark Skies
Coordinator. Many of you will know Jerry for his entertaining
Space-themed talks and John, who’s been an FAS council
member before, preceded me as president of Guildford AS’.
Welcome to them both!
FAS Regional Groups
The UK has a range of about 12° in latitude and 10° in longitude
and a similarly large range in weather and other local
conditions. The FAS knows that not all of our members’
requirements are the exactly the same and so the Council
would like to see the resurrection of some of the lapsed
regional groups and the formation of new regional groups
where necessary so that we can encourage communication
between those groups and the FAS Council; it’s much easier for
us to provide our members what they need if we’re getting
feedback and it’s easier for us to get and react to feedback
from regional groups working at a local level than from
individual member societies.
The Megaconstellation Threat
Many of you will have read my article in Newsletter #118 on
the rise of the satellite megaconstellations, the threat they
pose to astronomy, the concerns over the sustainable use of
space and the potential for raising political tensions if the
allocation and use of near-Earth space isn’t fairly managed. I’ve
already given a talk to four of our member societies with
several others in my diary for early next year (and I’m open for
bookings!).
On 25th August this year the Satellite Constellations 1
(SATCON1) Workshop, hosted by the US National Science
Foundation’s (NSF) NOIRLab and the American Astronomical
Society (AAS), released their final report in the form of an
online press conference. The approximately one hour video of
the press conference is very clear and approachable, is
recommended watching and available for viewing on the ‘AAS
Press Office’ YouTube site at www.youtube.com/watch?
v=VCyE8BNYIKM. The workshop was set up to discuss and plan
for the issues surrounding satellite megaconstellations and to
make recommendations to the satellite operators and was
divided into four working groups (WGs): Observations,
Simulations, Mitigation and Metrics. The first WG is tasked with
gathering and analysing brightness observations of the
satellites, the second with modelling the visibility of the
Federation of Astronomical Societies — Newsletter No 120 — December 2020
Page 2
satellites, the third with developing mitigations/workarounds to
cope with the problems caused by the satellites and the fourth
WG with combining the work of the other three to produce a set
of recommendations to policy-makers.
In parallel with the above US effort, the FAS, BAA and SPA were
approached by the RAS to work together to encourage the
involvement of the UK’s amateur astronomical community in
making observations of the satellites. During an online meeting
on 16th October I was tasked with approaching the lead on the
US Observations WG to see how the US and UK groups could best
collaborate. At the time of writing this (2nd December) the
response from the US has been positive and our next step is now
to decide on a date for an online meeting when we can plan the
most effective ways we can work together.
At the moment the project is in its formative stages but we’ll
‘keep you in the loop’ on progress. Once the coordinating groups
have defined a common approach to observation and analysis,
set up a reporting and analysis infrastructure and written guide
notes on how you can all help, we’ll be inviting your
participation.
In common with other concerned groups, the FAS considers the
advent of satellite megaconstellations to be a significant sky
pollution problem and so falls under the generic ‘dark skies’
umbrella. Our new Council member, John Evans, will lead this
project for the FAS and, as he and I are both on the RAS’
Megaconstellations Group: Optical Subgroup panel I shall be
offering him my full support as and when he requires it.
This important project offers an opportunity for the UK amateur
astronomy community to work with other amateurs and
professionals in the UK, US and, perhaps, elsewhere to gather
and analyse information that will help to protect our view of the
sky and inform the political process in defining international
policy.
The All-Party Parliamentary Group for Dark Skies
The RAS, FAS, BAA, CPRE, CfDS and other organisations
concerned with preserving our dark skies were invited to
contribute opinions as input to the first policy paper from the
above APPG and a final content discussion took place on 9th
December. The finished document is now on release and this can
be downloaded here: appgdarkskies.co.uk/policy-plan.
It’s good to see, at last, that the government are taking the issue
of sky pollution seriously. This policy paper is promoting a
significant improvement over previous policies and is the best
chance we’ve had for years on getting effective legislation that
will force a reduction in light pollution in the UK.
The IAU AstroGPS Project
In mid-August I received an email from Prof Robert Walsh
(UCLAN) who is the International Astronomical Union (IAU) UK
National Outreach Coordinator (NOC) highlighting a possible
international project the UK could get involved with. The project,
called AstroGPS, is still in a pilot form and was originally put
together by the Polish Astronomical Society and the Polish NOC
(Krzysztof Czart) over the last year. Essentially it’s a simple, clean
web interface (website plus mobile app) providing a way of
gathering details of public events related to astronomy and space
science. Although currently prepared for Poland, the software is
ready for making it international (English), and useful across any
country.
