The society hosts monthly public lectures presented by industry or academic experts in the Whittle Theatre at the Cody Technology Park. There is a small charge for non-members to attend these public lectures.
We also host smaller, more informal presentations for members at the Observatory as part of our basic astronomy sessions and our CARS (Cosmology, Astronomy & Rocket Science) programme.
All of the meetings are free to members.
Forthcoming Lectures and Events:
Tuesday 15th July 2025
7:30pm - The Observatory
CARS #27 - Cosmology, Astronomy & Rocket Science
CARS are informal gatherings to watch videos related to cosmology, astronomy, rocket science and other topics of mutual interest, and to chat about them.
The videos for CARS 27 will be:
1. Astronomy: The planet closer to the Sun than Mercury: Vulcan
2. Physics: How does Mercury's orbit prove General Relativity?
3. Cosmology: How many black holes are in the Solar System?
4. Cosmology: How does gravity escape a black hole?
5. Physics: Quantum gravity
6. Rocket Science: The speed of constant thrust space travel
Thursday 7th August 2025
7:30pm - The Observatory
Club Night
Our regular, first Thursday in the month, evening session to meet up, chat, discuss astronomy and any other areas of interest. You can bring in your equipment and compare the size of the telescopes and potentially maybe even observe objects in the night sky - weather permitting of course.
It’s a great opportunity to meet and get to know new members of the society and also to help each other out with the technical or equipment issues we’ve all encountered.
No booking, just turn up if you can for this one..
Tuesday 2nd September 2025
7:30pm - The Observatory
CARS #28 - Cosmology, Astronomy & Rocket Science
CARS are informal gatherings to watch videos related to cosmology, astronomy, rocket science and other topics of mutual interest, and to chat about them.
The videos for CARS 28 will be:
TBA
Thursday 11th September 2025
7:30pm - Whittle Lecture Theatre
Astronomical Equipment trends & developments
Presented by Grant Bowskill - First Light Optics
Grant will present recent changes in astronomical equipment trends for amateurs, how the industry has changed in recent years and new and upcoming developments.
He will also go through a range of new and exciting products that you may not have heard of before including any last minute, up to date announcements and a sneak preview of anything incoming.
Grant is an avid amateur astronomer, particularly passionate about astrophotography, astronomy gear, remote observatories, and public outreach. With a background in web development and IT, he has worked for First Light Optics, an astronomy retailer, since its inception and recently became its CEO.
Grant is also one of the administrators of the Stargazers Lounge forum and the developer behind Clear Outside and Astronomy.Tools. Additionally, he serves as the treasurer of his local astronomy society, Letchworth and District Astronomy Society.
Please book with Phil Alner Please click here to reserve your place.
Thursday 9th October 2025
7:30pm - Whittle Lecture Theatre
How To Grow Supermassive Black Holes
Presented by Prof Matthew Middleton - University of Southampton
Supermassive black holes (SMBHs) are believed to be ubiquitous within the central core of galaxies. But how they formed remains a mystery. It is certainly likely that they grew by a combination of accretion of matter and black hole mergers. The latter is expected to be subdominant, requiring accretion to be the major avenue of growth. However, observations of the early universe have presented a major challenge, as many SMBHs are observed to be fully grown when the Universe was only a few 100 million years old! To solve this problem, we are required to understand a regime of accretion dubbed ‘Super-Eddington’. My talk will focus on how this regime of accretion operates, how it can explain the discovery of ‘little red dots’ by the James Webb Space Telescope, and where missing physics is opening up exciting avenues of exploration.
Prof Middleton is an expert in the physics of accretion onto compact objects (neutron stars and black holes) and works across theory, observation and experiment. He has been a permanent member of academic staff at the University of Southampton since 2016. Prof Middleton is active within the UK Space Science community as Vice President of the Royal Astronomical Society and as Chair of the Space Science and Exploration Working Group of the Space Academic Network (SPAN).
Please book with Phil Alner Please click here to reserve your place.
Tuesday 9th December 2025
7:30pm - Whittle Lecture Theatre
Amateur Imaging of the Night-side of Venus
Presented by Martin Lewis - West of London Astronomical Society
Normally Venus’s 460°C surface is hidden from view by a thick, dense layer of cloud. Imaging at around 1000nm however this cloud layer becomes partly transparent, allowing the thermal radiation from the hot surface to be detected. This is a talk about this imaging challenge of recording the surface of this near neighbour in space and how in recent years amateurs have been able to record variations in height of the surface and other transient features. The talk is illustrated with images from amateurs across the world and by the author’s own images taken from his back garden in St Albans in 2020, 2023 and in early 2025.
Martin has had a fascination for all things in the sky since he was young. He is a professional engineer and part-time planetary imager, telescope builder, and deep sky sketcher. He images using his home-built 444mm and 222mm Dobsonian telescopes, both used on a home-built equatorial platform, from his garden in St. Albans, Hertfordshire. Martin has been shortlisted in the Astronomy Photographer of the Year for the last 8 years, primarily in the Planets section, and has been a category winner twice. This year he is a judge on the competition. Martin is also treasurer of the West of London AS (WOLAS), an equipment advisor in the BAA’s Equipment and Techniques section and assistant to the Mars section director.
Please book with Phil Alner Please click here to reserve your place.
Previous Lectures and Events:
Tuesday 17th June 2025
7:30pm - The Observatory
CARS #26 - Cosmology, Astronomy & Rocket Science
CARS are informal gatherings to watch videos related to cosmology, astronomy, rocket science and other topics of mutual interest, and to chat about them.
The videos for CARS 26 will be:
Physics: General Relativity Explained in Seven Levels of Difficulty
Physics: Gravity Might be a Force After All
Cosmology: Does the Universe Spin Once Every 500 Billion Years?
Astronomy: The Deepest We Have Ever Seen into the Sun
Rocket Science: Why Nuclear Rockets are Going to Change Spaceflight
Wednesday June 11th 2025
7:30pm - Whittle Lecture Theatre
Cody Annual General Meeting (AGM) for 10 minutes, followed by
A presentation of “Astronomical Oddities” by Tony Roberts - Croydon AS Chair
The history of astronomy is littered with facts that were right at the time but which we now know were wrong. But why did they think they were right.
Tonight we will look at some of these and the astronomers responsible and at one which wasn’t so much wrong as deliberately misleading for profit!
Tony Roberts has been looking at the heavens since a young boy in the 60’s. Chairman at Croydon Astronomical Society, Edenbridge and District Astronomers and also SAGAS, he is also a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society with 41 years standing.
Mainly involved in public outreach now, his observing interests are comets and variable stars.
Please book with Phil Alner Please click here to reserve your place.