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
(+) 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)
Wednesday, 16th March 2016, Trinity St Stephens First School
Present: Robin, Adrian, Steve and Tim (for the Evening session)
Report by Steve
The final Outreach of the week and this one really was a 'main event', with 3 planned sessions, Morning, Afternoon and Evening, from 10.30am to 8pm !
Before leaving home I had a quick look at the sky which revealed about 50% fluffy white clouds with more coming in from the east. Ever hopeful for a chance of some observing, I checked the Metcheck site for SL6 and discovered they were forecasting clear sky's from 6pm, the exact start of our the planned evening session !
The Morning session (10.30-11.30)
Fortunately Robin phoned to check I was bringing the screen, since I casually mentioned 'arriving at 10.30' and he had to correct me - "it's a 10.30 start, so you need to arrive at 10 !". In the event, when I arrived at 9.55 I discovered both Robin and Adrian had arrived almost half-an-hour earlier !
We unpacked into the main hall and setup our beamer and screen. As soon as we turned it on we discovered a problem - there were no blinds to cut-out the light in the very well lit hall (it even had sky lights in the roof !) and the display was almost too 'washed out' to see ! So we decided to check out the schools own projector and screen - but this was not much better. However a combination of our projector and their screen (rather smaller than ours) worked well - the smaller screen meaning the light was more 'concentrated'.
Soon our audience started to arrive - about 100 students in total ! Robin started with a shortened 'finding Polaris' and then Adrian delivered an 'advanced' Moon phases talk, with some 'cut-out' illustrations and Robin doing the 'moon walk'. With the aid of a lamp he even showed how the Moon causes a Solar Eclipse.
Next up it was my turn and this time the 'string' was run straight up the center of the hall. I launched into the 'planet quiz' and discovered one of the students was way too advanced for me - he 'named that planet' almost before I had finished the question ! Robin assisted with planet placement and even volunteered to take Proxima Centauri to London.
I then took questions and was amazed at the very advanced topics they wanted to discuss - black holes being a favorite. Soon we were told to finish up as the hall was needed for lunch .. so we 'stacked' the kit to one side whilst I setup the Photo Frame (which was left running over lunch)
For us it was off to the local for a bite to eat. As we walked to the pub, the clouds were starting to clear a bit, so things were looking good for the afternoon solar observing.
The Afternoon session (13:15-15:00)
During the hour or so we had lunch the clouds gathered and by the time we got back it was plain there would be no sun that afternoon. So we turned to the Scale Solar System movie which we would follow by a telescope talk in groups. Despite checking out kit in advance, Robins laptop played movie without sound, however Robin rose to the occasion and managed an impromptu 'talk over' !
After showing our telescopes to all 3 groups (all of whom had numerous questions) the second class came in.
This was larger (maybe about 27 or so), and this time Robins laptop decided to 'behave' and played the movie just fine [methinks he should get something a bit more reliable than "real player" - everyone should stick to VLC, an open source media player rather than risk being "DRM'd" by anything that came with their Microsoft system :-)]. The class was broken into groups of 9 and we each delivered our telescope talk 3 times (or was it 4 ? I lost track at one point ...)
Soon after 3pm the kids started to depart for home and Robin treated me to a very nice Pizza (and Adrian to a Lasagne) at a local Italian Restaurant. As we walked back it was obvious the clouds had gathered again and it wasn't gong to be a good evening.
The Evening session (18:00-20:00)
Tim joined us
The idea was to do a bit of star gazing with the parents (and any teachers who had not had enough of us :-)
Tim wanted to show an 'occultation - a star disappearing behind the Moon - so we set up he projector and screen outside (under a roofed over section) and Robin helped me tape up and tie down the screen as the wind started to gust.
The 95% cloud at 5.30pm turned into virtually 100% by 6pm (so much for the morning forecast). Even so, by 6pm students and parents started to turn up. Soon we had an audience of about 30 children with at least the same number of parents.
Robin delivered an off-the-cuff talk (with the aid of Stellarium) indoors, focusing on 'what you might have seen (if it wasn't so cloudy)' whilst Tim persevered outside hoping for some breaks in the cloud. When I went out after 45 mins or so, Tim had managed to record a few minutes of the moon which he was able to play back on a 'loop'.
So I went in to announce the good news and suggest anyone who was interested might like to have a look - of course 60 or 70 people rushed out to see what Tim had recorded. Over the next half hour or so a few more breaks in the cloud revealed the moon.
Back inside, at least 4 of the parents had turned up with telescopes. So Robin, Adrian and myself gave them a few tips on 'best use' (stick to the 20mm eyepiece, focus on the moon (and align your finder scope) etc.
Outside, Tim reported that, despite the clouds, the projected "live" webcam video was very successful (and he is eager to try it again at our next evening outreach event).
With no further break in the clouds, the visitors started to leave and we started to pack up at about 7.45 and were out on time by 8.
This was a very tiring but rewarding day - we were most impressed at the knowledge of the students and enthusiasm of the parents who turned out despite the almost 100% cloud.
This note last modified: 21st Mar 2016 14:04.