The pilot is now looking to expand to cover other IAU countries
(especially the US) and is seeking IAU funding to do this; the level
of national IAU NOC interest in this is high so the chance of
success is quite good. We should know whether the project was
successful in its bid by 15th January 2021 and, if so, the funded
project work would start in earnest in April 2021 and be
completed by December 2021.
FAS Vice-President, Graham Bryant, and I have had a Zoom
meeting with Robert and have agreed that the FAS will provide
support. We now live in a world that’s heavily dependent on
online meetings (via Zoom or similar) but with the ‘silver lining’
that online international meetings are no more expensive than
online national or local ones. This potentially valuable project
offers a tremendous opportunity for opening up your society
meetings to an international audience and vice versa.
FAS AGMs & Conventions
This year’s AGM, held via Zoom for the first time, went very well
with all of the agenda points successfully voted on, constitution
updated and Council members elected or re-elected. There was a
lot of concerned discussion about how and when our members
can safely and legally return to doing outreach – we have some
help for that (see next section).
I’ve long felt that it’s a shame we have to shoehorn the AGM (the
‘boring bit’!) into the middle of the annual FAS Convention; it
breaks the flow, the public have to be excluded and it takes up
time that could have allowed inclusion of another speaker. This
year it hasn’t been possible to have a standard, in-person
convention with speakers and trade- and society-stands but we
were still able to hold the AGM proving that we don’t have to do
it the way we have before and that it’s quite possible to separate
the AGM from the convention.
Earlier in the year, when the pandemic first reared its head, we
were considering whether we might be able to hold the
convention late in the year and it quickly became obvious, as the
Covid-19 cases rose, that the virus had other plans! At the time
of the AGM we were still considering the possibility of a delayed
in-person convention around April/May 2021 time but the
second (current) peak of cases, the predictably likely third peak
in February due to the gregarious Xmas break and the knowledge
that the vaccination programme and consequent immunity won’t
be fully established for most age groups until sometime in
Summer 2021, all point to an in-person April/May convention not
being possible.
The FAS Council have, therefore, decided to hold the 2021 AGM
as an online meeting later in the year (date to be decided – Sep/
Oct?) and to have both an online convention early in the year as
well as working towards an in-person convention near the time
of the online AGM. If, for some reason, the virus persists despite
the vaccinations then we may have to move the later convention
online too. As well as speakers for the online convention we’re
also considering online trade and society ‘side-rooms’ during the
breaks between speakers. We’ll let you know when we’ve firmed
-up on the dates and arrangements.
Seeking someone to join Council to promote
Diversity and Inclusion
At the last Council meeting it was noted that not only is the
Council comprised entirely of able-bodied white males but that
by far the largest demographic amongst our members is the
Federation of Astronomical Societies — Newsletter No 120 — December 2020
Page 3
same. Nowadays this lack of diversity reflects poorly on the FAS
so the Council has decided to create a new Diversity and
Inclusion post and seek another person with suitable experience
to join Council in that role. That person would be appointed in
the first instance but would subsequently be subject to election
at an AGM in common with the other Council positions.
The person taking on this new role would, for example, review
the FAS constitution to recommend updates to make explicit our
commitment to diversity and would create and maintain
guideline documents for our members advising them on best
practise for organising meetings, observing sessions, outreach,
etc, that did not discriminate. See the advert in this issue of the
Newsletter.
As you can see, the FAS Council is keeping busy on your behalf
with several ‘irons in the fire’. If you have any comments or good
ideas we’re always ready to listen and I can be contacted at
president@fedastro.org.uk.
Clear skies!
Dr Paul A Daniels FRAS
FAS President
2nd December 2020
The Royal Society has unveiled this new oil painting of Dame Jocelyn
Bell Burnell by artist Stephen Shankland which marks the date over
50 years ago when Dame Jocelyn, aged just 24, discovered a new
type of star while a PhD student at Cambridge University on 28
November 1967.
More information can be found at the Royal Society website:
www.royalsociety.org
FAS Council: New Diversity & Inclusion Post
The Council of the Federation of Astronomical Societies is looking for a person to take up a new position of
Diversity and Inclusion Council Member. Ideally they should be a member of an FAS affiliated society.
