Museum of Cardiff 17 July – 31 October 2025
Amgueddfa Caerdydd 17 Gorffennaf - 31 Hydref 2025
Cardiff Astronomical Society: Celebrating 50 years
Cymdeithas Seryddiaeth Caerdydd: Yn dathlu 50 mlynedd
https://cardiffmuseum.com/whatson/cardiff-astronomical-society-celebrating-50-years/
https://cardiffmuseum.com/cy/whatson/cymdeithas-seryddiaeth-caerdydd-yn-dathlu-50-mlynedd/
Open / Amser 10:00 - 16:00
The Cardiff Astronomical Society (CAS) is a thriving society located in South East Wales. It has been in existence for over 45 years and is one of the largest amateur astronomical societies in the UK. CAS provides a range of facilities for both Society members and the public at large including a varied programme of talks on Thursday evenings (except in August) at the Physics and Astronomy Department of Cardiff University. In addition, regular night sky (and occasional solar) Observing Sessions and star parties are held at the Society's own Observatory at Dyffryn Gardens.
Our members come from all walks of life and their knowledge of astronomy ranges from complete beginner to advanced. You don't need any specialist knowledge to join us and neither do you need to own a telescope or binoculars. It's also possible to try us out before joining!
More details about the Society and what it does are available here.
We are keen to get more Society members on board to assist with the running of CAS events - please see here how you can Help Us.
Next Talk:
4th September 2025 "The Chemistry of the Universe" presented by Professor Mike Edmunds
Abstract: There is the real and fascinating probability that in the future we will be confronted with extraterrestrial worlds whose physical conditions and compositions result in chemistries radically different from our own. This is the Humphry Davy Lecture, first given at the Royal Society of Chemistry in London last autumn. It outlines our current knowledge of the origin and distribution of the elements in the universe, as we try to push as far as we can into astronomical environments where complex chemistry is taking place. Currently we believe we have a remarkably good understanding of the processes and astronomical sites that have led to the formation of the elements in the periodic table. Except for hydrogen, some helium and a little lithium, all of them have been synthesised since the beginning of the universe. Recent spectroscopic observations to high redshifts are enabling us to follow their build up in galaxies from back in the earliest times to the present. The discovery of many planetary systems beyond the Solar System, and the investigation of dense interstellar environments, imply a huge unexplored range of chemical possibilities and may lead to profound implications for life in the Universe. It is suggested that extensive theoretical investigation of these enticing possibilities may be both possible and necessary.
Biography: Mike Edmunds is Emeritus Professor of Astrophysics at Cardiff University, and the immediate past-President of the Royal Astronomical Society. He was educated at Cambridge, but has lived and worked in Wales for fifty years. His research career involved the determination and interpretation of the abundances of the chemical elements in the Universe – particularly through spectroscopy of galaxies - and investigation of the origin of interstellar dust. Later work has been in the history of astronomy, including the ancient Greek Antikythera Mechanism. He was a member of two UK Research Councils. He is a Vice-President of the Herschel Society and an Honorary Vice-President of the Society for the History of Astronomy. He can occasionally be seen in his one-man play about Newton - 'Sir Isaac Remembers…'. He was the subject of BBC Radio 4’s 'The Life Scientific' in April 2024, also appearing on "In Our Time" in November.
Latest BAA Education and Outreach Section Newsletter:
The Quarterly Newsletter of the Education and Outreach Section of the
British Astronomical Assocation
Please click here for the latest E&O Newsletter.
Fortnightly CAS Social (Tuesday Evening) via Zoom (Members Only):
CAS Members' Zoom Socials will resume on Tuesday 2nd September 2025.
Once a fortnight (same week as Thursday talk) on a Tuesday evening from 19:00 to around 21:00, we hold a social get together on zoom where we chat about both astronomical and non-astronomical subjects, have a quiz and have presentations by members. The presentations are usually on either member’s hobbies or their travels, but can be on anything they think others will find interesting.
Why not come along one week to see what you think? You do not need to stay for the whole session and people often arrive late or leave early because of other commitments. It is very informal!
