Laser Pens |
Maidenhead Astronomical Society may use Laser Pens as a pointer during outreach events and talks. Any such use will comply with our Laser Pen Policy, which may be downloaded from here (.pdf)
Essentially, only responsible adults pre-approved by MAS are allowed to use a laser pointer at an outreach event. Children under the age of 18 and non-approved adults are not permitted to use the laser pen at any time. Any member of the public bringing their own device (without pre-approval) is asked not to use it during one of our events (and will be asked to leave if they are not willing to comply with this request).
Future Public Events |
This page is dedicated to events promoted by Maidenhead Astronomical Society aimed at bringing an awareness and appreciation of astronomy to the general public. Almost all of the Events listed here are run by MAS (the few that are not are plainly marked)
Details of future planned events are limited to those open to the general public (Members should look in the Members Only section for details of future events not open to the public - which includes most of our local Outreach activities (schools, cubs, brownies etc)).
Future events are listed in date order, next planned first. Be aware that events can change (usually due to the weather :-) ) so please check nearer the event before making a journey
Note. MAS holds Public Liability Insurance via our membership of Federation of Astronomical Societies. The Policy Document for 2022-23 (pdf) is available on request (it can be found in the Members section)
(+) 7 Mar 2025 (and 22) Major Lunar Standstill
(+) 29 Mar 2025 Partial Solar Eclipse
(+) 12 Aug 2026 Solar Eclipse
(+) 26 Jan 2028 annular Solar Eclipse
(+) 1 Jun 2030 annular Solar Eclipse
(+) 13 Nov 2032 Transit of Mercury
(+) 7 Nov 2039 Transit of Mercury - (2nd of pair)
(+) 28 Jul 2061 Halleys Comet returns
(+) 23 Sep 2090 Total Solar Eclipse - (the next visible from UK)
Reports from our Outreach & Event activity |
Here you will find reports of MAS events held in the last 10 years or so (i.e. since the MAS web site effectively 'took over' from printed newsletters as the primary means of 'reporting back' to the membership). Some details have been removed to allow for public viewing
The Members Only section contains details of MAS History going back to our formation in 1957
(+) 23 Oct 2024 Manor Green - (outreach)
(+) 2 May 2024 Newlands Girls School - (outreach)
(+) 26 Apr 2024 1st Britwell Scouts - (outreach)
(+) 27 Feb 2024 1st Cookham Beavers(2) - (outreach)
(+) 26 Feb 2024 1st Cookham Beavers(1) - (outreach)
(+) 6 Feb 2024 7th Windsor Brownies - (outreach)
(+) 15 Jan 2024 Cookham Dean Primary School - (outreach)
(+) 12 Jan 2024 1st Cippenham Cubs - (outreach)
(+) 6 Dec 2023 Bisham Brownies - (outreach)
(+) 22 Nov 2023 Furze Platt Cubs (2nd pack) - (outreach)
(+) 21 Nov 2023 Furze Platt Cubs (1st pack) - (outreach)
(+) 10 Nov 2023 Trinity St Stephans School - (outreach)
(+) 2 Sep 2023 Cookham Regatta
(+) 19 Apr 2023 Newlands School - (outreach)