The post holder will be a full member of the Council and advise Council on BME and disability matters as well
as promoting and advising on social inclusion amongst member societies.
Interested individuals are encouraged to contact the FAS President, Dr Paul Daniels, at
president@fedastro.org.uk or on 07802 324697.
Special Portrait unveiled for
Dame Jocelyn Bell-Burnell
An FAS Webinar on ‘Outreach after Covid’ –
Saturday, 9th January 2021
Following the discussions at the FAS AGM on returning to doing
safe outreach within the constraints of government rules and
guidelines, the FAS Council have decided to organise a webinarstyle
conference for the afternoon of Saturday,
9th January 2021 discussing how we can manage that return
once the Covid-19 threat abates following mass vaccination.
The Zoom webinar will be free and open to all member societies
and their members as well as school and college teachers,
university outreach staff and other outreach organisers.
Registration will be via Eventbrite and will also be live-streamed
on YouTube. The programme will consist of a half-dozen invited
short papers with opportunities for questions and discussion.
We’ll let you know when the registration process is open and
the programme and timing for the day soon.
A Note from your Editor:
If you are reading this on a computer (Windows) you can select the
hyperlinks in articles by using your mouse pointer and simultaneously
selecting ctrl. Click on the mouse and your browser or email program
will start up. Note: As might be said on TV; "Other operating systems
are available."
Michael Bryce (FAS Newsletter Editor)
Email Address: newsletter@fedastro.org.uk
Federation of Astronomical Societies — Newsletter No 120 — December 2020
Page 4
John Evans
Dark Skies Coordinator
John is a Committee Member and former President of the
Guildford Astronomical Society. He has been a Committee
Member of the South East Kent Astronomical Society and has
previously served on the FAS Council. He is a member of the
BAA, The Webb Society and the European Astronomical Society
and is a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society.
John has been an active observer for more than 40 years and is
an experienced imager. He has given many talks on imaging,
observing techniques and instrumentation. He was fortunate to
observe and image for several years from the pristine skies of the
observatory site on La Palma and continues to visit the island
regularly.
Recently, he has been focusing mainly on visual astronomy from
his observatory at home and on developing the Dark Skies
Matter initiative that he founded in 2019 with the support of
local organisations sharing an interest in landscape beauty, the
environment and biodiversity.
Jerry Stone
Publicity and Meetings Organiser
Jerry Stone is a Fellow of the British Interplanetary Society (FBIS),
is a Freelance Space Presenter, and runs Spaceflight UK
He is a space expert, presenter and broadcaster! He has given
presentations on astronomy and space exploration for over 50
years, all over the UK and abroad. He is often interviewed on
radio and TV. He was on Sky News covering Tim Peake’s mission
on the International Space Station, and was on both Sky and BBC
News when Neil Armstrong died. He is an acknowledged expert
particularly on the Apollo missions.
He has spoken about space at the British Science Festival, the
Edinburgh Festival, the Palace of Westminster, the Royal
Institution, the World Science Fiction Convention ... and a rock
festival! He now gives presentations online.
He is a space author. His book, "One Small Step" commemorating
the Moon landings - on sale at the National Space Centre, Jodrell
Bank and Kennedy Space Centre - was described by Sir Patrick
Moore as "Marvellous!". His latest book is “Find Out - Space
Travel”. Both are described as "suitable for 8-year-olds of
all ages"!
Should anyone reading this like to buy signed copies of Jerry’s
books, please write to jerry.stone2001@gmail.com. This is
because if people buy them on amazon or elsewhere, he doesn’t
receive a penny!
He is an interplanetary poet! NASA's Mars probe, MAVEN, is in
orbit around the Red Planet. Like various other spacecraft, it has
Jerry's name on it, stored on a DVD, which also includes a poem
he wrote! No other space presenter in the UK can make this
claim.
He has a space-related Blue Peter badge! A few years ago at the
UK Space Conference he showed Zoe Salmon and the Blue Peter
team how rockets work.
Welcome to the FAS Council
Federation of Astronomical Societies — Newsletter No 120 — December 2020
Page 5
Cornwall Astronomy Society
Celebrates Twenty Five Years
Robert Beeman (Publicity Officer)
Cornwall Astronomy Society celebrates its 25th birthday in
December 2020 being founded in 1995 by an enthusiastic group
who held meetings in Ship Inn Porthleven.
