Meetings

Meetings

Our meeting venue

Our meetings are held at the Hurstbourne Tarrant Community Centre.

The centre sits under dark skies (though unfortunately not always cloudless!) in an area of outstanding natural beauty.  Built in 2014/15 the centre has high quality modern facilities and good off-road parking.

Parking at the centre is separated from where we will be observing, an important safety consideration. We have wireless broadband which facilitates remote meeting and enables us to invite a wider range of speakers.  In addition, the venue gives us an excellent base from which to run our outreach activities.

About our meetings

The society meets at 7:30pm on the third Thursday of each month from September through to April at:

Hurstbourne Tarrant Community Centre, Church Street, Hurstbourne Tarrant, Nr. Andover, Hampshire, SP11 0AX. (See the map below) (what3words: https://w3w.co/approve.sunset.polices)

We offer coffee, tea and biscuits (for which we invite a small contribution at your discretion), and a friendly welcome (which is completely free!).  The centre has car parking and toilet facilities (including disabled) and is fully wheelchair accessible.

Children are very welcome but must be accompanied by an adult. Non-members and occasional visitors are also very welcome, there is a charge of £4 per visit for non-members, but the first visit is free.

Typically, our meetings have the following format:

  • An introduction from the chairman including a round up of interesting events for the coming month.
  • A talk, usually from an external speaker: we have a varied program to cater for a wide spectrum of interests.
  • A general discussion: we are a friendly and welcoming group keen to share views, tips and experiences. Whatever your interest, be it observing, astrophotography, astrophysics etc etc, there will be members on hand to chat to.
  • And, if the skies are clear, we get outside to observe the heavens – don’t worry if you don’t have a telescope to bring along, many of us don’t, there’s always telescopes to have a look through. But, if you want some pointers to using your telescope, this is a great opportunity to get some “hands on” help.

Next regular monthly meeting

Scientific Imaging: More than just pretty pictures …
by Gavin James

Thursday 24th April 2025 at 7:30 pm
At the Hurstbourne Tarrant Community Centre

For our April meeting we start with the Annual General Meeting of the Society including reports from the Chairman and Treasurer as well as election of Society Officers.

We will then be pleased to welcome our guest speaker, Gavin James.

Imagine if you could weigh Jupiter or observe the differential rotation of the Sun, all from your back garden! In this talk we will discover how to use regular astro-imaging equipment to gather real scientific data. We will look at the tools needed to process the data and we will find out how to use Excel for so much more than the monthly accounts!

Gavin James is the Director of the Blackett Observatory and teacher of Astronomy at Marlborough College. He is a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and has been looking to the skies since his childhood. He is an expert astrophotographer and in the past has been shortlisted for the International Astronomy Photographer of the Year Award. His back garden observatory is open and gathering data every time there is a clear sky!

Meeting schedule

All meetings held at Hustbourne Tarrant Community Centre

DateTitleSpeaker
21 September 2023The Planet Mercury Chris Hooker
19th October 2023From Smart Phone to Smart DomeGavin James
16th November 2023Supernovae Research Dr Or Graur
21st December 2023Christmas MeetingMember talks
18th January 2024A New Look at an Old MoonBarry FitzGerald
15th February 2024Women in Astronomy - Part 2Mary McIntyre
21st March 2024A Universe of Infinities Colin Stuart
18th April 2024An Update on the James Webb Telescope (AGM afterwards)Sophie Allan
13th June 2024Sunspots and AurorasTerry Tucker & Andy Watson
10th August 2024StarBQDetails emailed to members
19th September 2024GalaxiesDr Or Graur
25th September 2024Blackett Observatory TripGavin James
17th October 2024Live Stacking, the new Visual AstronomyLawrence Saville
7th November 2024Night Sky Photography with mobile phones and digital camerasPhil Piper et al.
21st November 2024How did we get to know the age of the Universe?Terry Tucker
19th December 2024Members' talksVarious
16th January 2025How special is the solar systemColin Stuart
20th February 2025Vera Rubin ObservatoryDave Shave Wall
20th March 2025Quasars and SpectroscopyJen Gupta
24th April 2025Scientific ImagingGavin James
18th September 2025NamibiaMark Radice
16th October 2025Astronomical OdditiesTony Roberts
20th November 2025The life and work of William HugginsHugh Allen
18th December 2025Members' talksVarious
15th January 2026Cosmology & Particle PhysicsDr Andy Watson
19th February 2026Mars: sixty years of space explorationDr Mike Leggett FRAS FBIS
19th March 2026TBATBA
16th April 2026Annual General MeetingTBA

How to find us