Federation of Astronomical Societies

Castle Point Astronomy Club are hosting the BAA One day meeting on Saturday 27th April 2019 at Sweyne Park School, Sir Walter Raleigh Drive, Rayleigh, Essex,

Goto CPAC’s web page

BAA One day meeting flyer

Centenary of the INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION 1919 – 2019

IAU100 website 

Women and Girls in Astronomy Women and Girls in Astronomy Day on February 11th, the IAU are encouraging events throughout 2019 to increase participation of women and girls in science.

Dark skies for all The Dark Skies for All project aims to raise awareness of the preservation of quiet and dark skies. The project will address two fundamental areas – capitalising existing education programs on light pollution to reach out to students and forming a new IAU Dark Skies Ambassadors Network for public engagement on light pollution protection actions, including government lobbying actions, making the term “light pollution” a household term etc. In particular, the project will encourage the organization of worldwide activities around the UNESCO International Day of Light 16th May 2019.

IAU Amateur Astronomy Day  This event in Belgium will be hosted on 13 April 2019 at the Palace of the Academies in Brussels and we (the IAU) have been asked to get the information out to our amateur communities. It’s believed this is the first IAU event dedicated to amateur astronomers and it is hoped this can be a place where both amateurs and professionals share their experiences and contributions etc.

A new beginners guide from the Sky at Night Magazine.

From 2nd to the 10th of February 2019

For more information & to sign up for the free newsletter click here

 

The Campaign to Protect Rural England

Help us reclaim our dark skies

TAKE PART: 2 February – 23 February

Dark, starry skies are one of the most magical sights the countryside can offer. But light pollution means many of us can’t see the stars. We want to reconnect people with the wonder of our glorious night skies.

You can take part in #StarCount2019 and help us map light pollution, to ensure more of us can enjoy the most magical sight the countryside has to offer.

Our Star Count will take place this February, with support from the British Astronomical Association, and we’ll be asking you to look up at the night sky and tell us how many you can see in Orion. You can do this from anywhere in England.

Goto StarCount2019 for more information.

Following on from the talk that Charles Barclay FRAS (far-right in picture) gave at the FAS 2018 AGM & Convention in York we can report that the UK team has returned from the 10 day long 12th International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics (IOAA) in Beijing having won 2 Silver medals and 2 Honourable Mentions. The competition was particularly tough (one 5 hour theory paper, one 5 hour Data-Analysis and a one hour Observational paper) and we are delighted with the result from this young team of five 17 year olds (two from state school and 3 independent school) led by Charles and Dr Alex Calverley FRAS.

For more information on the IOAA please contact Charles at ceb@astro.ox.ac.uk.

The latest editions of the FAS Astrocalendar by Frank Johns and

FAS booklet, The Stargazer’s Starter Guide To Photographing the Night Sky

are now available to order from the publications page of the website.