Over the years as numbers grew, close to 50 for a number of
years, the Society met twice a month at the Godolphin Club
Helston. Currently (Covid 19 permitting) we hold the first
meeting of the month at Degibna Chapel Helston which has an
adjacent National Trust carpark which gives the opportunity for
telescopes to be set up given suitable weather. The second
meeting of the month being held at the WI Hall in Mabe which is
better suited for talks.
The Society has always focused on outreach events at schools,
local shows, village events and on numerous occasions has
provided speakers to groups such as the WI and U3A. In the
current situation all this is on hold but hopefully we shall get back
in due course to doing what we like best in promoting Astronomy
to others as a hobby and science.
Thanks to the efforts of several members we have been able to
host our meetings on Zoom since March this year. Meeting
attendances of 18 or so are often achieved, compromised on
occasions by slightly flaky internet connections due to rurality.
Being almost as far south west as one can get we have always
relied on the membership to make a major contribution to the
programme and we have not been disappointed in having had a
number of very interesting short talks on diverse topics in
addition to our “routine events”, debate evening, quiz night,
members 2 minute talks and a virtual Perseid BBQ (it was
cloudy!!) We were able to live image the remnants of Comet
C/2019Y4 (ATLAS) using members telescopes at Porthleven and
St Ives in a Zoom meeting. We were also lucky enough to secure
a brilliant talk from Professor Nathan Mayne of Exeter University.
And from Fred Deakin (Secretary)
For me, the biggest, and most shocking story of twenty-twenty
came on 23rd March when Boris Johnson came on the television
to put the country into lockdown because of the rising spread of
the Novel Coronavirus. I’d known about virus, and had followed it
from early January, when it was still confined to China; and even
then I’d predicted it would be a pandemic in more countries.
What I didn’t wholly expect was that it was to affect me
personally, or the small group of astronomers that twice a month
would meet up for nights of stargazing, presentations and
discussions.
My name is Fred Deakin, and I am the Secretary of the Cornwall
Astronomy Society and, this is a how the group of passionate
stargazers changed direction in how we did our meetings, and
with it, how we added a new level to them. A couple of weeks
before the official lockdown, we had decided to postpone our
meetings. A lot of our members are elderly or frail, and the rest
had family members who were the same, and so we didn’t want
to take any chances. I decided when we stopped the meetings to
do everything I could to somehow keep the society going.
I did a few days research, and tried to find options to do virtual
meetings. I am very computer literate, but had never heard of
the software known as Zoom. After reading about it, it became
the platform I pinned my hopes on. I joined the subscription
before spending my first couple of days of lockdown solely
testing the software, and seeing what I could do with it. I
contacted a few society members and got them to join with me
for testing what others could see. I purchased on eBay a couple
of green-screens, not believing they would arrive before our first
scheduled Zoom meeting on 26th March 2020.
I am a keen astrophotographer, and over the years have built my
imaging equipment up to be a mobile setup, but with complete
autoimaging capabilities. This is useful as I work full time (under
normal conditions), and with Cornwall being about the worst
place in England for clouds, wind and rain, when there is a clear
night I can set things up, write a script of what I want the
telescope to capture, and still get a fairly good night’s sleep.
On the day of the 26th March, rarely, the forecast was for clear
skies. I videoed myself as I set up my Takahashi FS-78 (Scopey
McScope Face), and connected it up by ethernet to the computer
I was going to use for the evening’s meeting. I also have an
account with iTelescope, the remote telescope company that I
have used before for imaging things in the Southern Hemisphere,
so I made sure that was up on the computer; already logged in.
Stellarium was loaded up, and then finally the Zoom app itself. I
had no idea how it was going to go, but hoped somehow that I
could find an hour or so of stuff to show to whoever joined me
for the evening.
A couple of hours before the meeting started, and the greenscreens
arrived, so there was a frantic time putting them up and
sorting out some backgrounds. I had a phone call from Kevin, a
society member who has an observatory. He said that he would
put his telescope online so we could do some live viewing
together – this did help the butterflies that were brewing in my
stomach. I knew that this could be either a game-changer or
could flop massively; and I had no idea which way it would go.
