Monthly Speaker Schedule Archive
2023
| Date | Event Description | Speaker |
| 12/01/2023 | A guide to the nearest stars | Prof Colin Steele
Manchester University |
| 02/02/2023 | New JWST science | Dr Henrik Melin
Leicester University (STFC James Webb Fellow) |
| 02/03/2023 | Adventures in the Goldilocks Zone: the search for other Earths | Professor Frazer Pearce
University of Nottingham |
| 30/03/2023* | How Stars affect planets, from Mars to Exoplanets, and into the Future
*April meeting held a week earlier due to school holidays* |
Dr Simon Joyce University of Leicester |
| 04/05/2023 | Cosmic Rays | James Miller |
| 08/06/2023 | Confessions of an X-ray pyromaniac | Dr Phil Evans University of Leicester |
| 06/07/2023 | Space Debris and astronomy | Prof Don Pollacco University of Warwick |
| 05/08/2023 | NAS BBQ | Annual Barbecue at the Observatory (Members and their guests only) NAS Observatory |
| 07/09/2023 | Dr Adrian Martindale BepiColombo: X-ray eyes on Mercury |
University of Leicester
|
| 05/10/2023 | Dr. Richard J. Goodrich Fear and Loathing in the Heavens: The 1910 Return of Halley’s Comet |
|
| 02/11/2023 | Dr Emma Chapman Stars and Sensationalism: Searching for the First Stars in the James Webb Space Telescope Era |
University of Nottingham
|
| 07/12/2023 | Peter Jenkins Astrophotography Past and Present |
|
2022
| Date | Event Description | Speaker |
| 06/01/2022 | Annual General Meeting |
***Please note this meeting
will be held on zoom *** |
| 03/02/2022 | Astronomy…. without light? The new field of multi-messenger astronomy |
*** Meeting on YouTube ***
Dr Phil Evans |
| 10/03/2022**
*2nd Thursday* |
Exoplanets | *Meeting to be held at Emmanuel School**
Prof Don Pollacco |
| 07/04/2022 | Our Island Universe: the Milky Way, its place in time and space |
**Meeting to be held at Emmanuel School**
Prof Ian Morison |
| 05/05/2022 | Supernovae | Dr Matt Nicholl University of Birmingham |
| 09/06/2022
2nd Thursday |
Imaging from light polluted sites | Peter Jenkins FRAS |
| 07/07/2022 | Mars | Dr Richard McKim FRAS |
| 06/08/2022
Saturday 5pm |
Annual Barbecue at the Observatory (Members and their guests only) |
NAS Observatory |
| 01/09/2022 | “The End of Everything”
How the universe is going to end |
Dr Steve Barratt |
| 06/10/2022 | The Cosmic Web | Prof Alfonso Aragón-Salamanca
University of Nottingham |
| 03/11/2022 | Galaxies to Atoms | Dr Susan Cartwright
Sheffield University |
| 01/12/2022 | Crazy Interstellar Rockets | Julian Onions |
2021
| Date | Event Description | Speaker |
| 07/01/2021 | Annual General Meeting for 2019-2020 |
Zoom |
| 04/02/2021 | The World According to Physics | Prof Jim Al-Khalili
University of Surrey |
| 04/03/2021 | Exploring Mars Planning the next missions |
Dr Steve Banham Imperial College, London |
| 01/04/2021 | Astronomical Adventures in Tenerife | Dave Eagle |
| 06/05/2021 | Extremophiles Why there must be life elsewhere in the Universe |
Dr Martin Braddock