(+) 18 Mar 2023 Highfield Prep School Look to the Stars - (Public Event)
(+) 4 Mar 2023 Maidenhead Big Read - (Maidenhaed Library)
(+) 23 Feb 2023 Bourne End cubs (2nd pack) - (outreach)
(+) 22 Feb 2023 Bourne End cubs (1st pack) - (outreach)
(+) 8 Feb 2023 Western House Academy - (outreach)
(+) 18 Jan 2023 1st Cippenham Beavers - (outreach)
(+) 12 Jan 2023 6th Windsor Cubs - (outreach)
(+) 21 Nov 2022 Cookham Dean C of E School - (outreach)
(+) 12 Nov 2022 White Waltham Academy - (outreach)
(+) 8 Nov 2022 1st Maidenhead Sea Cubs (2nd visit) - (outreach)
(+) 1 Nov 2022 1st Maidenhead Sea Cubs - (outreach)
(+) 25 Oct 2022 Partial Solar Eclipse
(+) 3 Sep 2022 Cookham Regatta
(+) 15 Jun 2022 Newlands KS3 Science Club - (Outreach)
(+) 18 Mar 2022 21st Maidenhead Scouts - (outreach)
(+) 10 Mar 2022 Wargrave Cubs - (outreach)
(+) 9 Mar 2022 Wargrave Cubs - (outreach)
(+) 28 Jan 2022 Western House Academy - (Outreach)
(+) 14 Jan 2022 1st Cookham Guides - (Outreach)
(+) 9 Dec 2021 Windsor Cental Scouts 2 - (Outreach)
(+) 8 Dec 2021 Windsor Cental Scouts - (Outreach)
(+) 2 Dec 2021 Furze Platt Beavers - (Outreach)
(+) 16 Nov 2021 Cookham Beavers 2 - (Outreach)
(+) 15 Nov 2021 Cookham Beavers - (Outreach)
(+) 8 Nov 2021 Cookham Dean School - (Outreach)
(+) 4 Sep 2021 Cookham Regatta
(+) 12 Aug 2021 Perseids meteor shower - (Ockwells Park outreach)
(+) 10 Jun 2021 Solar Eclipse - (partial from UK)
(+) 4 Mar 2021 1st Maidenhead Sea Scouts - (Outreach)
(+) 27 Jan 2021 (and 28) Bourne End Cubs (Outreach)
(+) 14 Nov 2020 Covid19 CANCELLED Public Viewing Event - (White Waltham)
(+) 9 Nov 2020 Cookham Dean Primary School (ZOOM Outreach)
(+) 4 Apr 2020 Stargazing public event - (POSTPONED)
(+) 21 Nov 2019 Central Windsor Scouts (Outreach)
(+) 11 Nov 2019 19th Maidenhead Beavers (Outreach)
(+) 11 Nov 2019 Transit of Mercury (2nd of pair)
(+) 4 Nov 2019 Cookham Dean Primary School - (Outreach)
(+) 10 Oct 2019 Holy Trinity School yr3 - (Outreach)
(+) 7 Sep 2019 Cookham Regatta
(+) 29 Aug 2019 Maidenhead Library (Outreach)
(+) 19 Aug 2019 Childrens Reading Challenge Maidenhead Library - (Outreach)
(+) 20 Jul 2019 50th Anniversary of the Moon Landing - (Maidenhead Festival)
(+) 4 Apr 2019 Newlands School (Outreach)
(+) 28 Mar 2019 Bourne End Cubs (Outreach)
(+) 14 Mar 2019 Furze Platt Beavers (Outreach)
(+) 24 Feb 2019 Furze Platt cubs (Outreach)
(+) 15 Feb 2019 Scouts (Outreach)
(+) 15 Feb 2019 13th Maidenhead Scouts (Outreach)
(+) 7 Feb 2019 Burchetts Green Infant School - (Outreach)
(+) 24 Jan 2019 Sea Scouts (Outreach)
(+) 29 Nov 2018 ALLsorts (Outreach)
(+) 18 Nov 2018 Furze Platt Cubs (Outreach)
(+) 7 Nov 2018 Furze Platt Cubs (Outreach)
(+) 5 Nov 2018 Cookham Dean Primary School (Outreach)
(+) 20 Oct 2018 Furze Platt Beavers (Outreach)
(+) 10 Oct 2018 WILLIAM LASSELL by Kenlem England (MAS) - (Maidenhead Heritage Centre)
(+) 11 Aug 2018 CANCELLED Persieds Observing - (Ockwells Park)
(+) 27 Jul 2018 Total Lunar Eclipse
(+) 30 Jun 2018 (end) Maidenhead Week - (Lassell at Heritage Center)
