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Upcoming Main Talks

2026

Wednesday 9 September: "The Discovery of Pluto and Charting the Outer Solar System" Dr Clive Davenhall

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

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

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

2027

Wednesday 13 January: "Tiny stars or giant planets? Searching for young brown dwarfs with JWST" Dr Alexander Scholz

Wednesday 10 February: "Novel methods for persistent problems: Using cosmic chronometry and machine learning to resolve measurements of Universal expansion" Dr Laura Hunt

Wednesday 10 March: TBA

Wednesday 14 April 2027: TBA

Wednesday 12 May 2027: Title TBC Dr Sean McMahon

Wednesday 9 June 2027: “How the Universe will end” Dr Brad Gibson

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General Information about Meetings

Meetings may also feature "This Month's Night Sky", with Alan Pickup and Pat Devine covering 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.

At the half-time break of each meeting we have a voluntary collection for the Napier Student Grant Initiative Fund: at the June meeting we donated £29.71. The University has expressed its thanks for the Astronomy Group's continued and dedicated support.

Technology permitting, the Group provides three ways for members to view the talks presented at each meeting: by attending in person, joining the meeting via Zoom and viewing the recordings later on YouTube. Thanks to George Cleland and Don Kennedy for facilitating and recording our Zoom meetings.

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Notes

If you wish to join the group, please contact Sandy Blake. To cover the cost of Napier University room charges, gifts for visiting speakers and incidental expenses, members are asked for an annual payment each September: the amount requested for 2026–2027 is £8.00.

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.

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).

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Other (non-Group) Information

Information of possible interest to Group members will appear here.