It is spring already with the vernal equinox on 2025 20th Thursday and to astronomers that heralds the galaxy season. At this time of year we wave goodbye to the planets as they progressively set in the twilight. The “realm of the galaxies” is of course in the constellation of Virgo. To mark this, on Monday 24th March, Andrew Lohfink will give a talk on “Galaxies, their discovery, classification and observation.” The meeting starts at 7:30pm in the Hen and Chickens, Flannel street, Abergavenny. All are welcome whether a member or not.
Next meeting of the Abergavenny Astronomy Society, Monday 24th February
The next meeting of the Society will be in the Hen and Chickens, Abergavenny on Monday 24th February at 7:30 pm. In this meeting Nick Busby will present on the subject of “Dark Matter”.
Dark matter is one of those enigmas in astronomy; there is plenty of evidence it exists, in fact if it doesn’t exist we need to come up with a bunch of other explanations for some real observational anomalies. The trouble is nobody knows what it is, yes of course there are plenty of theories and also alternative ideas – but none have a scrap of physical evidence to support them.
In this talk we will look into why dark matter has been invoked in the first place, the evidence it exists and some of the alternatives.
A Reminder : Next Meeting 27th January
Next meeting is on Monday 27th January
The topic will be Gravitational Waves:-
A bit of history, A bit of theory, Recent Developments and The future
Usual Time & Place : 7:30pm, upstairs in the Hen & Chickens, Flannel St
Looking forward to meeting up in 2025
First Meeting of 2025 is on Monday 27th January
First Meeting of 2025 is on Monday 27th January
Usual venue, upstairs in the Hen & Chickens, Flannel St. starting at 7:30pm.
The topic for the evening is
Gravitational Waves
We will cover:-
A bit of the history of Observing,
A bit of GW History,
A bit of theory,
Recent Developments and
The future
Everyone welcome, members, strangers, indeed anyone with an interest in our Universe.
No knowledge necessary, just a curious mind. Come along with questions, theories or to just listen.
November Meeting – Pale Blue Dot
At the last meeting in November, where Andrew gave a very interesting talk on Saturn, the topic of the Pale Blue Dot was raised.
This refers to a photograph taken by Voyager 1 on the 14th February, 1990 from beyond the planet Neptune, a distance of 6 billion km (3.7 billion miles). On the photo the Earth was less than 1 pixel.
In case anyone is interested the passage that Carl Sagan wrote in 1994 to go with the picture is on YouTube (HERE). I have also put a copy on the download page (HERE)
Meetings update – December
At the last meeting the general feeling was that the next scheduled meeting (23rd) was too close to Christmas.
It was therefore decided to cancel the December meeting.
The next meeting will therefore be on the 27th January. Further details will be posted nearer the date.
So, enjoy the Christmas and New Year holiday season and hope to see everyone in 2025
Happy Christmas & a Good New Year
Nadolig Llawen – Blwyddyn Newydd Dda