I am not a confident public speaker. If you want to hear someone
who is sweating inside and verbally stuttering and overusing lots
of ‘Umms’, then I’m your man. I have done many talks to the
members before, but not one has been without the sense of
dread until they were over. The idea of sitting in front of a
computer with five or ten faces in front of me, expecting me to
inform and entertain them on the subject at hand almost
stopped me a couple of times, but I swallowed my insecurities.
Member Society Reports
Federation of Astronomical Societies — Newsletter No 120 — December 2020
Page 6
The sky outside started to go dark when I initiated the meeting.
An email had gone out to our twenty-seven current members,
and I had my fingers crossed a few of them would join me.
There was a beep, and Kevin came online. He had used Zoom for
his work before, and said he would help and guide me if I needed
it. Then another beep, and our Webmaster, Greg came online.
Another beep, and then another came in, then another beep.
Soon there were seventeen faces in front of me, all waiting
expectantly, so I started. I talked about the current situation and
how strange it was, and then I shared with the group some of my
screens to make sure they could all see what I had put up… then
we got started properly.
The meeting was a resounding success. I must have talked for
England as I took people on a tour using my scope of the night
sky. Between me showing everyone some things, Kevin would
take over and show everyone what was being seen through his
scope. There was a supernova in M61, so we took some images
of that, and Comet C/2019 Y4 Atlas was in the sky, so we tracked
on that for a bit, as well as a load of other targets. People joined
in and asked questions or suggested new targets to look at. I
showed off the video of when I set up the telescope and there
was discussion on that. Before I knew it, well over three-hours of
constant engagement had passed, and everyone was still there
enjoying every one of those passed minutes.
After long goodbyes and the promises that we would be doing it
again and again, the meeting was closed and the recording of it
saved. I felt quite proud of myself. I was actually so piped up
after the meeting that I didn’t sleep that night, and instead
carried on making the most of the crystal-clear sky. We had
proved a new method to our meetings, and had realised that
even in dire situations, such as we were in, that we could still
meet up, enjoy together our hobby and passion, as well as bring
some kind of strange normality in a time where normal had taken
a break.
Now, Zoom has become a part of the worldwide vocabulary, and
it is accepted as one of the best ways for groups to keep in touch.
I am glad I picked the right platform. At the time of writing this,
the Novel Coronavirus is still ravaging its way around the World.
Normal still doesn’t exist, or not the way we used to know it.
The Cornwall Astronomy Society still meet up twice a month, on
the same day and time that we would have previously when we
were all able to meet and have a coffee and biscuit in person. We
have more members, and often there are new faces. We have
done some more live viewing, we have had talks from all our
members during those meetings, we’ve had a debate evening, a
hero’s evening, a talk from a University Professor, and much,
much more. I am still hosting it; and I’m still feeling quite proud.
If you want to see for yourself some of what we have been up to,
then have a look at a brief video I made: youtu.be/EQSu0URkS8
www.cornwallas.org.uk
Southport
Astronomical Society
1) Due to the pandemic we’ve suspended ‘live’ monthly
meetings, and are hosting two Zoom meetings each month
instead. These Zoom meetings include members of the
Astronomical Society of Botswana (ASB) that our President,
Professor Michael Bode, helped establish in Gaborone. The aims
of the ASB are to encourage the people of Botswana to look at
the night sky, wonder at their place in the universe, encourage
educational learning, and help develop amateur astronomical
societies throughout the country.
2) Sefton MBC who owns the Hesketh Park Victorian observatory
that Southport AS manages on their behalf, instructed us not to
open it to the public or use it for Society events, again because of
the pandemic.
3) For these reasons Southport AS's management committee
decided to suspend subs, normally due in September for the
20/21 year, and agreed the society would fund the cost of Zoom
meetings.
4) Several local visitors to our website have been contacting us to
ask if they could join the society, so based on this understanding
we add them to our membership email list, and include them in
Zoom notifications. These prospective new members plus
existing honorary & paid-up members from last year, means our
total membership is at a record 61, the highest since 1986 when
the current society reformed, the same year Halley's comet was
visible.
Rick Tyers
Southport Astronomical Society
Guildford
Astronomical Society
In March we suspended our monthly lectures, outreach activity
and the use of our observatory. Since then we have offered live
e-training in PixInsight and in navigating the night sky,
commenced a society newsletter and in October provided live
Zoom talks for Virtual World Space Week (organised by the IoP
South Central Branch).