(+) 23 May 2018 Wycombe Abbey School (Outreach)
(+) 12 May 2018 Lassell grave clear up
(+) 11 May 2018 Lassell grave tidy up
(+) 8 May 2018 9th Maidenhead Brownies - (Outreach)
(+) 28 Apr 2018 Maidenhead Arts Festival
(+) 18 Mar 2018 1st Furze Platt Brownies - (Outreach)
(+) 19 Feb 2018 Winter Hill Beavers - (Outreach)
(+) 18 Jan 2018 1st Maidenhead Beavers - (Outreach)
(+) 13 Dec 2017 Geminids meteor watch - (Ockwells Park)
(+) 22 Nov 2017 Cookham Dean CE Primary School - (Outreach)
(+) 18 Nov 2017 PUBLIC EVENT Leonids meteor watch - (at White Waltham)
(+) 6 Nov 2017 2nd Woodlands Park Rainbows - (Outreach)
(+) 5 Oct 2017 Harvest Moon - (official)
(+) 22 Sep 2017 Autumn Equinox - (early Harvest Moon)
(+) 21 Aug 2017 Solar Eclipse - (partial from UK)
(+) 12 Aug 2017 Perseid Meteor Watch - (Ockwells Park)
(+) 9 Jun 2017 MAS 60th Anniversary Meal - (Members and guest only)
(+) 1 Apr 2017 Stargazing Live
(+) 8 Mar 2017 1st Stoke Poges Guide Unit - (Outreach)
(+) 7 Mar 2017 19th Maidenhead Cubs - (Outreach)
(+) 21 Feb 2017 Furze Platt Cub Pack - (Outreach)
(+) 7 Feb 2017 St Pirans School - (Outreach)
(+) 7 Feb 2017 1st Wargrave Cubs - (Outreach)
(+) 2 Feb 2017 Wildcats Cubs Wargrave - (Outreach)
(+) 19 Dec 2016 Cookham Dean Primary School - (Outreach)
(+) 25 Nov 2016 Bayfordbury Observatory - (members visit)
(+) 17 Nov 2016 Taplow Brownies - (Outreach)
(+) 21 Oct 2016 Lowbrook Academy Science Week - (Outreach)
(+) 17 Oct 2016 19th Maidenhead Beavers - (Outreach)
(+) 17 Oct 2016 Holy Trinity School Science Week - (Outreach)
(+) 10 Sep 2016 Pinkneys Scout Camp - (Outreach)
(+) 11 Aug 2016 Perseid meteor watch - (Ockwells Park)
(+) 11 May 2016 1st Datchet Cub Pack - (Outreach)
(+) 9 May 2016 Transit of Mercury - (Public observing at Ockwells)
(+) 9 May 2016 Parkinsons UK at SportsAble - (outreach)
(+) 30 Mar 2016 Claires Court Holiday Club - (Outreach)
(+) 16 Mar 2016 Trinity St Stephens First School - (Outreach)
(+) 15 Mar 2016 Eton End School - (Outreach)
(+) 14 Mar 2016 Holy Trinity Primary School - (Outreach)
(+) 26 Feb 2016 Pinkneys Green and Boyne Hill Altwood Scouts - (outreach)
(-) 11 Feb 2016 Cox Green School STEM - (Outreach)
Thursday, 11th Feb 2016, STEM at Cox Green School
Present: Andy, Robin & Steve (report by Steve)
"What's STEM ?" I asked when Andy (who is a 'STEM Ambassador') first 'booked' us in for this. Well, it's "Science Technology Engineering and Maths" and, it seems, is the current name for 'General Science' which has lost out to the Arts (when it comes to resources) in recent years.
So, what did they expect from us ? I suggested a few possible 'techi' topics ("How to build a photoframe using the Raspberry Pi" being one of them) but it seemed the idea was to present the pupils with some examples of how STEM leads to a successful and interesting career by having us 'old boys' talk about 'how we got to where we are today'. So, with an opportunity to do a bit of boasting, I quickly threw together half a dozen PowerPoint slides about my working life.
