u3a

Edinburgh u3a

Astronomy Group Programme

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Upcoming Meetings

2026

Wednesday 13th May: “Partly Cloudy, with Molten Iron Rain — Detecting Weather on Exoplanets" Professor Beth Biller

Wednesday 10th June: "Astronomy in 18th century: the Age of Enlightenment" Georgia March

Summer Break

Wednesday 9th September: TBC

Wednesday 14th October: "On the death of comets" Professor Douglas Heggie

Wednesday 11th November: “Down to Earth Astronomy: A tour of the radio universe" Dr Emma Chapman

Wednesday 9th December: “The Sloan Digital Sky Survey” Dr Anne-Marie Weijmans

General Information about Meetings

Each meeting also features "This Month's Night Sky" - Alan Pickup and Pat Devine cover this topic between them. The "Space Shorts" session involves a brief presentation featuring news stories about astronomy and space exploration: an example is given here. All members are invited to present a session - contact Sandy Blake if you are interested.

Napier University generously provides us with meeting rooms at no cost to the Group, so at the half-time break of each meeting we have a voluntary collection for the Napier Student Grant Initiative Fund and at the April meeting we donated £20.16. The University has expressed its thanks for the Astronomy Group's continued and dedicated support.

Notes

If you wish to join the group, please contact Sandy Blake. To cover the cost of a gift for each speaker and incidental expenses, members are asked for a small annual payment each September. The amount requested for 2025–2026 was unchanged at £5.00.

The monthly meetings and other activities of the Astronomy Group are organised by the Group Planning Sub-group (GPS). The current members of the GPS are: Sandy Blake (Group Leader), Simon Murray (Treasurer and Deputy Group Leader), Alan Pickup (Deputy Group Leader), Sheila Petrie (GPS member) and Pat Williams (GPS member). Astronomy Group members are encouraged to address any questions or suggestions about the Group to any member of the GPS.

Thanks to George Cleland and Don Kennedy for facilitating and recording our Zoom meetings.

For a list of main talks delivered to the Group, click on this Topics Covered link. Video recordings of many past talks are available to Astronomy Group members: please contact the Group Leader for a link to any specific talk.

The Astronomy Group organises occasional optional visits to places of interest, which have included the Glasgow Planetarium, the Royal Observatory Edinburgh and a Dark Sky Outing to Galloway. Photographs taken on some of these visits are featured on this page.

Sandy Blake (Group Leader).

Other (non-Group) Information

Information of possible interest to Group members will appear here.

After Covid - Astronomy Group with guests. Photo credit: Simon Murray.

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Aurora picture 25/11/2023. Photo credit: Shona Murray.

Group visit to Royal Observatory Edinburgh February 2024. Photo credit: Alan Pickup.

The u3a Astronomy Group visit the 36" telescope at the ROE. Photo credit: Alan Pickup.

An image of the aurora seen looking east from Edinburgh on 10/5/2024. Photo credit: Alan Pickup.

Members of the Group on a visit to the Glasgow Planetarium in February 2025.
Group members enjoying the June 2025 End-of-Term Dinner. Photo credit: Hilary Maxfield.
This image of galaxy M33 was used to decorate the cake for the celebration of the tenth anniversary of the Astronomy Group in December 2025. Photo credit: Pat Devine.

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Page last updated on 25th April 2026