We are now holding our monthly meetings successfully via Zoom
and offer recordings on a private YouTube channel for members
who are unable to participate in the live meeting.
Unsurprisingly, experience to date is that invited lecturers are
less reluctant to demur as the need to travel is no longer a
barrier and the time commitment is short and that the talks
seem more personal and engaging (“lean forward”) than if held
in a University lecture theatre.
Nick Tanton
President Guildford Astronomical Society
Bridgend
Astronomical Society
Like lots of other societies, Bridgend Astro have been extremely
busy during what’s been a difficult year for everyone. Lockdown
has given our society the opportunity to grow and flourish in a
way that has, until now, has been a time challenging
exercise. With everyone turning to technology, our society
Facebook page has grown by nearly 500%. Our society
Federation of Astronomical Societies — Newsletter No 120 — December 2020
Page 7
membership numbers are now reaching 90 and growing. All this
activity during a season where we cannot actually get together in
ways we normally would! It’s been rather heart warming to see
like minded individuals including juniors, beginners and amateurs
come together, learn and support their local society like never
before!
The committee team have been working tirelessly to plan and
bring ‘Zooming’ sessions to the forefront with speakers and quiz
nights. The few socially distant observation events have seen
members enjoy the Perseids, the planets, deep sky treasures and
the unforgettable Comet NEOWISE. When the pandemic
subsides, Bridgend Astro have many moremember events lined
up. An exciting Rocket Science day, telescope workshops and
star parties to name a few.
But it’s been our educational courses that have really truly
engaged our members! Due to demand, we are currently running
our second eight week ‘Astronomy for Beginners’ course via
Zoom! An excellent opportunity has been opened up for
distance learning that we will be expanding upon in 2021 with
another course entitled ‘Observing the Skies’ that we are sure
will be just as popular!
The Sky is certainly not the limit at Bridgend Astronomical
Society! Check out our Facebook, Instagram and Twitter feeds as
well as our website here.....
www.bridgendastro.org.uk
Mansfield and Sutton
Astronomical Society
Mansfield and Sutton Astronomical Society were going great
guns up until March, in as much we were heading for the second
-best outreach figures since our records began.
Since closing the observatory we have moved online with at first
google meet and lately Zoom.
Accompanying this our monthly guest speakers have been
regular ”visitors” alongside our weekly Wednesday night
members meeting, with quizzes (we're looking forward to our
online Obs Christmas bake-off as the warm-up act before the
Christmas quiz) members talks and general meetings.
We quickly set up our online meetings as well as a new members
forum, allowing a safe and casual platform which has proved
useful and popular.
During the summer we set about making the observatory as
Covid as safe as possible. We managed to conduct a safe Solar
viewing event for members.
Viewing was done with a camera on our Solar scope, and talks
were socially distanced outside, so minimising any risk of virus
transmission.
We intended to conduct blended meetings. This is where a safe
number of members can attend the Obs and a talk was given and
live-streamed to the rest of our members ( the rise of infections
and the subsequent 2nd lockdown put this on hold )
NEOWISE and Mars have been a welcomed distraction and the
latter is also our topic for our contribution to National Astronomy
week on the 21st of November.
We are encouraging members to live stream viewings from their
scopes and again this is proving popular.
When we can get back to real normal we will keep certain things
that have proven benefits for our society and it's members, like
for example cameras on scopes and blended meetings.
The bake-off is fun and light-hearted as it's a feature of our public
open events, but the competition is keen. Please see the below
image from our youngest member Freya.
An FAS Webinar on ‘Outreach after Covid’ –
Saturday, 9th January 2021
Following the discussions at the FAS AGM on returning to doing
safe outreach within the constraints of government rules and
guidelines, the FAS Council have decided to organise a webinarstyle
conference for the afternoon of Saturday,
9th January 2021 discussing how we can manage that return
once the Covid-19 threat abates following mass vaccination.
The Zoom webinar will be free and open to all member
societies and their members as well as school and college
teachers, university outreach staff and other outreach
organisers. Registration will be via Eventbrite and will also be
live-streamed on YouTube. The programme will consist of a
half-dozen invited short papers with opportunities for
questions and discussion. We’ll let you know when the
registration process is open and the programme and timing for
the day soon.