Just as I was adding a few 'Q & A' slides to the end (of the Q. "How many people worked there ?", A. "about half of them" style) we received a copy of the organisers 'publicity' flyer for our approval and I discovered we would be presenting a Lecture entitled 'Are we alone in the Universe ?' !
Well, SETI was one of the topics I suggested, and it being one of my prime interests, I just dug out the old presentation I did for MAS and updated it a bit. Two weeks later and it was 'almost perfect' (102 slides with lots of images and background music .. running time about 2 hrs) = at which point Andy suggested I needed to keep it down to less than 20 mins !! Rather than 'slash and burn' the presentation, I decided to get through as much as I could in the time available and stop at a 'sensible' point ...
On the day I started to panic as I had seen an eMail suggesting an 11.30am start (which made sense for a school class time thing) whilst another suggested 4.30pm ... fortunately I soon had the 4.30pm 'confirmed' as our arrival time for a 5pm start. On arrival we discovered the usual tiny screen and decided to get out own. Whilst arranging our screen I managed to slice the top of my thumb, which was soon dripping blood onto the rest of my gear - fortunately the organiser was able to find me an antiseptic wipe and cotton wad to stem the flow (many thanks)
Soon the pre-booked audience was arriving (I think about 22) and we had an agreed 'running order' = Andy would start (along with a few slides on the size of the Universe), followed by Robin (who did bit about water on Mars and the New Horizons mission to Pluto) and I would bring up the rear (with SETI) in whatever time was left. We all started by mentioning what we had studied at University and I was interested to see both Andy and Robin had a lot more letters after their names than I :-)
Andy presented a good overview of the size of the Universe and of our Galaxy in particular. His analogy of 'how long to fly (by commercial airliner)' from the Earth to the Planets, nearest star and Andromeda helped to highlight the huge distances involved.
I noted that Robin had worked with valve technology at the 'dawn of computing' and when he mentioned his R&D work on Telephone Exchange switch-gear (photo, right) I was tempted to ask him if he had assisted Tommy Flowers at Bletchley Park :-)
His main presentation covered the (purely chemical) Mars 'methane' cycle (methane otherwise being an indication of biological action i.e. life), the discovery of water flows (water being essential for 'life as we know it') and the (continuing) search for life by the Opportunity rover. He also presented the latest photos from the New Horizons (Pluto flyby) probe.
Of course, logically, Robin should have started with the 'planets', then Andy with 'galatic' distances after which I would end with SETI - however this was our first attempt at STEM and we can only get better. Needless to say, we all 'over-ran' talking about our careers, so by 6pm I had not yet started the SETI presentation.
So we gave the audience an opportunity to leave (which, I'm pleased to say, only a few took up) and then I started 'for real'. After about 20-25 mins, I had only just reached the definition of the Drake Equation (about 21 slides in) so decided to 'call it a day' with Frank Drakes estimate of 10,000 (alien civilisations in our Galaxy 'now'). I ended with few words contrasting Drakes (rather optimistic) estimate with my own estimate of 'about' 280, which, I suggested, provides an answer to the Fermi Paradox (ET exists, but is so far away - 2,000-4000 LY - that they haven't bothered to visit us here (yet)).
(the photo, left, is my home SETI 'Classic' setup, which ran from about 1999-2005 and would have appeared on about slide 69 :-) )
As we packed up a few of the audience came up and asked questions - one was 'How could we stop a (dinosaur killer sized) comet/asteroid hitting the Earth ?'. Whilst I was tempted to say 'we could just nuke it', I felt he deserved a sensible reply, without any of that Hollywood nonsense, so I chatted about painting one side black (so it absorbed more sunlight and caused more out-gassing) or using a small ion engine to give it a shove and the fact that the further away we 'spotted' a potential 'collider' the smaller the 'nudge' would be needed to make it miss the Earth completely.
We were away by about 6.45 - of course, I managed to drive off with the 'Visitors Badge' (sorry, but I did return it the following day).
This note last modified: 17th Feb 2016 10:21.