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!
11th December 2025: "The sixty-four-trillion-mile tape measure" - Dr Jane Clark, CAS and David Bennett, BAS
Talk Description
Sixty four trillion miles - that's how far away nearby stars are. Nobody came up with a credible measurement until Friedrich Bessell managed this feat in 1838. Jane and Dave are trying to detect the parallax to enable them to calculate the distances to nearby stars. They have had to overcome many difficulties. Tiny effects like annual aberration and the precession of the equinoxes, not to mention the shimmer caused by the Earth's atmosphere, can completely swamp the effect they are looking for. The time the light takes to travel to our telescopes is also significant. So, can we overcome these challenges? They are still gathering observational data, and will give an account of the state of play at the time of the talk.
Speaker Biography
Jane Clark has been an amateur astronomer for nearly 20 years now. Her activities are inspired by her background as a retired professional physicist. She has written on how to measure orbits of planets, and on astrophotography. Her latest book is Photographing Galaxies from Light Polluted Skies, published in 2025 by Springer. Looking for a new challenge, she joined David Bennet to try to measure the distance to a nearby star or two. She is minuting Secretary and Vice Chair of Cardiff Astronomical Society.
David Bennett is the Observatory Manager of Bristol Astronomical Society. He is heavily involved in measuring transits of exoplanets in front of their parent stars, and is a skilled astrophotographer. He has joined Jane Clark to try to measure the distance to a nearby star or two.
| 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 | The Secret History of a Space Telescope | Professor Stephen Eales, 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 | Gravitational Waves (Title TBC) | 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 | Micro-Meteorites | Emma Wride, Director of AstroCymru |
| 25th June | Living with a star: solar activity and space weather - ZOOM EVENT | Professor Lyndsay Fletcher, University of Glasgow |
| 9th July |