FAS History
In the 2026 review of the website we have discovered lots of old pages with valuable history.
This page consolidates all that information
NB – this is a work in progress
Publications
The FAS used to produce a number of printed publications. This stopped in around 2020.
The publications produced were
- Astrocalender
As well as the usual monthly star charts, it contained lunar occultation predictions and larger scale insets highlighting noteworthy celestial events. - The Stargazer’s Starter Guide To Buying Your Telescope
This guide explained about telescopes and accessories in simple terms, as an aid to anyone considering purchasing their first telescope. - The Stargazer’s Starter Guide To: Observing the Night Sky
This guide explained the basics of navigating about the night sky, how to observe, and what you might see. - Photographing the Night Sky
Regional Groups
Regional Groups are something the FAS is keen to encourage. Unfortunately there have been different degrees of success. In a page from 2012 we found the following groups mentioned.
Chilterns & Thames Valley Group of Astronomical Societies
North-West Group of Astronomical Societies (NWGAS)
Southern Area Group of Astronomical Societies (SAGAS)
Yorkshire Group of Astronomical Societies
Midlands Federation of Astronomical Societies
To the best of our knowledge, SAGAS is the only formal group which is still active. Let us know if you know better!
The Eric Zucker Award
The FAS presented the annual Eric Zucker Award to a person who has done a great deal of work for the astronomical community.
The last mention of it was in 2011. We will investigate more to find out what happened. In 2025, the FAS introduced the Graham Bryant Memorial Award, which does a similar thing.
The recipients were:-
- 2011: Robin Scagell
- 2010: Steve Owens
- 2009: Jerry Workman
- 2008: Clive Down
- 2007: Robin Gorman
- 2006: Dave Sutton
- 2005: Neil Bone
- 2004: Guy Hurst
- 2003: Bob Mizon
- 2002: Paul Money
- 2001: Pam Spence
- 2000: Robert Owens
- 1999: Ian Ridpath
- 1998: Brian Lister
- 1997: Rosemary Naylor
- 1996: Alan Chapman
- 1995: Iain Nicolson
Professional & Amateur Astronomy Collaborations
Announcement of “A Zoom Webinar Coming Soon” in 2022 but so far that’s all.
Conventions
The FAS has a long history of arranging conventions, giving members of FAS affiliated to hear from amazing speakers and meet members from other groups. The history will be difficult to collated but we will do our best. Please let us know if you have extra details.
| Date | Location | Details |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Cardiff University | Ancient Tech, Modern Challenges, and the Future of STEM Speakers: Prof. Paul Roche & Helen Usher – The future of astronomy – Using astronomy to engage students in STEM Dr Jane Clark – Measuring Solar System Orbits for Yourself Dr Jenifer Millard – A Waste of Space Jerry Stone (last minute substitute) – Is Pluto a Planet? Prof. Mike Edmunds – The Antikythera Mechanism |
| 2025 | Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge | Astronomy Past, Present, and Future Lord Martin Rees – The Astronomer Royal “The future of astronomy – Will this next century be our last?” Dr Matthew Bothwell – Public Astronomer, Institute of Astronomy “The Invisible Universe – The search for dark matter” Simon Banton – An independent researcher on Stonehenge “Archeoastronomy of Stonehenge” Dr Paul A Daniels FRAS – Member of RAS Megaconstellations Working Group (Optical) “Threats and Challenges to Astronomy” Dr Louise Devoy – Senior Curator of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich “The History of the Greenwich Meridian” |
| 2024 | No convention | |
| 2022 | The Martin Wood Lecture Theatre, Oxford | Women in Astronomy Jocelyn Bell Burnell: Professor of Astrophysics “Discovering Pulsars” and “The Bell Burnell Graduate Scholarship Fund” Grace Burthom A secondary school student “A Young Person’s Guide to the Universe” Mary McIntyre Amateur Astronomer and Astrophotographer: “A History of Women in Astronomy ” Vanessa Okefor PhD student, Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Warwick: “The Bell Burnell Graduate Scholarship Fund” |
