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.

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.

The next meeting of the Society will be on Monday 25th November in the Hen and Chickens, Abergavenny. The meeting will start as usual at 7:30pm. Everyone welcome, members, strangers, indeed anyone with an interest in astronomy of any level of knowledge. Remember the old saying “a stranger is simply a member that hasn’t joined yet” – or something like that!

Andrew Lohfink will give another of his insightful talks on solar system objects, this time it will be all about the planet Saturn.

ITVX has just posted an item on their website ITVX, you can view it on the link below. Some of us went along to the Libanus Mountain Centre to extol the virtues of the Dark Sky Reserve. Please feel free to share the link as the more publicity the DS Reserve can get the better as it helps people to understand the threats of light pollution.

https://www.itv.com/watch/news/the-fight-against-light-pollution-to-preserve-special-stargazing-spots-in-wales/sf2xjfs

The next meeting of the Society will be on Monday 23rd September at 7:30 pm in the Hen and Chickens pub in Abergavenny.

The king is back!

Mightly Jupiter is one again starting to grace our skies. In this talk Nick Busby will take a deep dive into the planet to look at its composition, structure and how it all works. We will also looks into how to get the best from observing it,

A piece of the iron meteorite Campo del Cielo, one of the world’s largest existing meteorites, from Argentina

This month we will follow-up on some requests from members and revisit the subject of meteorites. Nick Busby will explain, using a fine collection of specimens, what they are, where they come from and what they can tell us about the formation of the solar system and life itself.

The meeting will start at 7:30 pm. All welcome including non-members and complete novices.