Time to look to the stars

Whether you are an amateur astronomer, an expert of the night sky, or simply want to give stargazing a go, Astrosoc is the place for you! Here, you can meet like-minded people, discuss and learn about astronomy (or just about anything), and, of course, have fun!

We organise a wide range of events, with the most frequent ones being our famous fortnightly observations. Our telescopes are high-end but easy to control, and we are more than happy to teach anyone who would like to use them. Once you get the hang of it, you are free to explore with the telescopes yourself. The picture shown next to this article was taken by a member of the society during an observation, so there is a lot to see out there, even in London! With the craters on the moon, star clusters and nebulae, the clouds on Jupiter, and even the rings on Saturn, we can assure you there is no lack of stellar objects at which to marvel. This term, following suggestions from our members, we now start the observations earlier, at 6.30pm. This means that you don’t have to wait around for long after lectures, and of course there is no need to stay up late to see the wonderful night sky! Our next observation evening, in collaboration with Science Fiction Society who will bring some space-related TV shows, will be held on the 30th January. It will be up on the eighth floor common room of Blackett Laboratory, fully equipped with three telescopes as usual – do feel free to bring your own camera along to take some photos. And not to mention the snacks and hot drinks we serve without fail!

Another series of our popular events are the regular guest lectures, where we invite top astronomers as speakers to give talks on a wide range of topics, from spacecraft missions to astrophotography, and even black holes! We have had great positive feedback and they are well-attended, so we would encourage anyone with an interest to come along and listen in! For an upcoming guest lecture, we have invited Dr. Roberto Trotta from the astrophysics group of Imperial College to give us a talk on cosmology, which will be held on the 19th of February. There will be time after the talk to have a chat with the speaker, and to enjoy the refreshments provided. Other than observations and talks, we also organise regular visits to observatories and museums. Just this year, we have done trips to the Greenwich Observatory, and to Mill Hill Observatory currently managed by UCL. Do not worry if you’ve missed those – there will be more next academic year so make sure to come along!

Do follow us on Facebook or drop us an email for more detailed information about the upcoming events, and you are more than welcome to come along even if you are not entirely sure yet – no membership is needed to try out our observations and guest lectures! We all look forward to seeing you!