Whilst the current coditions for lockdown are imposed we have suspended our monthly meetings.  However we are holding monthly meetings using a variety of conferencing software e.g. Zoom  Below is a list of our proposed meetings.  If you are not on our circulation list and would like to join these meetings please e-mail us at astro@thelocalgroup.org.uk

Note this meeting wil use "MediaStream" with a Q&A session following immediately using Zoom as the medium.

9th June 2020: Remote Sensing of the Saturnian System: The Titanic Struggle to Get There ~ Dr. Graeme Awcock

This is the first of a two-part presentation, with this one ~ The Titanic Struggle To Get There ~ focussing on the trail-blazing that was necessary to move from our first faltering steps into the space of our own ‘back-yard’, so to speak, into a capability to routinely travel OUTWARDS from Earth, i.e. UPHILL in terms of gravitational potential, in order to win the prize of being able to study the parts of the Solar System that permit us to achieve a deeper understanding of the formation of that System. Enormous progress that was made in a very short window of 20 years after the launch of the first artificial satellite in 1957!

In this talk we shall be going on a ‘Titanic’ journey to explore the Saturnian System, which is 1.43 Billion Km away from the Sun, and thus a MINIMUM of 1.2 Billion Km from us, here on Earth.  As a consequence it takes something of the order of 80 minutes for signals to travel EACH way from Earth to the vicinity of Saturn, where we have sought to send robotic spacecraft, as our emissaries for the purpose of discovering the mysteries and wonders, or just plain facts, of Saturn, its Rings, and, importantly, its Moons. …And as we shall see, Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, played a critical role in enabling the Voyager space mission, which is the real reason for that adjective in the subtitle of the talk!

Graeme graduated in Electronics Engineering and developed his digital imaging skills whilst working on the Tornado reconnaissance aircraft in the early 1980’s.  In 1985 Graeme moved to Brighton Polytechnic as a lecturer in the School of Engineering.  Graeme transferred to the school of Environment and Technology at the University of Brighton in 2008 both teaching and undertaking research into satellite remote sensing technologies for Earth environmental monitoring.  Following retirement in 2017, Graeme was appointed Honorary Fellow of the University.  Graeme has written several books and many published papers on remote image sensing in addition to giving talks at the IET and similar institutions.