GREG TITLEY AWARD 2024 to 2025
The first recipient of the new Greg Titley award (which replaces the Bill Sutherland award) is Denise Evans.
Denise has made a great contribution to CAS public events in the past year, always willing to help out whenever she can.
Well done Denise
Solar Viewing Bannau Brycheiniog, Libanus - 21st June 2025
Join the CAS team for SAFE solar viewing at the Summer Solstice!
We will be at the Visitor Centre, Libanus, Bannau Brycheiniog National Park LD3 8ER on Saturday June 21st 10am till 4pm.
There will be information available about what you are seeing, and specialist equipment setup.
All free and everyone welcome!
N.B. NEVER look directly at the Sun unless using specialist equipment designed to do so SAFELY. Otherwise, permanent eye damage will result.
Observing is subject to clear skies of course!
https://www.breconbeacons.org/discover/easier-access/attractions/national-park-visitor-centre
Car parking charges apply.
NEXT TALK
19th June 2025 "Discovering Planets and Stars around other Stars" presented by Dr Ingrid Pelisoli & Dr Thomas Wilson, University of Warwick
Talk Description
Our home galaxy, the Milky Way, is built up of over a hundred billion stars. They come in a range of sizes that determine their temperatures and lifespan. Unlike our Sun, these stars are not usually alone. About half of them are found in binaries, where two stars orbit each other, and almost all stars, including some binaries, host planets. These vary from small, cold, rocky bodies like our Earth up to vast Jupiter-sized Giants that can be as hot as stars. In this talk, we will showcase how stellar binaries and exoplanets can be discovered from astronomical data. We will follow this by discussing what we can learn about these systems both during their lifetimes and after their demise.
Our Speakers
Dr Ingrid Pelisoli is a Royal Society University Research Fellow and Assistant Professor at the University of Warwick. Originally from Brazil, she could experience the sky with minimal light pollution and fell in love with astronomy from a young age. After obtaining a PhD in Astrophysics in Brazil, she was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Potsdam (Germany) and at the University of Warwick, where she is now the leader of the White Dwarf Binaries (WDbin) group. Her main research interests are white dwarf and hot subdwarf stars, particularly in close binary systems. These are often potential supernova 1a progenitors, which are key for understanding the expansion of the Universe, and strong gravitational wave sources that allow multi-messenger studies.
Dr Thomas Wilson is an Assistant Professor at the University of Warwick, leading a group of researchers that specialise in using space- and ground-based telescopes to discover and characterise small exoplanets orbiting compositionally diverse stars to understand their interiors and learn about habitability. He also is deeply involved in the upcoming European Space Agency PLATO mission that aims to find Earth-twins. Previously, Thomas conducted post-doctoral research at the University of St Andrews after pursuing his PhD at University College London. Before that, he spent 4 years at Cardiff University completing his undergraduate degree in Astrophysics.
LATEST BAA Education and Outreach Section Newsletter
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Please click here for the latest E&O Newsletter.
Fortnightly CAS Social (Tuesday Evening) via Zoom (Members Only)
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.
Recent Public Events
To see older events and to look at our testimonials please click here
Partial Solar Eclipse/Dyffryn Gardens 29th March 2025
From a pessimistic start and a not too optimistic forecast, the weather cooperated, clouds cleared, and we saw almost all the eclipse from first contact till the last.
A steady stream of visitors to our viewing site resulted in many oohs and wows, and even those not aware that any special celestial event was in process, came along to see what we were doing and stayed to view through SAFE specialist scopes and filters.
We aimed at an approximate event time of 10:00 am till midday to coincide with the eclipse time but in the end that was extended to 2.30 pm as interested public still came to see the Sun safely regardless of the eclipse.
We received many thankful comments, handed out information booklets about the Sun to those particularly interested including a number of children. Some had come into the Gardens especially for the solar viewing after seeing the event advertised.
Many thanks to the staff at Dyffryn Gardens for hosting the event and for their welcome.
*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
PART 2: THE SOCIETY'S UPCOMING EVENTS
Next Star Party - Oct 3rd 2025
Next Observing Session
Please see our Observing Sessions page for dates
PART 3: THE CARDIFF ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY
Introduction to CAS
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 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
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!
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Cardiff Astronomical Society 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
