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Guildford Astronomical Society

serving sw surrey since 1955

Welcome!

The Society logo. A heraldic shield bearing two antique brass telescopes, on the left, a refractor on a pillar and claw mount. On the right a refractor on an equatorial mount. In the middle is a shield in four quadrants. The upper left and right have the letters G and A; with the lower left filled with the letter S. The lower right features a stylised image of a comet with a long tail.

If you've ever gazed in wonder at the night sky, pondered your place in the grand scheme of things or have an interest in Astronomy already and want to meet like-minded people then please come along to one of our meetings or public observing evenings.

Everyone is welcome - absolute beginners to experienced observers.

Like most local Societies, we exist mainly as a forum for satisfying our own personal interest and enjoyment of the subject we're passionate about: Astronomy.

GAS member Observes Venus during a favourable evening apparition in 2007. Pam is using a driven eq-mounted 10-inch SCT x 200. The blue and red bands are to keep the aluminised dew-caps stable. The grey sock keeps stray light out of the viewers vision! Pam, a GAS member, observing Venus in Spring 2007

We spend a lot of time and effort encouraging and promoting a broader knowledge of Astronomy in our community. Since our Society was founded in 1955, we've been at the forefront of popularising Astronomy locally through public events.

Whatever your level of interest is right now, this website will provide you with what you need to know to decide whether you'd like to join us. We'll be happy to see you -just as a visitor or as a potential member.

The Guildford Astronomical Society is a member of both the Federation of Astronomical Societies (FAS) and the Southern Area Group of Astronomical Societies (SAGAS). Our Secretary, John Axtell, is currently (2008) the President of SAGAS.

Volunteers needed

6 May 2008

Volunteers are needed for an outreach event near Shere on Wednesday, 14 May. If you are a GAS member and able to help, please contact John Axtell (Secretary) here.

Dark Skies at Albury Heath still under threat

24 April 2008

Star Energy Group Plc has submitted another proposal to the Surrey County Council for temporary drilling and appraisal at the Albury site. This will have a serious environmental impact. In addition to this, the dark skies currently enjoyed by stargazers in the area will be spoiled by bright lights from this development. Protests have to be lodged before 25 April 2008.

Please visit www.saveblackheathcommon.com for more information.

Please keep an eye on this as. If the current application is not successful, it is likely that they will try again.

GAS observing session

Sent in by Brian F.L. Gordon-States - 8 Feb 2008.

Another GAS observing session took place at Albury Heath on 8 February 2008. See Brian's report in our Observing Section here.

Loan Telescopes

Sent in by John Axtell - December 2007.

The Society has four telescopes available for loan to members. Details on the various scopes can be found on the Resources page. Please free to contact John Axtell (Observing Coordinator) or Tony Questa (Observing Coordinator's Assistant) to book a telescope.

UK Astronomy funding cuts

Sent in by John Axtell - 20 December 2007.

Cuts in UK Astronomy funding that could have a serious impact on UK science, have been anounced recently. For more information, please visit the SAGAS website and fill in the petition to the government.

Campaign for Dark Skies - 1 January 2008

Sent in by John Axtell.

The following request was received from the BAA:

The Campaign for Dark Skies (CfDS) is conducting a UK-wide survey of problem lighting. If you consider yourself to be adversly affected by poorly-aimed or nuisance lighting, please look at:

www.britastro.org/dark-skies/survey/index.html

and submit a completed form.

A Spectacular Guy Fawkes Comet

Written by Tony Marsh and Tony Questa - 15 November 2007.

On the 24th of October comet Holmes increased in brightness a million times.

Astronomers all over the world are watching to see what happens next.

Normally a very faint comet that needs a large telescope to see, Comet 17P Holmes was discovered in 1892 and comes round approximately every 7 years. But after its sudden brightening you can now find it easily with the unaided eye.

Its high altitude in our Northern-Hemisphere sky means it's visible all night long if the weather is kind.

You will find it in the constellation of Perseus. Look at it through a pair of binoculars and you'll see it as a nebulous ball nearly the size of the full moon. In a telescope it's a splendid sight.

The Guilford Astronomical Society have been imaging the comet at their Holmbury Observatory - here is one of the images.

Comet Holmes Comet Holmes 4 Nov 2007 - Chris Hopper and Tony Questa. Processing by Chris.

The tail of the comet must be spectacular but it cannot be seen from Earth - the comet, Earth and Sun are roughly in line and as the tail of a comet always points generally away from the Sun. So we see the comet head-on as though it were heading straight for us.

Don't worry it won't hit us. Its orbit takes it well outside that of Mars.

The GAS CCD pictures show the comet at about 60% of the apparent size in the sky of the full Moon. But remember it's over 600 times further away.

In the few days since the outburst that caused the original brightening the comet's outer regions at first expanded at an average speed of over 5000 kilometres per hour to a diameter of 1.3 million kilometres.

The expansion slowed a bit but in a few more days it reached over 1.5 million km. That's bigger than the visible part of the sun (photosphere). Of course it's only a tiny fraction of the sun's mass.

What we are seeing is sunlight reflecting back to Earth from the gas and dust thrown off from a sudden disruption in the comet's solid core - itself only 3 kilometres in size - a type of celestial firework for the November skies!