Entries by Tony Symes

Thursday 8th January 2026 The Grand Tour of Ice Giant Aurorae

JWST’s transformational observations of Uranus and Neptune Professor Tom Stallard, Northumbria University (speaking remotely from Northumberland) The image is the first Neptune auroral observation since Voyager, and the starting point for our observations. At the left, an enhanced-color image of Neptune from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. At the right, that image is combined with data […]

Friday 3rd October 2025 Tycho Brahe and the Restoration of Astronomy

Dr Emma Perkins This Wikimedia image is of a mural showing Tycho Brahe taking celestial measurements in a Quadrant, and is from the Danish Royal Library. From his island observatory funded by the Danish king, astronomer Tycho Brahe (1546–1601) conducted a systematic programme of observation that would lay the foundations for significant astronomical innovations of […]

Friday 2nd May 2025 The Chemistry of the Universe

The Davy lecture (The Royal Society of Chemistry) Professor Mike G. Edmunds Friday 2nd May 2025 7.30 pm in the BRLSI, Bath, and on Zoom The infrared image of the Eagle Nebula was obtained using JWST. Stars are born inside the dense, blue-gray “pillars of creation” – vast clouds of dense interstellar gas and dust. […]

Friday 11th April 2025 Robert Hooke FRS – A half-forgotten scientific genius

Professor Alan Bassindale Friday11th April2025 7.30 pm in the BRLSI, Bath, and on Zoom The image is the flea from Micrographia by Robert Hooke Robert Hooke FRS, 1635-1703, was the first professional scientist and he played a key role in developing contemporary experimental science. He was an outstanding scientist, engineer, astronomer (laying foundations for William […]

Tuesday 11th February 2025 Looking to the Moon and Stars

Penllergare Equatorial Observatory Stuart Rice, General Manager, The Penllergare Trust Tuesday 11th February 2025 7.30 pm in the BRLSI, Bath, and on Zoom The image is a view of the observatory © Stuart Rice John Dillwyn Llewelyn presented his daughter, Thereza, with an Observatory on her 16th birthday, helping spark a family interest in astronomy […]