| 2021 – Autumn | National Space Centre, Leicester. | Ann Bonell from Leicester Astronomical Society – “The Astronomers Royal” Suzie Imber from the University of Leicester – “The BepiColombo Mission to Mercury” Matt Nicholl from the University of Birmingham – “Gravitational Waves” Julian Onions from the University of Nottingham – “Dark Matter: Is It Dark and Is It Matter?” |
| 2021 – Spring | Online | Lord Martin Rees, The Astronomer Royal From Mars to the Multiverse Greg Smye-Rumsby – Solar Eclipses Nik Szymanek – Overview of Deep Sky Imaging George Tahu – Perseverance for Discovery: NASA’s Mars Exploration Program https://youtu.be/qq_EZeGX2c4 |
| 2020 | No convention | |
| 2019 | Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge | Dr Mark Clilverd, British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge – “Solar storm effects on ground-based infrastructure” Dr Richard Ghail, Royal Holloway, University of London – “New insights from our closest Earth-sized exoplanet: Venus” Jenny Lister, 2018 RAS Patrick Moore Medal Winner,Wetherby Preparatory School, London – “Astronomy for all: its place in education”. Dr Floor van Leeuwen, Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge – “Details of the HR diagram as revealed by the second Gaia data release” Prof Carlos Frenk, University of Durham – “Everything from nothing: how our universe was made” |
| 2018 | University of York. | Prof. Mike Cruise – The Gravitational Sky Prof. Katherine Blundell OBE – Black holes and spin-offs Prof. Brad Gibson – How the Universe will end… Charles Barclay – Reaching for the Stars – developing the British entry for the Astronomy and Astrophysics Olympiad Prof. Ian Robson – The Changing Scene in Astronomy Prof. John C. Brown OBE – Sun Plunging Comets (Hypersonic Snowballs in Hell) |
| 2017 | University of Birmingham | Prof. John Zarnecki – Europe in space Prof. Ian Shipsey – From Quark to the Cosmos Prof. Tim Greenshaw – Exploring the Non-Thermal Universe: the Cherenkov Telescope Array Prof. Donald W Kurtz – Planets and Pulsations: The New Keplerian Revolution Prof. Carl D Murray – Cassini at Saturn: The End of an Era |
| 2016 | University of Birmingham | Prof. Andreas Freise – Gravitational Waves: From Einstein’s Equations to a New Era in Astronomy Dr. Rhodri Evans – 50 years since the accidental discovery of the oldest light in the Universe – what have we learnt from it? Chris Longthorn – A Brief History of Cymbeline Observatory Dr. Nigel Bannister – From the Lobster’s Eye to Alien Oceans: ESA’s mission to Jupiter Dr. Peter Wheatley – Hunting for exoplanets with small telescopes |
| 2015 | University of Birmingham | Prof. Allan Chapman – “Sir John Herschel (1792-1871); Astronomer, Physicist, Chemist, Optician, and ‘Universal Philosopher’” Prof. Martin Hendry MBE – “Einstein’s Universe” Prof. Nigel Mason OBE – “Chemistry in the Cosmos” Prof. David Valls-Gabaud – “Gravitational lensing, or how to detect and measure the warps of space-time” Joseph Walshe – “Thank your lucky stars!” Darryl Sergison – “Stellar Birth, the first 10Myr” |
| 2014 | University of Birmingham | Prof. Paul Cannon FREng OBE – “Solar Superstorms – a storm in a tea cup, or a global risk?” Prof. Bill Chaplin – “Music of the Stars” Prof. Matthew Angling – “Small Satellites, Big Ambitions” Maggie Lieu – “Human exploration of Mars” Dr. Christopher Berry – “The Gravitational Universe: Black Holes & Gravitational Waves” |
| 2013 | Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge | Dr Samuel George – University of Birmingham “Magnetic Fields in the Universe” Andrew Robertson “Building a large (600mm) Dobsonian Telescope” Prof. Andrew Coates – Mullard Space Science Laboratory, UCL “Mars exploration – and the ExoMars mission” Sean Elvidge – University of Birmingham “Space Weather effects on the near Earth environment” Dr Robin Catchpole – University of Cambridge “Climbing the Distance Scale ladder to the Edge of the Universe” |
| 2012 | Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge | Professor Paul Hewett – ‘Finding The Highest Redshift Quasar’ Professor Paul Murdin – ‘Planetary Landscapes’ Robin Leadbeater – ‘Epsilon Aurigae – A 21st century take on a 19th century enigma’ Professor Carole Mundell – ‘Big Bangs and Black Holes’ Dr Johanna Jarvis – ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, How I Wonder…’ |
