The society hosts monthly public lectures presented by industry or academic experts in the Whittle Theatre at the Cody Technology Park. There is a small charge for non-members to attend these public lectures.
We also host smaller, more informal presentations for members at the Observatory as part of our basic astronomy sessions and our CARS (Cosmology, Astronomy & Rocket Science) programme.
All of the meetings are free to members.
Forthcoming Lectures and Events:
Thursday 2nd October 2025
7:30pm - The Observatory
Club Night
Our regular, first Thursday in the month, evening session to meet up, chat, discuss astronomy and any other areas of interest. You can bring in your equipment and compare the size of the telescopes and potentially maybe even observe objects in the night sky - weather permitting of course.
It’s a great opportunity to meet and get to know new members of the society and also to help each other out with the technical or equipment issues we’ve all encountered.
No booking, just turn up if you can for this one..
Thursday 9th October 2025
7:30pm - Whittle Lecture Theatre
How To Grow Supermassive Black Holes
Presented by Prof Matthew Middleton - University of Southampton
Supermassive black holes (SMBHs) are believed to be ubiquitous within the central core of galaxies. But how they formed remains a mystery. It is certainly likely that they grew by a combination of accretion of matter and black hole mergers. The latter is expected to be subdominant, requiring accretion to be the major avenue of growth. However, observations of the early universe have presented a major challenge, as many SMBHs are observed to be fully grown when the Universe was only a few 100 million years old! To solve this problem, we are required to understand a regime of accretion dubbed ‘Super-Eddington’. My talk will focus on how this regime of accretion operates, how it can explain the discovery of ‘little red dots’ by the James Webb Space Telescope, and where missing physics is opening up exciting avenues of exploration.
Prof Middleton is an expert in the physics of accretion onto compact objects (neutron stars and black holes) and works across theory, observation and experiment. He has been a permanent member of academic staff at the University of Southampton since 2016. Prof Middleton is active within the UK Space Science community as Chair of the Space Science and Exploration Working Group of the Space Academic Network (SPAN).
Please book with Phil Alner Please click here to reserve your place.
Thursday 6th November 2025
7:30pm - Whittle Lecture Theatre
A Universe of tiny galaxies
Presented by Dr Samantha Penny - Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation, University of Portsmouth
Despite being the most common galaxies in the Universe, low mass, or dwarf galaxies, are often overshadowed by their bigger, brighter cousins such as the Milky Way and Andromeda. This is due to their low mass (less than a few billion solar masses) and extremely faint nature making them challenging to observe even with large, research-grade telescopes. Nevertheless, these tiny galaxies are vital in helping astronomers and astrophysicists understand the Universe and how galaxies form and evolve. In this talk, the importance of dwarf galaxies as the first galaxies to form in the Universe will be discussed, along with how astronomers use these galaxies to uncover the history of the Milky Way galaxy. This talk will also highlight how measuring the properties of globular clusters are vital for revealing the growth of galaxies from the early Universe to today.
Dr Samantha Penny is a Senior Teaching Fellow in physics, based in the Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation, with a background in observational astrophysics. Her research interests include galaxy evolution, low-mass galaxy formation, and the impact of active galactic nuclei on the evolution of low-mass galaxies. This work primarily focuses on how the smallest galaxies in the Universe, known as dwarf galaxies, evolve in the nearby Universe. She carries out this research primarily through spectroscopy using data from telescopes such as the Keck Telescopes and survey data from projects such as SDSS. In particular, she is interested in how and why such galaxies stop forming new stars, with her research suggesting that supermassive black holes may play a role in this process. She is also interested in the evolution of extremely isolated galaxies, which provide important tests of the internal processes that shape galaxies’ colours, morphologies, and star formation activity.
Please book with Phil Alner Please click here to reserve your place.
Tuesday 9th December 2025
7:30pm - Whittle Lecture Theatre
Amateur Imaging of the Night-side of Venus
Presented by Martin Lewis - West of London Astronomical Society
Normally Venus’s 460°C surface is hidden from view by a thick, dense layer of cloud. Imaging at around 1000nm however this cloud layer becomes partly transparent, allowing the thermal radiation from the hot surface to be detected. This is a talk about this imaging challenge of recording the surface of this near neighbour in space and how in recent years amateurs have been able to record variations in height of the surface and other transient features. The talk is illustrated with images from amateurs across the world and by the author’s own images taken from his back garden in St Albans in 2020, 2023 and in early 2025.
Martin has had a fascination for all things in the sky since he was young. He is a professional engineer and part-time planetary imager, telescope builder, and deep sky sketcher. He images using his home-built 444mm and 222mm Dobsonian telescopes, both used on a home-built equatorial platform, from his garden in St. Albans, Hertfordshire. Martin has been shortlisted in the Astronomy Photographer of the Year for the last 8 years, primarily in the Planets section, and has been a category winner twice. This year he is a judge on the competition. Martin is also treasurer of the West of London AS (WOLAS), an equipment advisor in the BAA’s Equipment and Techniques section and assistant to the Mars section director.
Please book with Phil Alner Please click here to reserve your place.
Thursday 12th March 2026
7:30pm - Whittle Lecture Theatre
Royal Observatory Greenwich: A History in Objects
Presented by Dr Louise Devoy - Senior Curator, Royal Observatory, Greenwich
Over the past five years Louise has delved into the archives and museum stores to choose 100 objects and their stories for her book Royal Observatory Greenwich: A History in Objects, published to celebrate the Observatory’s 350th anniversary in 2025.
Louise has a background in astrophysics and the history of science and has worked at various museums in the UK and abroad. She has contributed to exhibitions such as Cosmos and Culture (Science Museum, 2009), Observatory Life (Royal Observatory, Greenwich, 2016) and The Moon (National Maritime Museum, 2019). Her research interests encompass astronomical instruments, women in astronomy and networks of knowledge exchange between historic observatories.
Please book with Phil Alner Please click here to reserve your place.
Previous Lectures and Events:
Thursday 11th September 2025
7:30pm - Whittle Lecture Theatre
Astronomical Equipment trends & developments
Presented by Grant Bowskill - First Light Optics
Grant will present recent changes in astronomical equipment trends for amateurs, how the industry has changed in recent years and new and upcoming developments.
He will also go through a range of new and exciting products that you may not have heard of before including any last minute, up to date announcements and a sneak preview of anything incoming.
Grant is an avid amateur astronomer, particularly passionate about astrophotography, astronomy gear, remote observatories, and public outreach. With a background in web development and IT, he has worked for First Light Optics, an astronomy retailer, since its inception and recently became its CEO.
Grant is also one of the administrators of the Stargazers Lounge forum and the developer behind Clear Outside and Astronomy.Tools. Additionally, he serves as the treasurer of his local astronomy society, Letchworth and District Astronomy Society.
Please book with Phil Alner Please click here to reserve your place.
Tuesday 2nd September 2025
7:30pm - The Observatory
CARS #28 - Cosmology, Astronomy & Rocket Science
CARS are informal gatherings to watch videos related to cosmology, astronomy, rocket science and other topics of mutual interest, and to chat about them.
The videos for CARS 28 will be:
Cosmology: Hawking Radiation
Astrophysics: Why are there no green stars?
Astronomy: The first images from the Rubin Observatory
Rocket Science: How did the Shuttle get home before GPS?
