Events

Walsall Astronomical Society meets every Thursday evening (except Christmas week) at the Rushall Olympic Football Club. 

We also have talks on the first Thursday of every month, where we have invited guest speakers presenting a specialist topic. We have had talks given by presenters from a variety of backgrounds such as:

• BBC Sky at Night TV presenters such as Professor Chris Lintott, Dr Paul Abel and Dr Chris North
• Paul Money from the BBC Sky at Night magazine
• Former NASA Astronaut Don Thomas
• Damian Peach, UK's top planetary sky imager
• Nik Szymanek, UK's top deep sky imager
• The Director of Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics, Professor Albert Zijlstra 
• The Director of Science at European Space Agency, David Southwood CBE
• The CEO of the Institute of Physics
• Professor Carl Murray, the sole UK member of the Cassini imaging team during the Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn
• and lots more

As you can see from the very brief list of speakers shown above, we've had some prominent speakers at the club. By a serendipitous and felicitous coincidence we were the first group in the world to hear a talk about the discovery of the Higgs Boson only a day after it was announced on 5th July 2012!

Talks range from how to make your own telescope to the physics of the latest discoveries. There are also in-house talks about observing tips, the latest astronomical news and the current objects of interest in the night sky.

To attend talks, please arrive at 7:30 pm, for a prompt 8:00 pm start.

All other Thursdays we open at 8:30 pm for a 9:00 pm start.

 Always one of the darkest month, the sky is dominated by Orion and his retinue, well worth a trip into the country, just to see them against a dark sky.  

Jupiter and Saturn will be at the best conjunction for nearly 400 years on Monday 21st December. They will be separated by a mere 0.06° apart, and will be visible across the world. It is best visible on Monday evening at 4:00 pm. 

Barr Beacon is the best place to see this, depending on the weather, it will be open on Monday 21st December at 1:30 pm. So try not to miss it!

Some useful information about the conjunction here: https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/advice/skills/great-conjunction-jupiter-saturn/

Sky at Night, Sunday December 13th 10:00 pm BBC4, The State of Astronomy