Sherwood Observatory at Mansfield and Sutton Astronomical Society |
| 03/06/2021 | Harbingers of Doom? Comets |
Professor Ian Morison
University of Manchester Emeritus Gresham Professor of Astronomy |
| 01/07/2021 | The JUICE Mission Exploring Jupiter’s icy moons |
Dr Chris Arridge
University of Lancaster |
| 07/08/2021
(Saturday) |
Annual Barbecue at the Observatory (Members and their guests only) |
NAS Observatory
|
| 02/09/2021 | The Vikings at Barsoom
Part 2: The Search for Life |
Paul Money
This meeting will now be held on zoom – members will be sent login details |
| 07/10/2021 | Fiat Lux 3 The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope |
Dr Steve Barrett
University of Liverpool This meeting will be held at Gotham Memorial Hall at 8pm |
| 04/11/2021 |
Weighing Galaxies
(by bending light)
|
Dr Simon Dye
University of Nottingham *** Please note this meeting will be held at the Nottingham Emmanuel school Gresham Park Road West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, NG2 7YF Meeting will start at the usual time of 8pm, with refreshments served from 7:30pm onwards ***** |
| 02/12/2021 | Herschel to Hawkwind
Astronomy and Music |
Pete Williamson |
2020
| Date | Event Description | Speaker |
| 02/01/2020 | New Year Quiz
with Buffet, Wine & soft drinks |
|
| 06/02/2020 | APOLLO 13 – Ingenuity & Survival
13 factors that saved 3 brave astronauts |
Dr Nigel Bannister
Senior Lecturer, University of Leicester |
| 05/03/2020 | Meeting Cancelled
There will be no Gotham meeting in March |
|
| 02/04/2020 | Galaxies: One Gigayear at a time |
Dr Jeremy Shears
British Astronomical Association
Variable Star Section Director
Online Meeting
|
| 04/06/2020 | Wonders of the Southern Skies | Dr Richard McKim
British Astronomical Association
Mars Star Section Director
|
| 06/08/2020 | Online Meeting
The centenary of the Great Debate How Harlow Shapley and Heber Curtis argued the size of the Universe | Dr Steve Barrett
Senior Research Fellow, University of Liverpool |
| 05/11/2020 |
Online
2020 NAS Prestigious Lecture
High Resolution Astrophotography
Damian Peach
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mcq4ams4N4g
|
Damian Peach |
| 03/12/2020 | The Vikings at Barsoom Pt1: Orbital Operations
(On zoom only) |
Paul Money |
2019
| Date | Event Description | Speaker |
| 03/01/2019 | Open Evening – including a New Year quiz | |
| 07/02/2019 |
Diamonds in the Sky
White Dwarfs in Modern Astrophysics
|
Prof Martin Barstow
University of Leicester
|
| 07/03/2019 |
Beyond Pluto
New Horizons in the Kuiper Belt
|
Paul Money |
| 04/04/2019 | Gaia’s Galactic Survey |
Dr Nicholas Walton
University of Cambridge
|
| 02/05/2019 |
It’s About Time
Time’s Arrow and Time Travel
|
Prof Ian Morison
University of Manchester
|
| 06/06/2019 |
From Tycho to Newton
Foundations of modern astronomy
|
Dr Allan Chapman
FRAS
|
| 04/07/2019 |
Metal Detecting
What are metals to astronomers?
|
Dr Julian Onions
University of Nottingham
|
| 05/09/2019 |
Where Are the Aliens?
Might we be alone?
