The Origin of the Constellations ~ Dr Robert Smith (University of Sussex)

The names of the constellations are certainly very ancient – but how old are they, and can we find out who created them? There are (at least) two ways of looking at these questions, and they give somewhat different, but possibly compatible answers. I will explain both approaches, giving in the by-going a discussion of how we describe the sky in terms of the celestial sphere (itself a very ancient idea).

Comet C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy) ~ David Pulley

Comet C/2014 Q2 pops it head above the southern horizon around midnight on December 18^th.  As the month progresses into January it climbs higher into the south-western sky becoming a potential naked eye comet at mag 5.0 around 8^th January 2015

NGC 4151: A new distance measurement ~ Tony Baxter

Using archival data, astronomers at the University of Southampton have a more precise distance measure to this galaxy with significant consequences

Water, water everywhere ~ Edgar Walker

And where did our water come from?

Lunar Mission One ~ Simon Allen

Now is your chance to buy into a piece of history and immortality (well almost immortality).