| 2011 | Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge | Dr Carolyn Crawford – The Energetic Universe: X-Ray Astronomy, Dr Nick Hewitt- Active Galactic Nuclei and their Observation by Amateurs Nik Szymanek – Photographing the Night Sky Prof. Albert Zijlstra – Planetary Nebulae Lord Martin Rees. |
| 2010 | Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge | Prof. Philippa Browning ‘Our Active Sun’, Dr Peter Wheatley ‘Hunting for extra-solar planets using small telescopes’, Prof. Tim Naylor ‘Star and Planet Formation’ Jerry Stone “Visiting the Lord of the Rings”. |
| 2009 | Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge | Dr Haley Gomez – “Herschel: unveiling the cool Universe” Damian Peach – “Planetary observing” Dr Chris Lintott – “Galaxy Zoo” Lord Prof Martin Rees – “What will the next generation of telescopes tell us?” |
| 2008 | Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge | Dr. Barry Jones (OU) ‘The Search for Extra-Terrestrial Life” Nik Szymanek “Photographing the Night Sky” plus an eight minute film. Prof. Andy Fabian (Cambridge)- The power of black holes Dr. Somak Raychaudhury (Birmingham)-“Einstein’s outrageous legacy- black holes, cosmic illusions and dark energy” |
| 2007 | Birmingham & Midlands Institute (BMI) | Prof Mike Cruise, University of Birmingham Prof Colin Pillinger, Open University Prof Phil Diamond, University of Manchester |
| 2006 | Birmingham & Midlands Institute (BMI) | Prof. John Brown (Royal Astronomer for Scotland) Dr Allan Chapman (University of Oxford) Dr Somak Raychaudhury (University of Birmingham) Dr David Whitehouse (science journalist / BBC) plus special guest speaker John Dobson |
| 2005 | Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge | Prof. David Southwood – Director of Science, ESA – ‘Titan, Mars and beyond’ Neil Bone, of the British Astronomical Association – ‘Talking up a Storm – Aurorae in Cycle 23’ Dr Alan Longstaff – ‘Mars Revisited’ Professor John Brown, The Astronomer Royal for Scotland: ‘The High Energy Sun – Highlights of the RHESSI Mission’ |
| 2004 | Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge | Dr Paul Murdin – ‘The Reality of Black Holes’ Guy Hurst – ‘The search for novae/supernovae: from visual to laptop’ Dr Cathie Clarke – ‘The formation of stars, brown dwarfs and planets’ Professor Douglas Gough – ‘Hardly Pulsating Stars’ |
| 2003 | Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge | Bob Mizon Andy Fabian Gerry Gilmore Andrew Coates Robin Catchpole |
| 2002 | University of Leicester | Celebrating 50 Years of the Leicester Astronomical Society Professor Ken Pounds- Astronomy from Space in 2002 Fifty years and counting – the Leicester Astronomical Society’ by Dr Ann Bonell, President. Dr Martin Barstow, University of Leicester: ‘How to be a Rocket Scientist- Observing white-dwarf stars from space.’ Dr Allan Mills: ‘Early methods of measuring time: Sundials, Water Clocks and Sand Glasses’ The Ken Marcus Memorial Lecture by Paul Money FRAS: ‘2MASS – A New View of the Universe ‘ |
| 2001 | Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Didcot, Oxfordshire | Dr Helen Walker (RAL): “RAL, Space Science and Satellites” Professor Joseph Silk (Oxford): “The Creation of the Elements necessary for Life: From the Big Bang to Galaxies” Dr Monica Grady (Natural History Museum): “Life and Meteorites” Dr Barrie Jones (OU): “Habitats: Planets & Life Beyond the Solar System” Dr Alan Penny (RAL): “Finding Life on Planets Orbiting Other Stars” |
| 2000 | Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Didcot, Oxfordshire | Dr Richard Harrison (Rutherford Appleton Laboratory): “The SOHO Mission” Dr Bob Owens (National Museum of Wales): “Kuiper Belt Objects” Nik Szymanek (Havering AS): “CCD Imaging” Professor Phil Charles (Oxford): “Towards the Event Horizon” The Ken Marcus Memorial Lecture: Professor Mike Edmunds (Cardiff): “Sir Isaac Remembers…” |
| 1999 – Autumn | Pippard Lecture Theatre of the Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge | John Morton ‘The Chemistry and Evolution of Alien Lifeforms’ Ian Ridpath ‘Asterisms of the Autumn Skies’ Andy Salmon ‘Moon-race, July 1969: the Luna-15 story’ Professor Malcolm Longair ‘The Origin of Galaxies and Quasars’ John Mason ‘The 99 Eclipse – how was it for you?’ |
| 1999 – Spring | Sidmouth, Devon | Konrad Malin-Smith, Eclipses Dr Percy Seymour (University of Plymouth), The Magnetism of the Universe Dr Allan Chapman (Oxford University), The Civil Servant and the Sunbeam: The life and times of Sir Joseph Norman Lockyer |
