Comet Encounter Comet 177 P Barnard 2 will

Comet Encounter • Comet 177 P / Barnard 2 will rendezvous with NGC 6543 (Cat's eye nebula) on Sept. 19 th • The objects will be just over 1 degree apart • Both are about 9 th magnitude • Great photo opportunity!

Close Encounter • 12 th September • Moon passes through Pleiades, occulting two stars • 27 Tauri reappears at 22. 33 • 28 Tauri reappears at 22. 35 • Another great photo opportunity!

September – TV & Radio • The Sky at Night – “The Sun and The Moon” • Patrick Moore: SMART-1 • Chris Lintott: Solar B & Stereo – Saturday 9 th BBC 1, 12. 00 – 12. 20 • The Cosmic Hunters – “Cosmic Dawn” • Chris Riley: Astronomers hunting the 1 st stars – Wednesday 13 th Radio 4, 21. 00 -21. 30 • Star City – Cosmonaut Training Centre, Moscow – Friday 8 th, Radio 4, 11. 00 – 11. 30

Campaign for Dark Skies 6 th European Symposium www. britastro. org/dark-skies/ Friday 15 th – Saturday 16 th September (10 a. m. – 5 p. m. ) Royal Sailors’ Home Club, Portsmouth £ 3. 00 per single day, £ 5. 00 both – Pre Booking Essential Speakers Lembit Opik MP, Robert Key MP, Bob Mizon, Alexandra Pollard Dr. Paul Marchant, Philip Perkins, Dr. Chris Baddiley, Martin Morgan Taylor, Dr John Mason Stands Venturescope, Green Witch, Springer Society for Popular Astronomy Cape Instrument, Astrocruise

The Astronomer - Annual Meeting Saturday 23 rd September (10 a. m. – 5 p. m. ) St. Mary’s Church Hall, Basingstoke £ 8. 50 + £ 7. 00 for optional 3 course meal www. theastronomer. org Programme Amateur astronomers and the Accelerating Universe: - Bob Evans The Universe Unveiled: - Dr. Robin Catchpole OJ 287: a slight case of schizophrenia: - Mark Kidger and Gary Poyner The sun in a different light: - Maurice Gavin Goodbye to UBVRI: - Dr. Mark Kidger Early attempts at Spectroscopy: - Brendan Shaw

Autumn Equinox Star Party Kelling Heath : 18 th to 28 th September Speakers Trade / Society Stands Saturday 23 rd • Reflectors vs Refractors – Ian Morison • Observing Saturn – Ian Phelps Sunday 24 th • Deep Sky – Owen Brazel • CCD Imaging/Registax – Tommi Worton & Martin Stirland • Altair Astronomica Astroparts Campaign for Dark Skies Cape Instruments Ltd David Hinds Earth & Sky Green Witch House of Optics Ian King Imaging Pulsar Optical Rother Valley Optics Telescope House Widescreen Centre

Observatory Science Centre Herstmonceux Astronomy Festival Friday 29 th September (6. 30 pm - 11 pm) Viewing tours of the telescopes visits to the Space Geodesy Facility. GA S Saturday 30 th September (10 am - 11 pm ) 5 lectures throughout the day (£ 2 per lecture) Telescope tours s r Tours around the Space Geodesy Facility e e ! Viewing, tours of the telescopes, t St d an visits to the Space Geodesy Facility lun e d d o V nee Sunday 1 st October (10 am - 6 pm) Family activity workshops, Telescope tours Tours around the Space Geodesy Facility

FAS Annual Convention 30 th September, Birmingham Speakers Trade / Society Stands • Prof. John Brown • • • – (Royal Astronomer for Scotland) • Dr Allan Chapman – (Uni of Oxford) • Dr Somak Raychaudhury (Uni. of Birmingham) • Dr David Whitehouse – (science journalist / BBC) • John Dobson – (The Sidewalk Astronomer) • • Aurora Books Campaign for Dark Skies COSMOS Media David Bryant - Space Rocks I R Poyser - Telescope Maker Spaceguard Thinktank Society for the History of Astronomy Society for Popular Astronomy Opticstar Ltd

Next Meeting: Thursday 5 th October Observing From The City Robin Scagell