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. Our Policy Document for 2017-18 is available as a PDF download here
(+) 11 Nov 2019 Transit of Mercury (2nd of pair)
(+) 10 Jun 2021 Solar Eclipse - (partial from UK)
(+) 25 Oct 2022 Partial Solar Eclipse
(+) 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
(+) 28 Jul 2061 Hallys 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
(+) 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)
(+) 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)
(+) 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)
Tuesday am, 7th Feb. 2017 - St. Pirans (Outreach)
Present: Robin, Adrian, Steve, with Jo providing 'on-site' assistance
(report by Steve)
The first of a 'double' today, and a 'biggie' (47 6-7yr olds in total) !
For once the sun was shining, so although we were due to deliver indoor talks I added my solar projection 'kit' (white-board and garden chair) to the car load 'just in case'. On arrival at about 10:10, I discovered Robin and Adrian had already signed in but were nowhere in sight. The school site is quite large, with buildings rather spread out, so I had to wait for Jo to guide me to our venue !
Two car parking spaces had been reserved for us (many thanks), right next to the Hall, so unloading was a lot easier than it might have been. We had the use of two relatively small 'classroom' sized rooms, so we immediately decided to split the class into two groups (and run through the presentations twice). Robin would deliver the Constellations using the schools own 'beamer' and Adrian would do the Moon talk in the same room, whilst I would do the Solar System in the longer of the two rooms (even so 'noodles' (Neptune) would end up out the door and into the other room !)
Since there were 3 classes attending, Jo immediately went off to warn the Teachers that one class would have to be split in two. With that sorted out, the children soon started to arrive and I started my first talk to a group of 23 at about about 10:50. Since they had been studying the Planets ("My Very Excellent Mother Just Served Us Noodles"), they were quite able to 'name that Planet' from the very first clue = in fact sometimes I hadn't even finished asking the question before a forest of hands shot up !
Meanwhile in the other room, Adrian reports :-
After Robin's introduction, on this occasion as an experiment Adrian gave the Constellations talk using some static 'high-visibility' charts instead of our usual Stellarium presentation. The charts are a bit easier than Stellarium to see in daytime when rooms can't be fully darkened, but they lack the movement and zooming-in that Stellarium provides and they need a better story to go along with them - so a mixed success.
Photo left (by Jo K), Adrian and Robin demonstrate how the Moon phases are caused
At Adrian's suggestion I 'padded out' the talk by taking questions as I went along, so the 30 mins. went all too fast. After taking a few extra questions at the end of the Planet positioning (and whilst Jo was good enough to re-pack the Planets for the next group) I detected 'signs from the doorway' which indicated the 'changeover'.
Photo right (by Jo K), I compare the size of Proxima Centauri (nearest star to our own) with that of the Sun (orange 'segment' behind)I then re-ran the Planets 'Q and A' with the second group (24) and once again was amazed at how knowledgeable they all were. With a little more time for questions I was soon stumped by 'what does Neptune weight ?'
After looking this up, the weight (mass) of the inner Planets, relative to Earth (100%) is: Mercury 5.5%, Venus 81.5%, Mars 10.7%
The outer Planets are all multiple times heavier (more massive) than the Earth: Jupiter 318x, Saturn x95, Uranus 14.6x, Neptune 17.2x
The Sun is about 333,000x heavier (more massive) than the Earth (and about 745x heavier than all the planets put together)
We then recombined the groups into the main room and delivered a very fast 'Telescope talk' to wrap up, only over-running by 5 minutes or so (to 12:05) !
As we were packing up and talking about the next Outreach event (this evening), Adrian mentioned our 3rd one (already planned) for later this week - lucky really as I had forgotten about it !
This note last modified: 8th Feb 2017 22:09.