Museum of Cardiff 17 July – 31 October 2025
Amgueddfa Caerdydd 17 Gorffennaf - 31 Hydref 2025
Cardiff Astronomical Society: Celebrating 50 years
Cymdeithas Seryddiaeth Caerdydd: Yn dathlu 50 mlynedd
https://cardiffmuseum.com/whatson/cardiff-astronomical-society-celebrating-50-years/
https://cardiffmuseum.com/cy/whatson/cymdeithas-seryddiaeth-caerdydd-yn-dathlu-50-mlynedd/
Open / Amser 10:00 - 16:00
The Cardiff Astronomical Society (CAS) is a thriving society located in South East Wales. It has been in existence for over 50 years and is one of the largest amateur astronomical societies in the UK. CAS provides a range of facilities for both Society members and the public at large including a varied programme of talks on Thursday evenings (except in August) at the Physics and Astronomy Department of Cardiff University. In addition, regular night sky (and occasional solar) Observing Sessions and star parties are held at the Society's own Observatory at Dyffryn Gardens.
Our members come from all walks of life and their knowledge of astronomy ranges from complete beginner to advanced. You don't need any specialist knowledge to join us and neither do you need to own a telescope or binoculars. It's also possible to try us out before joining!
More details about the Society and what it does are available here.
We are keen to get more Society members on board to assist with the running of CAS events - please see here how you can Help Us.
Next Talk:
16th October 2025: "Why Chile is the best place in the world for astronomy" - Dr Roger Wesson
Talk Description: I lived in Chile from 2011 to 2016, working as a support astronomer at the Very Large Telescope. I'll explain why the Atacama Desert is almost unique in the world for the quality of its observing conditions, how this was discovered, and how observatories operate in conditions that are amazing for astronomy but hostile to life.
Speaker Biography: Dr Roger Wesson received his degree and PhD in astronomy from University College London. After that he left academia for a few years, working in the civil service, but later returned to the field. After jobs in London and Chile, he moved to Cardiff in 2022. Dr Wesson's research is concerned with the end stages of stellar evolution, such as planetary nebulae and supernovae.
Latest FAS Newsletter:
Please click here for the latest FAS Newsletter.
Previous FAS newsletters can be found on our web page here.
Please note the FAS 2025 AGM is to be held on Saturday 8 November at 2.30pm via Zoom. If you are intending to attend the meeting, it would be helpful to the Council if you would put your details in this form, no later than 1st November 2025.
All posts on the FAS council may be contested, in particular FAS are seeking to fill the below vacancies:
Membership & PLI Secretary
Diversity & Inclusion Officer
If you wish to come forward as a candidate, please send an email giving notice that you wish to stand (and for which post) to the FAS Secretary at secretary@fedastro.org.uk and ask your proposer and seconder to also send their emails of support.
For an informal chat about any of the positions, please contact FAS President Clare Lauwerys president@fedastro.org.uk
Latest BAA Education and Outreach Section Newsletter:
The Quarterly Newsletter of the Education and Outreach Section of the
British Astronomical Assocation
Please click here for the latest E&O Newsletter.
Fortnightly CAS Social (Tuesday Evening) via Zoom (Members Only):
CAS Members' Zoom Socials will resume on Tuesday 2nd September 2025.
Once a fortnight (same week as Thursday talk) on a Tuesday evening from 19:00 to around 21:00, we hold a social get together on zoom where we chat about both astronomical and non-astronomical subjects, have a quiz and have presentations by members. The presentations are usually on either member’s hobbies or their travels, but can be on anything they think others will find interesting.
Why not come along one week to see what you think? You do not need to stay for the whole session and people often arrive late or leave early because of other commitments. It is very informal!
To register your interest complete the ContactUsForm. Please include your Membership Number and you will be sent a link to the next session.
CAS News:
We are sorry to hear of the passing of Norman Jenkins.
Norman joined CAS soon after it was founded and helped it to grow from a fledgling society to the size and standing it has today, for which current members should be thankful. He held senior Committee posts for most of its existence, regularly attending talks thereafter.
He had been our Treasurer, Director of Observations, helped maintain an equipment pool, contributed to many public events, met/greeted speakers, given talks and contributed articles to our Newsletters.
Norman and his wife Ann hosted Committee meetings in their home, they both supported many social occasions and our two trips abroad to view total solar eclipses.
And apart from his many contributions to CAS, he was a lovely gentleman who could always be relied upon to have the rest of us in fits of laughter.
The night sky this month
(Courtesy of BBC Sky at Night Magazine)
Day-by-day guide to this month's night sky
Upcoming Events:
FAS Webinar - "The Search For Planet 9" - Mike Brown, Professor of Planetary Astronomy at the California Institute of Technology
5pm UTC, Saturday 25th October 2025
Click here for tickets. Contact secretary@cardiff-astronomical-society.co.uk, quoting your membership number, to access the discount code for discounted £3 ticket price.
Back in 1930, Pluto was discovered by Clyde Tombaugh and it became the solar system’s 9th planet.
However in 2005, Mike Brown led a team that discovered the similarly-sized Eris. With this and several other objects discovered out beyond Neptune, the question was raised as to whether some of these should also be recognised as planets.
The result was a vote at the 2006 General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union on a definition of a planet. This led to Pluto being re-designated as a Dwarf Planet, bringing the solar system down to 8 planets.
In January 2016, Brown and fellow Caltech astronomer, Konstantin Batygin, proposed the existence of Planet Nine as a major planet between the size of Earth and Neptune.
Having led the teams responsible for the discoveries of so many distant objects, including Eris, Haumea, Makemake and Quaoar, plus others that should be regarded as Dwarf Planets, such as Sedna, Orcus, Gonggong, Mani and Salacia, no-one can deny that Mike Brown is the most appropriate person to cover the subject of the search for Planet 9.
We are therefore delighted to have him as a speaker on this subject. As Mike is based in California, a start time of 5pm UTC will be 9am PDT for him.
Jerry Stone will give an introductory presentation of about 20 minutes. This will cover the ancient views of the night sky, with the naked-eye planets, then the discoveries of Uranus, Neptune and Pluto, before moving on to briefly mention recent discoveries and the IAU's actions to deal with the increasing number of objects being found. Mike will then bring us up to date with Planet 9.
You may like to submit questions in advance by writing to Jerry at meetings@fedastro.org.uk by 18 October, so that they can be sorted and collated.
FAS Webinar - "New Horizons and the Exploration of Pluto" - Alan Stern, Principal Investigator of the New Horizons mission to Pluto
5pm UTC, Saturday 15th November 2025
Click here for tickets. Contact secretary@cardiff-astronomical-society.co.uk, quoting your membership number, to access the discount code for discounted £3 ticket price.
Between 1979 and 1989, a rare planetary alignment allowed the Voyager missions to visit the outer planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, but not Pluto.
In 1989, Alan Stern was a member of a team that suggested a spaceflight to Pluto. This became the New Horizons mission, which was launched in January 2006, and took 9½ years to reach its distant target.
The flyby through the Pluto system with its five moons completely transformed our knowledge of Pluto, with staggeringly detailed views.
Alan was the Principal Investigator for New Horizons, and is therefore the best person to speak about this unique mission of space exploration, including its results to date as well as its ongoing plans.
We are therefore delighted for him to be our main speaker for our second event. Alan is based in Colorado, so the start time of 5pm UTC will be 11am MST for him.
Jerry Stone will give an introductory presentation of about 20 minutes. He will look in detail at the IAU’s official definition of a planet, and as a result give a definitive answer to the question of Pluto’s status.
Alan will then tell us about the New Horizons mission.
You may like to submit questions in advance by writing to Jerry at meetings@fedastro.org.uk by 8 November so that they can be sorted and collated.
Recent Events:
Museum of Cardiff: CAS 50th Exhibition Private Party - 2nd October 2025
To celebrate CAS's golden jubilee our wonderful Social Secretary, Tiffany, worked with the Museum of Cardiff to present an exhibition honouring the society’s rich history. Running from July to the end of October 2025, the exhibition showcases members’ astrophotography, our regular talks, outreach events and star and solar gazing at our observatory in Dyffryn Gardens. The museum also displays objects from the historic Penylan Observatory, Cardiff’s city Observatory, which closed in 1979.
On 2nd October, CAS members were welcomed to a private event at the Museum of Cardiff to socialise and celebrate their society. Members met for dinner before heading to the museum for a private showing of the exhibition and a few fun surprises including a magnificent cake, gift bags and a free raffle!
Join or Support CAS:
Come and join some of the Society's members at one of our talks or observing events. We promise a warm and friendly welcome for all. Only £18/£3/£24 per annum for Adult/Junior/Family membership also means you can make use of our Library.
Gift Aid:
CAS is registered for Gift Aid. This means that, if you are a UK taxpayer, we can claim back the standard rate tax on subscriptions (and on any donations) giving an effective 25% boost to the amount the Society has received. However, in order to reclaim these monies from HMRC, we need all members who pay tax to complete and return a Charity Gift Aid Declaration form. Please note that if you have paid your subscriptions by PayPal, you will have already been asked if you would consent to those subscriptions being Gift Aided – but we still need a completed Charity Gift Aid Declaration form in order for us to reclaim the tax paid as Gift Aid.
If you are eligible, please take a form (using the button opposite) and then complete it and pass it to us at one of the fortnightly talks or send it to CAS by post or email (see the bottom of the form). Thank you for your help!
Support CAS when shopping online with easy fundraising:
CAS outreach for schools, colleges, businesses & organisations:
We welcome all invitations from schools, colleges, businesses, scouts, guides and other organisations in providing outreach. We can host events our our observatory in Dyffryn Gardens, Vale of Glamorgan. We can also discuss events with your organisation to include stargazing, talks and activities. We do not charge a fee for this but would kindly request that expenses are covered as we volunteer our time.
We have a wide range of expertise & can offer events to all ages and knowledge levels.
If you would like to discuss outreach with us please use our ContactusForm and someone will contact you.
It should be noted that CAS has a formal Policy on Child Protection and the Protection of Vulnerable Adults
