Abingdon Astronomical Society

Abingdon Astronomical Society Oxfordshire's largest amateur astronomical society. http://abingdonastro.org.uk/

Abingdon Astronomical Society (AAS) is the largest amateur astronomy society in Oxfordshire serving Oxford, UK and the surrounding region. We promote public interest in astronomy in southern and western Oxfordshire through a varied programme of meetings and observing evenings for all experience levels. Our closeness to both the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (Oxfordshire's "Space Centre") and to t

he University of Oxford ensures a steady stream of high-quality lectures. These, together with our more informal Beginners' Meetings and monthly observing evenings, must make us the most active amateur astronomical society in the county.

20/03/2026

The Oxford Mail has a tribute to Owen today 😢

17/03/2026

I have some very sad news. Owen Brazell, a member of this page, Chairman of Abingdon Astronomical Society, a speaker at many other Astronomical Societies, President of The Webb Deep-Sky Society, regular contributor to the Astronomy Now magazine with the Deep Sky Challenge section, and friend for many years, died in a fatal car crash yesterday morning, on his way to the Kelling Heath Star Party.
He knew so much about deep sky observing and was a regular at the Spring and Autumn Star Camps in Kielder and Kelling.
He had been involved with Abingdon Astronomical Society since the 1990s and was a driving force as our Chairman.

Condolences to his family and to everyone who knew him.
He will be greatly missed by us all!

Rest in peace Owen

Steve

13/03/2026

Just a quick note to remind you that the beginners meeting this month is next Monday 16th April so it is early this month. The meeting will be at the usual venue and talks to include Observing planetary moons and Weather Apps

07/03/2026

Just a reminder that March’s main meeting is this Monday 9th March at the usual venue. The talk will be on studies of Supernova 1987a using the JWST and ALMA. The after tea talk is by Ian on imaging (I assume planetary nebulae 😊) The meeting is at the usual venue and starts at 20:00. Hope to see you all there.

06/02/2026

Just a short note to remind you of the Feb Main meeting on Monday 9th Feb at the usual meeting place. Unfortunately Our speaker has dropped out but we have a replacement in Dr Bethan, also Ox Uni.

Talk is 'Mars' atmospheric evolution: water loss and lessons for Planetary Habitability'.

Hopefully this will give a break from the appalling weather we seem to be suffering from with no end In sight through late Feb. I wonder if this is impacting astronomy kit sales.

23/01/2026

Just a short note to remind you that the January beginners meeting will be on Monday 26th at the usual venue. The meeting starts at 20:00 and topics to include a beginners guide to planetary imaging and Brown Dwarfs. Hope to see you there.

09/01/2026

Just an update and reminder that our first meeting of 2026 is on Monday 12th January at the usual meeting place. Unfortunately our planned speaker could not make it and Dr Chris Pearson is stepping into the breach. His topic will be

Title: The Square Kilometre Array: Big Data and Transformational Science
Synopsis: The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) will become the next generation radio telescope for astronomy. The SKA observatory comprises of two telescope arrays across three continents and when finished around 2030 will be the largest scientific facility in the history of humankind. The SKA will address and answer key scientific questions, ranging from the origins of the structure we see in our Universe today to the cradle and origins of life. Such a large facility will naturally create vast amounts of data, around 10 million Gigabytes per hour of operation, that raises new challenges in engineering and computing. This talk will give an overview into the engineering and computational challenges that need to be met and the transformational science the SKA will deliver.

Bio if required:
Dr Chris Pearson is head of the Astrophysics programme at RAL Space. His PhD was in “Galaxy Evolution and Cosmology" with Prof. Michael Rowan-Robinson at Imperial College, London and has worked on large galaxy surveys for both ground based telescopes and space borne missions. He worked for 7 years in Japan on the AKARI space telescope before moving to the UK to RAL Space to work on the Herschel Space Observatory. He now works on the ARIEL mission searching for exoplanets and the Square Kilometre Array radio telescope, the largest scientific facility in the history of humankind.

As always the meeting starts at 20:00.

05/12/2025

Our last meeting of 2025 takes place on Monday 8th December (next Monday) at the usual venue. The talk starts at 20:00 and will be on Sending humans to Mars and the Mars Society and hopefully an after tea talk, although I am short on volunteers for that.

Hope to see you there.

29/11/2025

Just a quick reminder that Decembers beginners meeting is this coming Monday 1st December at the usual venue. Meeting starts at 20:00 and talks to include buying your first telescope and Orion. Hope to see you there.

07/11/2025

Just a quick reminder that the November main meeting is on Monday 10th November at 20:00. This will be at the usual venue. The talk will be on Visiting asteroids, comets and KBOs
By Jon Pineau. This is the only meeting for this month as the usual beginners meeting will be replaced by a social get together. The next beginners meeting is on the 1st December.

06/11/2025

It seems there was a strong Auroral storm last night, although we missed it due to cloud and strong moonlight. The space weather forecasts suggests that there is a chance over the next few days for more, if the cloud breaks which is unfortunately unlikely. If it does then it is worth checking north.

27/10/2025

Sorry with everything that is going on I forgot that tonight is the Octobers beginners meeting. The meeting starts at 20:00 at the usual venue and the talks will be on Jupiter and NEO’s (Near Earth Objects)

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Abingdon-on-Thames

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