|
Prof Brad Gibson
University of Hull
|
| 03/10/2019 |
The 200 at 70
The Hale Telescope
|
Dr Steve Barrett
University of Liverpool
|
| 07/11/2019 |
Annual General Meeting
with a Wine and Cheese Social
|
|
| 05/12/2019 |
2019 NAS Prestigious Lecture
Voyages to the Sun
Probing our nearest star
|
Prof Lucie Green
University College London
|
2018…
| Date | Event Description | Speaker |
| 04/01/2018 | Open Evening – including a New Year quiz | |
| 01/02/2018 | Triumphs of Voyager – Part 2 – Where no probe has gone before | Paul Money |
| 01/03/2018 | Dark Future? Can the UK’s dark spaces survive? | Bob Mizon |
| 05/04/2018 | Jodrell Bank 60 years on | Prof Ian Morison |
| 03/05/2018 | Lucky Planet – why Earth is exceptional and what it means for life | Prof David Waltham |
| 07/06/2018 | Diamonds in the sky – White Dwarfs in modern astrophysics | Prof Martin Barstow |
| 05/07/2018 | Cassini’s final science | Dr Phil Sutton |
| 06/09/2018 | The adventures of Curiosity on Mars | Prof Sanjeev Gupta |
| 04/10/2018 | Juno – the answers | Prof Emma Bunce |
| 01/11/2018 | Annual General Meeting | |
| 06/12/2018 | 2018 NAS Prestigious Lecture
Transient events in astronomy – or things that go bump in the night |
Prof Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell |
2017…
| Date | Event Description | Speaker |
| 05/01/2017 | Open Evening – including a New Year quiz | |
| 02/02/2017 | Passage Graves – 6,000 year old telescopes without lenses | Dr Dan Brown |
| 02/03/2017 | Finding Exoplanets with small telescopes | Dr Peter Wheatley |
| 06/04/2017 | The Art of Astrophotography | Prof Ian Morrison |
| 04/05/2017 | 2017 NAS Prestigious Lecture
JUNO – Exploring the Mysteries of Jupiter |
Prof Emma Bunce |
| 01/06/2017 | Charles Messier | Dr Allan Chapman |
| 06/07/2017 | Gravitational Waves – A new tool for the study of the Universe | Dr Ed Daw |
| 07/09/2017 | Galaxy Evolution with the Hubble Space Telescope | Prof Clive Tadhunter |
| 05/10/2017 | Space Stations: From Salyut to the International Space Station | Dr Mike Leggett |
| 02/11/2017 | Annual General Meeting | |
| 07/12/2017 | Triumphs of Voyager Part 1 – Journey to Jupiter and the Splendours of Saturn | Paul Money |
2016…
| Date | Event Description | Speaker |
| 07/01/2016 | Open Evening – including a New Year quiz | |
| 04/02/2016 | The Formation of the Solar System | Dr Richard Alexandra |
| 03/03/2016 | ROSETTA – Anatomy of a Comet | Dr Colin Snodgrass |
| 07/04/2016 | Is there anyone out there? – The search for extra terrestrial intelligence in the new Millennium | Prof Ian Morrison |
| 05/05/2016 | Gamma Ray Bursts | Prof Nial Tanvir |
| 02/06/2016 | GAIA – A billion pixel survey of a billion stars | Dr Elme Breedt |
| 07/07/2016 | 2016 NAS Prestigious Lecture
The Antikythera Mechanism – An ancient astronomical computer |
Prof Mike Edmunds |
| 01/09/2016 | Images of the Universe -2 | Paul Money |
| 06/10/2016 | Open Evening – including a telescope surgery | |
| 03/11/2016 | Annual General Meeing | |
| 01/12/2016 | Galactic Monsters – Seyfert Galaxies, Radio Galaxies and Quasars | Dr Marek Kukula |
2015…
| Date | Event Description | Speaker |
| 03/12/2015 | “New Horizons: Pluto and the Kuiper Belt Objects” | Dr Chris Arridge |
| 05/11/2015 | 2015 Annual General Meeting | |
| 01/10/2015 | 2015 NAS Prestigious Lecture
How our Galaxy came to be |
Dr Chris Lintott |
| 03/09/2015 | Telescope Workshop | |
