u3a

Wells

Astronomy & Cosmology

Status:Active, open to new members
Group leader:
When: On Monday mornings 10:00 am-12:00 pm
1st week
Venue: Wells Museum

Leader:

Steve

Our meetings usually consist of a short 'catch-up' on what's new in astronomy that month, followed by either a talk by one of our members on a topic of mutual interest, or a seminar type seesion, discussing an article that has been circulated beforehand. After a coffee break, we usually watch a presentation from one of the relevant 'Great Courses' DVDs, as a basis for discussion. We often find we come away with more questions than answers! Members are welcome to present on topics of interest, but this is not a prerequisite of membership.

Our meetings usually consist of a short 'catch-up' on what's new in astronomy that month, followed by either a talk by one of our members on a topic of mutual interest, or a seminar type seesion, discussing an article that has been circulated beforehand. After a coffee break, we usually watch a presentation from one of the relevant 'Great Courses' DVDs, as a basis for discussion. We often find we come away with more questions than answers! Members are welcome to present on topics of interest,but this is not a prerequisite of membership.

We are actively recruiting new members, please email or just come along on the day to see what we get up to! our meetings cover many related topics, such as quantum physics, relevant aspects of both cosmology and astronomy.

Home Page Image

This galaxy NGC7331, similar to our own Milky Way is 50 million light years from us in the constellation of Pegasus.

Image credit ESA/Hubble & NASA/D. Milisavljevic (Purdue University)

Our Purpose, Membership and Waiting List

We currently have 11 members, and have room for 7 more.

Recent Topics

  • Parity violation and relevance to neutrinos
  • Jupiter
  • Measuring the Universe
  • The Ambidextrous Universe
  • Cosmic Microwave Background radiation (CMB)
  • The Hubble Constant
  • One possible fate of the Universe: Roger Penrose’s Conformal cyclic cosmology
  • The Big Bang
  • A brief history of telescopes
  • The nature of time
  • The Milky Way
  • Observation of the Moon
  • Stellar Evolution
  • Radio Interferometry
  • Halton Arp, Astronomer
  • The Juno Mission to Jupiter