To register your interest complete the ContactUsForm. Please include your Membership Number and you will be sent a link to the next session.
CAS News:
We are sorry to hear of the passing of Norman Jenkins.
Norman joined CAS soon after it was founded and helped it to grow from a fledgling society to the size and standing it has today, for which current members should be thankful. He held senior Committee posts for most of its existence, regularly attending talks thereafter.
He had been our Treasurer, Director of Observations, helped maintain an equipment pool, contributed to many public events, met/greeted speakers, given talks and contributed articles to our Newsletters.
Norman and his wife Ann hosted Committee meetings in their home, they both supported many social occasions and our two trips abroad to view total solar eclipses.
And apart from his many contributions to CAS, he was a lovely gentleman who could always be relied upon to have the rest of us in fits of laughter.
Safe solar viewing: Bannau Brycheiniog Visitor Centre June 21st 2025
This year the solar viewing took place on the same day as the Solstice.
Once again, a group of CAS volunteers went to the Bannau Brycheiniog Visitor Centre at Libanus to show the public how to safely view the Sun. We arrived around 8:45 and were welcomed by Wayne and shown to our gazebo all set-up and waiting.
As usual we were greeted by rain and this time a strong breeze which at one stage threatened to lift our gazebo into the air. Once the rain stopped the clouds remained, so we used our newly purchased Seestar Telescope to do some bird watching. Also, Bob Love was able to show live images from telescopes in both the Canary Islands and Australia. This amazed some of the younger visitors.
Eventually the weather managed to provide patches of clear sky and by 2pm we had enough blue skies to be able to view the Sun.
We had a reasonable number of members of the public coming to look through the telescopes, several of them said they came specifically to meet us, so we entertained them with some facts about the Sun and advised them not to “do this at home”.
This year we were the only stand present, so we didn’t have a Ukelele band or calling Curlews. It was a hot and humid day and by 4pm we were all ready to head home and have a rest.
*The night sky this month* (Courtesy of BBC Sky at Night Magazine)
*Day-by-day guide to this month's night sky* - text and photos
Upcoming Events:
Dark Sky Festival 2025
Saturday 20th September 2025 - Bannau Brycheiniog
Join us at the annual Dark Sky Festival for observing opportunities and talks.
Next Star Party
Friday 3rd October 2025
Please be in touch to book your spot, as places are limited. Details can be found on the page below:
Star Parties page
Join or Support CAS:
Come and join some of the Society's members at one of our talks or observing events. We promise a warm and friendly welcome for all. Only £18/£3/£24 per annum for Adult/Junior/Family membership also means you can make use of our Library.
Gift Aid:
CAS is registered for Gift Aid. This means that, if you are a UK taxpayer, we can claim back the standard rate tax on subscriptions (and on any donations) giving an effective 25% boost to the amount the Society has received. However, in order to reclaim these monies from HMRC, we need all members who pay tax to complete and return a Charity Gift Aid Declaration form. Please note that if you have paid your subscriptions by PayPal, you will have already been asked if you would consent to those subscriptions being Gift Aided – but we still need a completed Charity Gift Aid Declaration form in order for us to reclaim the tax paid as Gift Aid.
If you are eligible, please take a form (using the button opposite) and then complete it and pass it to us at one of the fortnightly talks or send it to CAS by post or email (see the bottom of the form). Thank you for your help!
Support CAS when shopping online with easy fundraising:
CAS outreach for schools, colleges, businesses & organisations:
We welcome all invitations from schools, colleges, businesses, scouts, guides and other organisations in providing outreach. We can host events our our observatory in Dyffryn Gardens, Vale of Glamorgan. We can also discuss events with your organisation to include stargazing, talks and activities. We do not charge a fee for this but would kindly request that expenses are covered as we volunteer our time.
We have a wide range of expertise & can offer events to all ages and knowledge levels.
If you would like to discuss outreach with us please use our ContactusForm and someone will contact you.
It should be noted that CAS has a formal Policy on Child Protection and the Protection of Vulnerable Adults