Federation of Astronomical Societies — Newsletter No 120 — December 2020
Page 8
May 2020 marks World Museum’s planetarium’s
50th anniversary, it is the longest surviving
planetarium in a British museum and this is the
story so far... In 1941 the Liverpool Museum, as it
was known then, suffered a direct hit from a bomb
during the Liverpool Blitz. It was reopened in 1956
and was to see huge redevelopment. A lot of that
work happened in the late 1960s. The director at
that time, Tom Hume, had the vision of creating a
modern museum that would embrace science and
technology. The 1960’s was a decade of change
and of belief in a new and better future, forged, as
the Prime Minister Harold Wilson phrased it, ‘in
the white heat of technology’. Hume set up a new
Astronomy Department early in 1969, establishing
a new time and space gallery and installing the
planetarium.
The driving force behind the planetarium and
space gallery came from Dr Patrick V. Sudbury, a
scientist who had previously worked with NASA
surveying possible landing sites for the Apollo
missions using the telescope at the Pic Du Midi
observatory in the Pyrenees. With his knowledge
of telescopes and astronomy, he became the first
head of the Astronomy Department and manager
of the planetarium. He used the telescope at the
Pic Du Midi observatory in the Pyrenees to do this
and earned his PhD for his efforts. He also served
as President of Liverpool Astronomical Society
between 1970 – 72.
Sudbury began the astronomy and science
collections, particularly rocketry and telescopes,
and created the new Space gallery next to the
Planetarium. He was also responsible for the
oceanography, modern physics, photography,
scientific instruments and medicine collections,
some of which are nationally significant.
The restored museum was launched in January
1970 with a display of moon rock brought back by
the Apollo 11 crew. There were queues stretching
hundreds of yards outside the museum and more
than 32,000 people visited during the three-day
showing.
The planetarium opened a few months later on
Friday the 22nd May 1970. It was only the second
planetarium to be built in a museum – the first,
the London Planetarium, was built in Madame
Tussauds in Baker Street in 1958, but was closed in
2006 but a new one was established Greenwich a
few years later.
The new Planetarium featured sixty-seven seats
and initially there were two shows each afternoon,
except on Monday’s which were kept for
maintenance of the equipment. As with all new
equipment there were some initial difficulties with
the £5,000 (about £85,500 in today’s money) Zeiss
projector.
There was a suite of 150 projectors using almost
50 different motors for images of planets, galaxies
and other extras that were not built into the main
projector. Each week four to five projector lamps
had to be replaced along with bulbs around the
dome. When new shows were introduced, new
projectors had to be filled with slides, checked and
installed; the planet projectors had to be moved to
keep them correctly positioned in the sky.
A little after opening the Liverpool skyline was
added to the base of the dome. Even though the
shows were mainly pre-recorded, everything had
to be done manually: bringing up images, moving
the sky and pointing out items. The audio was
played on a two track reel tape recorder and the
audio to the public was fed through speakers
whilst the operator wore headphones with the
track of the show playing in one ear and the
prompts of what to do and when playing in the
other! The newly installed console the operator’s
had to used, took some learning and patience to
work out which knob and switch did what.
Liverpool A.S. became a recruiting agent for many
of the operators, and in return was used as a
recruitment tool for society members.
The Space and Time Gallery followed, opening on
the 9th September 1993. Leading towards the
Planetarium on Level 5, the cost for the renovation
was £375,000 and was a new home for the
collection of rockets and telescopes. The opening
ceremony was overseen by Dr Stephen Hawking
via video telephone link. At the time, Dr Hawking
was the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at
Cambridge University, a position once held by Sir
Isaac Newton. This renovation made the gallery an
exciting and fascinating prelude to the
planetarium. New comfortable padded seating
was installed in the planetarium for visitors to sit
back and enjoy the shows.
The first big improvement to the planetarium
equipment since its opening was in 2012 when
Zeiss (who made the original projector – the ‘Star
Ball’) donated two digital projectors. The new
projectors allowed us to present higher quality
and more immersive shows without the need for
filters, slides and weekly calibration.
Unfortunately, because of the way the projectors
work we had to remove the skyline from around
Liverpool’s Very Own Planetarium: 1970 - 2020
By Patrick Kiernan - National Museums Liverpool
Submitted by Gerard Gilligan (Chairman: The Society for the History of Astronomy)
50 Years of Star Gazing – With the Roof On!
Images above:
First
Saturn looms large on
the dome of the
planetarium above the
Zeiss projectors
Second
Dr Patrick Victor
Sudbury (1941 – 2007)
Third
The Space and Time
Gallery
Federation of Astronomical Societies — Newsletter No 120 — December 2020
Page 9
On opening the entrance
fee was 2 shillings (or £1.41
today), after decimalisation
that price became 15p (or
about £2.50 today).