| 02/07/2015 | Cold Dark Matter – is it Cold? – is it Dark? – and is it Matter? | Julian Onions |
| 04/06/2015 | The Microwave Universe | Dr Clive Dickinson |
| 07/05/2015 | Proving Einstein Right | Prof Ian Morison |
| 02/04/2015 | Images of the Universe | Paul Money |
| 05/03/2015 | Curosity and Co – The latest from Mars | Dr John Bridges |
| 05/02/2015 | Open Evening. Talks by members, plus a telescope surgery. | John Hurst |
| 08/01/2015 | It’s time for Astronomy! | Dr Roy Gretton |
2014…
| 04/12/2014 | Into the Cosmic Ocean – the Dream of Travel to the Stars | Andrew Lound |
| 06/11/2014 | 2014 Annual General Meeting | |
| 02/10/2014 | 2014 NAS Prestigious Lecture
At the Edge – studying the Sun from the outer limits of the Solar System |
Dr Lucie Green |
| 04/09/2014 | Members’ Evening – Visitors Welcome – Update on Observatory Project, followed by Astronomy Quiz for all | |
| 03/08/2014 | Summer Break – No Meeting | |
| 03/07/2014 | Phoenix from the Ashes – the Origin of the Chemical Elements | Prof Mike Edmunds |
| 05/06/2014 | Practical Radio Astronomy for Amateurs | Paul Hyde |
| 01/05/2014 | White Dwarf Stars | Dr Sarah Casewell |
| 03/04/2014 | Basic Astrophotography | Paul Money |
| 06/03/2014 | Stardust, Meteorites and the Early Solar System | |
| 06/02/2014 | Members’ Evening – Telescopes and Astrophotography – A Practical Evening | John Hurst |
| 02/01/2014 | Rambling through the Winter Skies | Paul Money |
2013…
| Date | Event Description | Speaker |
| 05/12/2013 | Galaxies – A Brief History | Julian Onions |
| 07/11/2013 | 2013 Annual General Meeting | |
| 03/10/2013 | 2013 NAS Prestigious Lecture
Astrophotography – and How It’s Done |
Nik Szymanek |
| 05/09/2013 | Members’ Evening (visitors welcome) the Observatory Project report. | One of our members |
| 01/08/2013 | Summer Break – No Meeting | |
| 04/07/2013 | Matter Between the Stars – the Physics and Chemistry of the Interstellar Medium | Dr Paul Ruffle |
| 06/06/2013 | Exploring Jupiter’s Icy Moons – the next ESA Mission to Jupiter | Dr Emma Bunce |
| 02/05/2013 | Life, the Universe and Everything | Dr Frazer Pearce |
| 04/04/2013 | 20th Century Telescopes and Technology | Dr Ken Elliott |
| 07/03/2013 | The latest from the new Mars Rover Curiosity | Dr John Bridges |
| 07/02/2013 | Members’ Evening (with an Astro Quiz Night) | John Hurst |
| 03/01/2013 | Naked Eye and Binocular Astronomy | Paul Money |
2012 and 2011…
| Date | Event Description | Speaker |
| 06/12/2012 | Climate Change and the Sun-Earth Connection | Dr Jim Wild |
| 01/11/2012 | 2012 Annual General Meeting | |
| 04/10/2012 | The Centre of our Galaxy – Black Holes, Rare Stars and Cosmic Mayhem | Prof. Michael Merrifield |
| 06/09/2012 | All about Telescopes – a Practical Evening | Members’ Evening |
| August 2012 | Summer Break – no meeting | |
| 05/07/2012 | Exodus – The Death of Stars | Paul Money |
| 07/06/2012 | Magnetism in Astronomy | David Conner |
| 03/05/2012 | Near Earth Objects: What are they and why do we care? | Josh Barker |
| 05/04/2012 | A Starry Night to Remember – Astronomy and the Titanic | Andrew Lound |
| 01/03/2012 | Parallel Universes | Dr Antonio Padilla |
| 02/02/2012 | Members’ Evening (Visitors welcome) | Open Forum and an Astro Quiz |
| 05/01/2012 | Nocturnal Landscapes and Skyscapes (The Quest for Dark Skies) | Dr Daniel Brown |
| 01/12/2011 | Fire from the Sky – the Tunguska Incident | Andrew Lound |
| 03/11/2011 | 2011 Annual General Meeting |