After the Break
This Month’s What’s Up
presented by Julia Gaudelli.
Max Dobres will talk about image processing training for members.
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Our meetings are held at Surrey University, they will also be streamed to members via Zoom.
Lecture Theatre M
Joining details for Zoom of each meeting will be sent out to members prior to each talk.
If you are interested in becoming a member, contact us to find out more.
If you are not sure whether you want to join right away, you can come along to a meeting as a Visitor.
We charge just £7 (£5 Junior/Student guest).
On arrival, please introduce yourself to the Membership Secretary. You will be warmly welcomed.
Surrey University map
Use the Main Car Park at grid refs D1,E1. Free during the evening.
The Lecture Theatre Block is at D3 (#22)
(The image links to Surrey University website Campus Map)
Scroll down to the second page
Join us on a cosmic journey to explore the hidden gems of the Universe – dwarf galaxies.
These small but mighty galaxies hold the key to unlocking the secrets of galaxy formation and evolution. Through the innovative “Engineering Dwarfs at Galaxy formation’s Edge” (EDGE) project, we delve into the intricate world of dwarf galaxies, studying their structural properties, star formation processes, and feedback mechanisms.
By harnessing the power of high-resolution simulations, EDGE unravels the mysteries of individual supernova explosions and their impact on these cosmic dwarfs. Join us as we unravel the stellar mass-metallicity relation and compare simulation results with observations in the Local Group, advancing our understanding of the cosmos one dwarf galaxy at a time.
“From the Anglo-Australian Telescope to the European Extremely Large Telescope – how UK astronomy grew and prospered”
The UK astronomy community has risen from a low base after the Second World War to become a leader in, for example, world citation indices and a major contributor to the massive international collaborations in both ground
based and space astronomy that are now necessary.
In this talk I am time limited and so concentrate on the development of the portfolio of UK ground based telescopes from the 1960s to the present day, which enabled this to happen and which demonstrate the importance of having
the best facilities and a coherent long term strategy.
Prof. Ian Corbett
After completing a Doctorate in Particle Physics at Oxford Ian was a Research Fellow and Tutor in Physics for 6 years until he went to CERN and then the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory doing experimental particle physics.
He drifted into astronomy in the mid ‘80s when he was involved in the construction of the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope on Hawai’i and early studies for gravitational wave detectors.
In 1989 he was appointed Head of Astronomy and Particle Physics at the Science and Engineering Research Council, which morphed into Deputy Chief Executive of the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council when it was formed in 1994.
He moved to the European Southern Observatory (ESO) in 2001 as Deputy Director General and retired at the end of 2006.
He was elected Assistant General Secretary and then General Secretary of the International Astronomical Union (IAU), finally retiring (again) in 2015.
Since then he has acted as a consultant to several major projects, including the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), but now, at the age of 83, he is fully retired. In the course of his career he has been heavily involved in all the major astronomical facilities, ground based and space, used by the UK community.
Dr. Andrew Mummery is a physicist at Oxford University who studies black holes and the accretion process around them:
Research focus
Andrew’s research focuses on developing physical theories to describe the accretion process around black holes, particularly in areas that are not usually studied.
Recent work
Andrew led a team that discovered a bizarre region around black holes. This discovery provides a new technique for studying the strongest known gravitational fields.
Andrew’s work also includes:
• Solving the relativistic thin disc evolutionary equation
• Predicting the existence of an intermediate stage of “stalled accretion”
• Showing that the fractional variability of disc systems increases as the observed frequency increases
Future research
Andrew’s research opens new avenues for identifying and studying objects around black holes. He believes that understanding the source of regular outbursts will allow researchers to measure the abundance and distances of objects around black holes.
A new Project – MESOM – Moon enabled Sun Occultation Mission
A journey to the edge of the universe (and back in time for tea)
Explore how astronomers measure the distance to the edge of our Universe and hope to see even further with the next generation of space telescopes. How may our view change over the next 20 years? How far is the edge and why
is it expanding? How far can we see from Earth and how large is our galaxy compared to others?
What’s new, current trends and what’s coming in Astro Equipment
Members Only AGM
“Life and adventures of binary supermassive black holes”
Supermassive black holes are exotic objects that inhabit centres of most galaxies. This is the life story of these giants, from birth, through pair bonding, and to the final collision.