AstrotalkUK

Not for profit website/blog on astronomy, space and my writing

WEA Online Courses starting in September 2021

By Leave a Comment

The two introductory courses below are organised by The Workers’ Educational Association (WEA), UK’s largest voluntary sector provider of adult education in England and Scotland. I will be delivering thee courses via Zoom in September. There is a cost but if you qualify that could be nil.

The New Space Age

The New Space Age

Introductory online course via Zoom. No prerequisite. Fee £64.00 or Nil.

Course dates 07/09/2021 – 09/11/2021
Ten sessions for 2 hrs per session every Tuesday starting at 7pm

Over the ten interactive sessions this course will provide an overview on:

Evolution of the space age from the beginnings with Sputnik to today
Outline the rich sources of services from space that shape society on Earth
The emergence of the private space sector in countries around the world
Space activities in India, China and Africa
Explore the concern of congestion in space from the growing number of spacecraft and the hazards of space debris.
The potential for the militarisation of space.
Humans living and working in Earth orbit. Returning to the Moon and beyond to Mars

Enrol Here

Explorers of the Cosmos

Explorers of the Cosmos

Introductory online course via Zoom. No prerequisite. Fee £64.00 or Nil.

Course dates 09/09/2021 – 11/11/2021.
Ten sessions for 2 hrs per session on Thursdays starting at 5pm

Over ten weeks the course will look at the life and work of the life and work of the following individuals

Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543)
Galileo Galilei (1564–1642) 
Isaac Newton (1643–1727)
Henrietta Swann Leavitt (1868–1921)
Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
Edwin Hubble (1899–1953)
Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar (1910-1995)
Vera Rubin (1928-2016)
Stephen Hawking (1942-2018) 
Jocelyn Bell (1943 – )

Enrol here

Space and Social Justice

By Leave a Comment

I listened to this week’s episode on https://theorbitalmechanics.com/ and learnt nothing about orbital mechanics or space. But did walk away with something much more profound. I have listed a few of the points from the episode below but take a listen yourself here.

It was by chance that I bumped into Ben Etherington, David Fourman, Dennis Just and Richard Durdan on the final day of IAC2019 in Washington DC in October last year. All five of us had dinner. A huge bowl of noodle ramen, a memorable first for me. They paid.

Afterwards, we walked back to the Air BnB place and chatted about space, podcasting and of course the IAC itself whilst Dennis started to pack for his early morning return flight. I was already a listener to their podcast before our meeting. I continued to listen and learn from an exquisitely well-produced weekly show.

This week’s episode was entitled Black Lives Matter and probably the most influential of the 263 episodes so far. David could not be present. The episode was a conversation between Ben and Dennis. Some of the points discussed include..

  • Ben declares that he is “conflict-averse”. (Me too but you guys had the balls to put this episode together.)
  • Call to action: Educate yourself. Not good enough to be non-racist. Actively be anti-racist
  • We are being killed (this in a conversation between as they say – two white guys)
  • Don’t let small things slip by. Speak out.
  • Support black-owned businesses.
  • Donate to Black Lives Matter organisations.
  • It’s important to be political.
  • Demilitarise the police. (Three weird, surprising, poignant and shocking words for those of us not in the US.
  • Address root causes of crime rather than attacking people who have been victims of those crimes.
  • History of state terrorism against the black community.
  • This is systemic, historical and going on for a long time because we are good at hiding this from ourselves.
  • This injustice won’t end this year or next year. It is fashionable to talk about this subject now but we need not to stop talking when it does.

Ben referred to a comment that he should keep away from this subject because otherwise “You are going to drive away your audience”. I think you may increase your audience. Even if you do not – this episode demonstrates something more important – the value of doing the right thing. It did not happen in the past. We were not there then but are here now. It’s up to us.

BIS Northern Meeting York 19th May 2012

By 2 Comments

A British Interplanetary Society  meeting with a difference. The venue is in the North of England – the historic city of York. You don’t have to be a BIS member – all with an interest in spaceflight are welcome. A day long event with five speakers on subjects that include Lunar dust, Soviet & German spaceflight, origins of the BIS and technical details behind the phenomenal success of the Apollo progam.

A summary below. Full details in the pdf indicated at the bottom of the page.

* * *

Date: Saturday 19th May 2011
Venue: Denham Room : Priory Street Centre, York , Y01 6ET
Cost: £5.00 – Full day event – Seating capacity limited to 50
Tickets – Book online here

Confirmed speakers

Deadly Lunar dust (Dr John Cain  – UK Space Biomedicine Association). The first extraterrestrial material transported by man from an alien world to Earth was the almost 400kg of lunar rocks and dust. It is mysterious, fascinating but dangerous too. What were the hazards to the Apollo astronauts who brought it here and what has been learned by the scientist in the 40 years of laboratory experiments?

Origins of the BIS in the Northwest (Gurbir Singh – https://astrotalkuk.org). The BIS was founded in the northwest of England in 1933. The key players were Philip Cleater in Liverpool and from 1936 until the end of the war, Eric Burgess in Manchester. How did they realise their ambitious vision of establishing an Interplanetary Society a quarter century before a satellite was actually put into orbit?

How Apollo flew to the Moon (David Woods – How Apollo flew to the Moon). The Apollo program that took two dozen men to the Moon between 1968 and 1972 succeeded because of ingenious technological solutions developed rapidly midst the haste of the cold war. The author of the book, “How Apollo flew to the Moon ” explains the details of one of mankind’s most remarkable technological achievements.

China’s Long March to the Cosmos  (Mike Hall – www. aelitauk.com) China was the third country to independently launch humans in to space. That was almost a decade ago. Further success has been swift, including a space walk and a woman in space. Current active programs include lunar orbiter, lunar lander, mission to Mars and a Space station. As we approach the 40th anniversary of the last men on the Moon, why is it that most experts believe that the next one will be Chinese?

German Rocket Development (Martin Dawson – York Astronomical Society). ‘Modern rocketry and spaceflight owe a lot to German rocket development of the 1920’s, ’30’s and ’40’s. Although born as a military weapon, scientists and engineers have turned this sword into a plough share. German rocketry is a story that should not be forgotten, it has highs and it has lows, but is always fascinating.

* * *

Download this pdf for all the details. This document is version 02. I will keep it updated from time to time with a final (version 1.0) by end of April.

 

Episode 48: 13th February 2012: Mat Irvine, early BBC Special Effects Department and Sky at Night episode from 1963

By Leave a Comment

The same year that the first woman made it in to space in 1963, a quaint children’s sci-fi series called Dr Who started on BBC television in the UK.  Eventually it became popular around the world and has enjoyed success once more since it restarted again in 2005.

Mat Irvine worked in the special effects department of the BBC and made the original model of K9 for Dr Who but he also worked on other programs including the Sky at Night.

One of the memorable characters from Dr Who was Davros. The horribly scarred, evil looking megalomaniac creator of the Daleks and arch enemy of the doctor. Listen out for my faux pas when I refer to Davros as StavrosJ

In this episode, Mat talks about the special effects department in those early days at the BBC and about the recently resurfaced 1963 episode of Sky at Night featuring Arthur C Clark.

A clip from the missing episode was shown in the November 2011 edition of sky at night. You can see the full episode here.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (14.0MB) | Embed

Subscribe: Google Podcasts | Spotify | RSS | More