Our meetings are held in Lecture Theatre L in the Lecture Theatre Block (Level 2) of the University of Surrey, Guildford.

Click here for a map to show you directions to the University Main Car Parks. If you’re travelling using a SatNav the postcode is GU2 7XH.

A detailed map (available here) shows the location of the Lecture Theatre Block (pale blue and near the middle of the map), Main Car Parks 1-4 and Bus Stops next to Senate House and North of the Austin Pearce Building. There are also more convenient car park spaces available for disabled drivers at various nearby locations. The University also has a web page here for newcomers to the campus.

Meetings start at 7.30pm on the first Thursday of each month (except August when there is no meeting) and usually finish around 10pm. One or two meetings in the year, (including the AGM), are set aside for members only; these are indicated in our list of Talks for upcoming meetings.

Note for Visitors: To help cover the cost of the room hire, we charge just £5.00 (£4.00 for Junior/Student guests) per meeting. On arrival, please introduce yourself to any member of the Committee (look for their badges) — you’ll be very warmly welcomed!

Tea/Coffee (biscuits included) available in the break for just £2. However, we respectfully ask that you don’t bring any food or drinks into the lecture theatre.

If you have any special access requirements, please contact the Secretary, .

See you there…

Meeting Format

Meetings generally take one of two formats:

• An invited expert gives a talk/presentation – illustrated and/or animated – of an aspect of astronomy. Subjects are chosen because they’re topical, practical – or just interesting to astronomers. Each year we arrange a balanced mix, covering a wide range of topics. and levels.
• A ‘members evening’, in which members present short talks on their own interests, projects, and topics of general interest.

Occasionally, invited speakers have to cancel, (usually at extremely short notice), and at these times the meeting often takes the form of an informal quiz, a question and answer session, or a hands-on Workshop.

Typically,the main talk of the evening lasts for an hour or so, after which we have a 15-20 minute comfort break. Tea, coffee and biscuits are available from the adjoining refreshments room.

Following the break, the remaining time until 10pm usually features Society news and business, (such as the latest reports from the Observatory, Observing Evening Reports, etc), and a short ‘What’s on?’ feature describing events happening later in the current month.

Afterwards

If there’s time at the end, some members go for a drink and chat. You’re welcome to join us in the bar at The Astolat (Directions).

The 2018-2019 Session

Subject to change

Date	Talk/Presentation Title	Speaker
6 Sep 2018	Hawking, Black Holes and the Edge of Physics	Paul Fellows
4 Oct 2018	Herschel Space Observatory and ALMA explore deep into the space	Dr Mikako Matsuura
4 Oct 2018	Astrospectroscopy ... where pretty picture end and science starts	Steve Baker
1 Nov 2018	The intimate lives of stars Stars are our intimate connection with the cosmos and exploring them is an exploration of our own cosmological heritage. They live eventful lives then fade away and die, donating matter back to the Universe, matter which may form new stars and planets one day. How do we study them? What do we know about them and what mysteries do they still hold? That’s what the talk will unfold.	Dr Ghina M. Halabi University of Cambridge
1 Nov 2018	Constellation Viewer Application v2.3 After the break, GAS member John, who wrote this application, shows us how to use it. it's available on our website as a download.	John Hodder
6 Dec 2018	Cosmology Pt 1 Cosmology is the study of the universe as a whole. In these two lectures, Colin will show the key evidence and explain sufficient theory to allow you to understand why we think the universe is as we believe. The lectures will approximately follow the historical evolution of cosmology over the last 100 years. The first lecture will cover conventional cosmology: • The cosmic distance ladder, Hubble’s Law and the age of the universe. • Symmetries: Isotropy, the Cosmological Principle homogeneity. •The thermal history of the universe. • Predictions of the big bang theory: nucleosynthesis and the cosmic microwave background. •Problems with the big bang theory.	Dr Colin McGill
3 Jan 2019	Cosmology Pt 2 The second lecture will focus on inflationary cosmology and the insights from the cosmic microwave background: •Negative pressure and inflation • Inflation, perturbations, oscillations and cosmological structure formation. •Supernovae Type 1A and evidence for dark energy • The future: gravitational waves, the polarisation of the CMB and dark matter.	Dr Colin McGill
7 Feb 2019	The Antikythera Mechanism UNDER THE HOOD OF THE ANTIKYTHERA MECHANISM 1. What is the Antikythera Mechanism? In which I'll explain how the Mechanism was found and how it got there; what it looks like now and what the most recent scans have revealed; what the inscriptions on the Mechanism tell us and the conclusions we can draw from them. 2. How did astronomy develop in Ancient Greece? In this part I'll explain how early theories about the nature of the universe evolved, how data was obtained to support those mathematical models and how they were gradually refined through the period from 450BC to 150AD. 3. But what does the Mechanism do? I'll then walk through each part of the Mechanism, explaining the design objectives and the technical challenges encountered by the engineers. I'll demonstrate how the complete Mechanism operates and consider what it could have been used for. 4. How could it have been calibrated? One of the most difficult challenges is to work out how to calibrate a new Mechanism so that it gives accurate readouts in the present day. This hasn't been done before. I'll look at how to start the lunar calendar which drives the Mechanism and then consider how to translate our post-Newton heliocentric data for the planets into the geocentric model deployed in the Mechanism.	John Lancashire
7 Mar 2019	How clumpy is Dark Matter in the Milky Way ?	Dr Denis Erkal University of Surrey
4 Apr 2019	Lunar Imaging	Dr David Arditti BAA Council
2 May 2019	Jupiter and the Juno mission The talk will deal with recent advances in our understanding of Jupiter's massive atmosphere, especially from the Juno orbiter and from ongoing amateur imaging. The spectacular JunoCam images are revealing remarkable features in the polar regions and fascinating details in the atmospheric circulations and cycles that we are studying from the ground.	Dr John Rogers Jupiter Section BAA
6 Jun 2019	How the Universe Will End…	Prof Brad Gibson University of Hull
4 Jul 2019	Members Only - AGM	GAS Committee & Members
Aug 2019	Note: There is no meeting in August

The 2019-2020 Session

Subject to change

Date	Talk/Presentation Title	Speaker
5 Sep 2019	The Latest Developments in Solar Exploration	Prof. Lucie Green MSSL
Aug 2020	Note: There is no meeting in August

Click here to see the profiles of past and forthcoming speakers.

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