| 1998 – Autumn | Pippard Lecture Theatre of the Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge. | Paul Murdin (PPARC) ‘The Cosmic history of Water’ Duncan Copp ‘The work of Vulcan in the Solar System: a look at Volcanoes on other Worlds’ Dr Steve Bell (HM Nautical Almanac Office, RGO) ‘UK Eclipse August 1999’ Nial Tanvir (IOA), ‘The Cosmological distance scale and the age of the Universe’ Neil Bone (Director of the BAA Meteor Section), ‘A Storm coming?’ |
| 1998 – Spring | St Bartholomew’s School, Newbury | Hosted by Newbury AS George Sallit, -“Asteroids, Galaxies and CCD’s Anthony Cross and Kevin Kilburn from Manchester AS spoke about the “Uranographia Britannica”. Professor Ian Halliday had recently become head of the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (PPARC), and provided an interesting talk explaining the pressures he is under to satisfy all those who apply to the Council for a share of the very limited funding available. Katherine Blundell from the Department of Astrophysics, Oxford University, spoke about “Radio Jets” and how radio astronomers use arrays such as MERLIN to make their observations. The last talk of the day was given by Jim Emerson of Queen Mary and Westfield College, whose subject was “Star Formation”. |
| 1997 | Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge. | Cathie Clarke (Institute of Astronomy) “Formation of Stars & Planets” Roger Griffin (RGO) “Stellar Measurements” Peter Williams (QM&W) “Neutrino Astronomy” Steve Miller (UCL) “Astronomy & the Media” |
| 1996 | Cavendish Laboratories, Cambridge | Dr Francisco Diego (University College London) Links Between Amateur and Professional Astronomy Dr Gerry Gilmore (UK HST Facility, Cambridge) ISO Images of the Inner Milky Way Dr Allan Chapman The Discovery of Neptune Dr Bob Thomson (University of Hertfordshire) When Galaxies Collide Sir Martin Rees (Cambridge University) Dark Matter |
FAS Council
Over the years, a huge range of talented and dedicate people have volunteered their time to keep the FAS going. We will try to complete this history, but again, if we’ve got things wrong or missed someone, please let us know. (NB We are aware that we have used a variety ways of presenting this information. It’s all been cut and pasted from other documents for speed)
| Year | Council |
|---|---|
| 2025/2026 | Clare Lauwerys President Ray Palmer Vice President John Stapleton Secretary Pat McEvoy Treasurer Vacant Membership Secretary. Vacant PLI Officer Michael Bryce Newsletter Editor Clare & Shaun Website Manager Jerry Stone Publicity Jerry Stone Meeting Organiser Steve Tonkin Dark Skies Vacant Diversity & Inclusion Jenny Shipway International & Liaison |
| 2024/2025 | Clare Lauwerys President Ray Palmer Vice President John Stapleton Secretary Pat McEvoy Treasurer Vacant Membership Secretary. Vacant PLI Officer Michael Bryce Newsletter Editor Clare & Shaun Website Manager Jerry Stone Publicity Jerry Stone Meeting Organiser Steve Tonkin Dark Skies Vacant Diversity & Inclusion Jenny Shipway International & Liaison |
| 2023/2024 | |
| 2022 | |
| 2021 | |
| 2020 | |
| 2019 | |
| 2018 | |
| 2017 | President Paul Daniels Vice President Graham Bryant Secretary Jacqui Hunter West Yorkshire Treasurer Peter Cooke Boston Membership Secretary Karl Girdlestone PLI Secretary Tony Questa Meetings Organiser Vacant Newsletter Editor Owen Brazell Publications Secretary Roger Steer Website Organiser Victoria Harpham Deputy Treasurer Tony Questa Handbook Editor Roger Steer Convention Speakers Vacant Ordinary Member Phil John Ordinary Member James Hannan Ordinary Member Paul Hackett Ordinary Member Shaun O’Dell |
Webinars
| Date | Details | Link |
|---|---|---|
| 15 November 2025 | New Horizons and the Exploration of Pluto | https://youtu.be/mgmYVJr4Dvc?si=99mBKj4jUKnQ6gx4 |
| 25 Oct 2025 | The Search For Planet 9 | https://youtu.be/lNodBp32jqs?si=SCH8RlAUAmyTZpTx |
| 7th & 8th of May 2022 | Megaconstellation Webinar | Day 1 – https://youtu.be/MNc5yCYth5E?si=8Mn7ITmmtIxm5rLY Day 2 – https://youtu.be/SMXu6vVTxYc?si=akU5hGYStwKiHknC |
| Jan 2021 | Outreach and Covid-19 Conference | https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnmaTudqwjs9k7Gr-_WhUzw |