September 25th Meeting: Dr Dan Brown (NTU)

[MPOLE]

After the Summer break we meet on Thursday 25th September for the start of the new school year. We will be welcoming back Dr Dan Brown of Nottingham Trent University with a talk entitled “Nocturnal Skyscapes – Light Pollution and Cultural Heritageâ€

 

Dr D Brown from Nottingham Trent University will be illustrating how the sky above ancient monuments is part of what defines our cultural heritage and allows us to see what our ancestors saw. However, light pollution is destroying such a unique experience and therefore a part of our cultural heritage. Therefore, we need to act and save our dark skies.

 

Afterwards if the weather allows we shall have a chance for some observing, we hope to observe an object or two within the so called “Summer Triangleâ€. There will also be a chance to see some of the upgrades carried out in the observatory over the Summer break.

 

As always refreshments will be available from 6:15pm with a start time of 6:30pm. All are welcome, under 16’s must be accompanied by an adult. Free for members and under 16’s and a suggested donation of £2 towards costs for non members.

[MPOLE]

The first meeting of the new school year took place on 25th September when we welcomed Dr Dan Brown of Nottingham Trent University as our guest speaker for the night. His talk, “Nocturnal Skyscapes – Light Pollution and Cultural Heritage†was met with interest from our members. Dr Brown explained how our landscapes and culture have been affected by the celestial canopy and how our actions now endanger that with the effects of light pollution.

 

After the main talk, due to the usual cloud cover, Mr Perkins gave a brief roundup of some of the many recent space related news. Mentioning the announcement by NASA that SpaceX and Boeing are to provide a solution from the commercial sector to putting NASA Astronauts on the International Space Station, the two probes that have recently successfully arrived in orbit around Mars plus the latest news on the European mission Rosetta.

 

Our next meeting is on Thursday the 23rd Oct when Julian Onions of Nottingham University will be presenting a "Beginners Guide to Astro-Physics" We look forward to seeing you all then at 6:30pm. 

 

For more information on tonight's main topic please visit http://www.darkskydiscovery.org.uk/
To download Stellarium please visit http://www.stellarium.org

 

Please note, TLES / MPOLE have no affiliation to the above links.

Edited September 25, 2014 by MPOLE