Above left - Members of The Society for the History of Astronomy visit the Liverpool Planetarium during their annual summer picnic event
and visit to Liverpool, July 2017. © SHA James Dawson. Above right—ESA/UK Astronaut Tim Peake event in 2016.
All Images with thanks © World Museum Liverpool, The Liverpool Echo, ™Google Images
This picture shows the dome
we still use being built, and
by 1970 Phase two of the
museum’s development was
complete
Federation of Astronomical Societies — Newsletter No 120 — December 2020
Page 10
the base of the dome. The feature is greatly missed by our visitors
to this day, many of whom remember seeing it when visiting the
Planetarium as children.
Over the years our programme has changed; the first school shows
began in 1979 nine years after opening and continue to this day.
Since 1979, we have welcomed around half a million school
children! Over the years we increased the number of shows from
two a day to our current full schedule of eight shows a day at
weekends and holidays, with five public shows a day and three
school shows a day during school term.
One of the highlights of the last few years took place in February
2016 when we had a live link-up with the International Space
Station to talk with British astronaut Tim Peake. Schools from
around the country attended the museum for the event and others
watched it live online. Pupils were able to ask him questions which
he then answered whilst whizzing over the Earth at 27.000 Km an
hour!
The planetarium remains a very popular and entertaining attraction
with over 2 million visitors and counting! It is a unique venue and
something of which the people of Liverpool and the region are
rightly proud. The future for the planetarium is exciting: when we
re-open why not pop in and say ‘Hi’. Let’s talk space and become
part of the next 50 years of our journey through the cosmos.
Planetarium Fast Facts
• Opened 22nd May 1970, entrance fee 2 shillings (£1.41 at today’s prices).
• 1972 after decimalisation entrance fee 15p (£2.50 at today’s prices).
• Today’s entrance fee is great value and similar to 1972; £3.00 for adults, £2.50 for concessions!
• From two shows a day we now show up to eight a day!
• 1 Millionth visitor arrived in June 2002.
• Half a million school children have visited the planetarium for unforgettable school trips.
• There have been 2.18 million public visitors
• Space & Time Gallery opened 1993
• New projectors installed in 2012
• A live link to the International Space Station in 2016.
Text and several of the images with thanks to Patrick Kiernan, Education Demonstrator. Learning & Participation Department,
National Museums Liverpool, plus SHA member and appreciation also to Phil Phillips, New Media Development Manager Systems
Department. National Museums Liverpool.
Starlink Orbits
Do you want to monitor the orbital paths of the Starlink
megaconstellation of satellites? The satellite tracking website
Heavens Above has a great animated graphic which you can
have centred on your observing location. The site also produces
a table of sightings like those it produces for the ISS.
Heavens Above: www.heavens-above.com
Federation of Astronomical Societies — Newsletter No 120 — December 2020
Page 11
RAS GCSE Astronomy Student 2020
Online Poster Competition!
The Royal Astronomical Society online GCSE Astronomy
poster competition is now on!
Did you study for GCSE Astronomy with a view to taking the exam in the summer of 2020? If so, you
are eligible to enter our RAS GCSE Astronomy online poster competition. The RAS invites you to
present an astronomy or geophysics topic of your choice as an academic style poster with book token
prizes of 1st = £100, 2nd = £50, 3rd = £25.
All entries will be displayed on our website, and judges from the Royal Astronomical Society Education
and Outreach committee will pick three winners!
Eligibility:
1. You must have studied for GCSE Astronomy.
2. You must have been due to take the exam in the summer of 2020.
Criteria:
• Your poster must cover an astronomy or geophysics topic.
• The poster must be: ∙ Portrait or landscape ∙ Electronic ∙ Created in PowerPoint or similar
• You must include your name, your school address (if applicable) and your GCSE Astronomy
teacher's details (name and email address) in your entry. This is so we can check that you are
eligible to enter the competition.
• A document containing full entry criteria details can be downloaded from ras.ac.uk/
education-and-careers/ras-gcse-astronomy-student-2020-online-poster-competitionlaunched
Deadline: