Public Talks

Friday, 31st May 2013

"What has Happened to the Solar Cycle?"

A Talk by Dr Keith Strong

Cost: Non members : £3

Please note that this talk will be held at the Horndean Technology College

Friday, 14th June 2013

Active Galactic Nuclei

A talk by Dr Sadie Jones

Cost: Non Members : £3

Detail TBA

Friday, 12th July 2013

The tangled history of the Cepheid period-luminosity relation

A talk by Dr. Robert Smith

Cost: Non members : £3

How do we measure the huge distances to stars and galaxies ?

This talk presents a historical account of how the period-luminosity relation we know today as a key step on the distance ladder came to be calibrated, showing all the cancelling errors along the way. It starts with an account of how we measure distances, to explain how the calibration of the luminosity should be done, continues with how the calibration was actually done (wrongly) for many years, and ends with a moral (well, two actually). 

Dr Robert Smith was educated at the University of Glasgow (BSc Mathematics and Physics, PhD Astronomy) and taught there from 1966 to 1968, when he moved to Sussex as a Research Fellow. He has been a member of the teaching faculty of the Astronomy Centre since 1972, and has published an undergraduate textbook (Observational Astrophysics, CUP 1995). From 1996-2001 he was Subject Chairman of Physics and Astronomy and from 2001-2003 he served as Dean of the School of Chemistry, Physics and Environmental Science. From August 2003 to July 2004 he was Head of Department of Physics and Astronomy in the new School of Science and Technology. He retired at the end of September 2006, but continues to be active in research and to supervise a small number of practical projects. He also continued to teach one course (Stellar Structure) until the end of 2011-12.

Friday, 8th November 2013

Secrets of the Saturn V Moon Rocket

A talk by Alan Lawrie

Cost: Non members : £3

In May 1961 President John F Kennedy set America the bold target of designing, manufacturing, testing and flying a manned spacecraft to the moon’s surface and back within eight and a half years. A new, powerful, rocket would be needed to transport the Apollo spacecraft a quarter of a million miles to the moon. New materials, new technologies and new processes would be required. A network of facilities would be constructed across America to build, test and transport the hardware. An army of dedicated engineers and support staff would be mobilized to perform Herculean tasks in order to meet the goal that was arguably the greatest achievement of the 20^th Century.

The mighty Saturn V rocket was born. During the decade of the 1960s it rose from the drawing boards in record time to become the most powerful and most reliable rocket ever. However, the details of the problems that were encountered and how they were overcome were never released at the time.

This situation can now be corrected and in this talk the inside story of the Saturn V is revealed with details of the various failures and ultimate successes highlighted.

Alan Lawrie has a BSc in Mechanical Engineering and a Post Graduate Diploma in Astronomy and Astronautics. He has spent his entire professional career (30 years) in the spacecraft industry, working for a number of companies in Europe. Most of this time has been spent as a satellite propulsion system design engineer and procurement manager, working on telecommunications satellites and scientific missions. He currently works for EADS Astrium in the UK.

He has spent several years researching the manufacturing and testing history of the Saturn V and Saturn I/IB rockets and has two books published on this subject. 

He has written and presented a number of AIAA and ESA papers, and has had articles published in a number of magazines. He is a Fellow of the British Interplanetary Society.

Friday, 13th June 2014

Supernovae

A talk by Dr Robert Smith

Cost: Non members : £3

A talk about supernovae combining some history with the science.

Full details TBA.