2025/2026 Talks
Our talks are usually held in person in the Trevithick Theatre at Cardiff University.
Booking is not required, however, if you are new to the Society please let us know when you arrive so we can give you a warm welcome. We kindly ask current members to bring their membership cards or membership number.
There is no requirement to wear a mask whilst on the premises; however, you are welcome to wear one should you wish.
Our talks usually start at 7.30 p.m. and are hosted by the School of Physics and Astronomy at:
Cardiff University
Queen's Buildings
The Parade
Cardiff
CF24 3AA
All attendees are kindly invited to sign the visitors' book upon arrival!
Next Talk:
Thursday 11th June - "Discovering the Solar System" Dr Jane Clark, CAS Chair
With our apologies, the Micro-Meteorites talk has been postponed due to a change in the speaker's availability. We will seek to reschedule this talk.
Talk Description
An ancient Greek scholar discovered the Solar System, but he was disbelieved by his peers, and his work was lost. This was a missed opportunity: a great "might have been". It took another 1700 years to rediscover the Solar System; and Renaissance scholars had to invent the science of physics to demonstrate that this was the case. I was taught parts of this story at school, but what I was taught is not quite what happened. This talk will tell you what did happen.
Speaker Biography
Dr Jane Clark has been an observational amateur astronomer for 20 years now. In that time she has worked out the orbits of most Solar System bodies from her own observations, and had read many of the works of early astronomers in the original, not the summaries that appear in textbooks. She has recently been elected Chair of the Cardiff Astronomical Society.
| Date | Description | Speaker |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | ||
| 4th September | The Chemistry of the Universe | Professor Mike Edmunds |
| 18th September | The History of Sir Fred Hoyle | Dr Simon Mitton, St Edmunds, Cambridge |
| 2nd October | CAS Museum Exhibit - Private Showing | Tiffany Kew, CAS |
| 16th October | Why Chile is the best place in the world for astronomy | Dr Roger Wesson, Cardiff University |
| 30th October | Second Star to the Right: a History of Celestial Navigation | Phill Wallace JP FRAS |
| 13th November | Exoplanets with high dynamic range | Prof Hugh Jones, University of Hertfordshire |
| 27th November | The Original Orion | Dr Nik Whitehead, Uni of Wales Trinity St Davids |
| 11th December | The sixty-four-trillion-mile tape measure | Dr Jane Clark, CAS and David Bennett, BAS |
| 2026 | ||
| 8th January | Trapping nanoparticles and what we can learn about space weather | Dr James Bateman, Swansea University |
| 22nd January | Wales In Space | Dr Rosie Cane, Space Wales |
| 5th February | How to design a space telescope | Dr Lorenzo Mugnai, Cardiff University |
| 19th February | From the South Pole to Outer Space: Concordia research and ESA astronaut training - ZOOM EVENT | Dr Meganne Christian, UK Space Agency |
| 5th March | Astronomy and Art: Universal Appeal? | Dr Andy Newsam, Liverpool John Moores University |
| 19th March | Phosphine on Venus | Professor Jane Greaves, Cardiff University |
| 2nd April | Keeping Space Safe: How Advances in Space Domain Awareness and Space Traffic Control could affect you | David Sulley, UK Space Agency |
| 16th April | AGM | CAS Trustees |
| 30th April | Astrophotography, Astronomy and Telescope Making | Martin Budzynski, Crewkerne & District Astronomical Society |
| 14th May | Listening to Space - Gravitational Waves | Dr Vivien Raymond, Cardiff University |
| 28th May | Space Weather: What it is and how it can affect systems on Earth | Dr Biagio Forte, University of Bath |
| 11th June | Discovering the Solar System | Dr Jane Clark, CAS Chair |
| 25th June | Living with a star: solar activity and space weather - ZOOM EVENT | Professor Lyndsay Fletcher, University of Glasgow |
| 9th July | The Drake Equation | Dr Jeni Millard |