Society for Popular Astronomy

For those in the right area, the Eddington Astronomical Society of Kendal are holding the third annual Kendal Solar System Scale Model, publicity image below: Poster The model runs on Waterside from the cafe, which will again be doing themed food (last year's "space cakes" were apparently good selle...

That's pretty much what these things are for. The Americans have also done their own version , defining the present priorities for astronomy, and so ranking the biggest potential projects in terms of how well they meet these priorities. Then, they get funded one by one (though it isn't certain even ...

When I was ten (1991), I was given an old greenkat terrestrial spotting scope and pointed it towards the Pleiades, the Moon, Saturn and Jupiter. No matter what they say about poor quality, small refracters, to a ten year old, that was brilliant.

This year wasn't as good as last year for me, but I did get a night or two of shots. Full set from all nights here . http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4082/4762096077_1200199498.jpg http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1290/4705184612_d447a4a7ec.jpg http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4094/4762085763_c8511df3e9.j...

A few of us from the Eddington Astronomical Society and others will be standing like lemons (big, planet sized lemons) along the banks of the River Kent in Kendal to produce a scale model of the solar system. There'll be information leaflets, themed wares and displays at the cafes et al that coincid...

Does this result follow intuitively from E=mc^2 ? If not, is there any other way to understand this. It doesn't follow on from E=mc^2 as that is the rest equation, there's a slightly more complicated formula for masses in relative motion, which is energy squared = (mc^2)^2 + (pc^2)^2 - and the incr...

Taken in Kendal with a variety of ISO equivalents (100, 200 and 400) all at 1 second exposure times. There was a lovely set of nocticulent clouds (I know, I have fallen, using the words "lovely" and "clouds" in one sentence without the phrase "blocked by"...) at 3am just before sunrise. There may we...

I was giving taking a shot of the Moon a go tonight too, sadly my telescope turned into somewhat of a cloud machine. I got it pointed at the Moon, went back for the camera and by the time everything was lined up, a small finger of cloud from a larger bank had crept over the Moon, making it too blurr...

For those in the area, come along to the Brewery Arts Centre in Kendal for some lunar observing (and anything else we can grab during the evenning). Starts at 7:30, goes on until everything has clouded over completely (coincidentally also 7:30 going on recent form...). http://cumbriansky.files.wordp...

I've been enjoying showing off Venus' crescent to the neighbours on the few occasions the sky has been clear here. Looks lovely and bright through the celestron.

I also saw Lulin again last night in the Celestron. Intermittent cloud, but still bright enough even for my father to view it (usually the ultimate test) and describe the shape.

...There was a meteor flashing through the sky as I set up... I saw a meteor whilst looking at the comet too. :D Mine was heading southeast, just to the right (west) of the comet... maybe passing through Leo. Heard lots of owls hooting too. It was great to be observing again - the last time I had t...

I managed to catch it last night too. It was the first time in a long time there was a break in the cloud. There was a meteor flashing through the sky as I set up. Eventually got my 'scope on it after a few views of Saturn, very obvious with a lovely big coma (the comet, not Saturn...). Unfortunatel...

The computer guy in charge of UCL's astrophysics group managed to get a phd through some stuff he was doing supporting the group, so yes you can convert to professional astronomy, so long as you find a group willing and able to use your skills to their advantage. Other channels could include doing a...

there's a group Davep instigated a while back on flickr for spa people too (named society for popular astronomy). If you do a search, it should turn up (should you choose to use that site)