Institute of Physics South Central Branch

07/08/2026

Any IOP members near Fordingbridge or Ringwood are welcome to attend Fordingbridge Astronomers on Wednesday 19th August, starting at 7.30pm for an Informal Social event.

For more information go to

Fordingbridge Astronomers is a group of amateur astronomers who meet regularly around Fordingbridge, Ringwood and Verwood to share their enjoyment of astronomy.

03/08/2026

Any IOP members near Fordingbridge or Ringwood (or any member can join on zoom) are welcome to attend Fordingbridge Astronomers on Wednesday 16th September, starting at 7.30pm. Michael Barratt will be presenting ‘Volcanoes in the Solar System’.

For more information go to https://www.fordingbridgeastro.org.uk/

Image credit: ESA/DLR/FUBerlin/AndreaLuck

06/07/2026

Any IOP members near Wimborne (or any member can join on zoom) are welcome to attend Wessex Astronomical Society's monthly meeting at Allendale Hall, on Tuesday 7th July, starting at 7.45pm (hall opens at 7:30pm), or on Zoom. Current chair, Kate Eiloart, will be presenting the talk ‘Titan: The Solar System’s most intriguing moon’.

For more information go to https://wessex-astro.org.uk/
Image credit: Dione behind Titan by Cassini, NASA / JPL

22/06/2026

IOP members are invited to attend, on zoom, the BNSS Astronomy meeting on Tuesday 21 July 2026, starting at 7:30pm. James Fradgley will give four Short Astronomy Talks:

Blue Stragglers
Tidal Disruption Events
Where did Earth's water come from?
"The Hayashi track" (the early life of a sun-like star).

For more information go to:
https://bnss.org.uk/sections/astronomy/ or
https://www.facebook.com/BournemouthNaturalScienceSociety
Image Credit: BNSS

01/06/2026

Any IOP members near Fordingbridge or Ringwood (or any member can join on zoom) are welcome to attend Fordingbridge Astronomers on Wednesday 10th June, starting at 7.30pm. Paul Fellows will be presenting ‘Quark Stars and Strange Matter’.

For more information go to https://www.fordingbridgeastro.org.uk/

Image credit: NASA/SAO/CXC/J.Drake et al. [RX J1856.5-3754 and 3C58: Cosmic X-rays May Reveal New Form of Matter].

08/05/2026

Any IOP members near Wimborne (or any member can join on zoom) are welcome to attend Wessex Astronomical Society's monthly meeting at Allendale Hall, on Tuesday 12th May, starting at 7.45pm (hall opens at 7:30pm), or on Zoom. Prof. Nils Andersson will be presenting their talk entitled, ‘Gravitational wave astronomy: The black-hole hunters”.

Please note this meeting will be held in the Quarterjack Suite near the tea-coffee room. This is due to an unexpected change in scheduling at the Allendale Centre.

For more information go to https://wessex-astro.org.uk/
Image credit: R. Hurt/Caltech-JPL

06/05/2026

Any IOP members near Fordingbridge or Ringwood (or any member can join on zoom) are welcome to attend Fordingbridge Astronomers on Wednesday 20th May, starting at 7.30pm. Kevin Quinn will be presenting ‘I am not an Astronomer, but that’s okay - Is there a role for ‘back yard’ visual Astronomy’

For more information go to https://www.fordingbridgeastro.org.uk/

Image credit: User Halfblue on en.wikipedia