New Astronomers Group Calendar

The NAG Calendar format has been organised into the following quarterly themes.
Allowings us to build on learning from the previous session(s) we can delve a little deeper each time.

Our goal is to have occasional guest speakers. Section Directors are particularly welcome to promote their Section by sharing the activities they run for Members. We thank the many guest speakers who have visited over the years and we look forward to more.

Summer arrives with warmer weather and the holiday period for many so we concentrate on observing related topics.

December... No meeting as the 3rd Wed falls so close to Christmas

January... Astrophotography... Basic introduction with Q & A

February... Telescopes - Essentials for getting started

This is a discussion about different telescope types, telescope mounts, all the accessories and what they do.

The steady atmosphere of Autumn is exactly what's needed for high power views of the Solar System - our celestial backyard

March... Our Moon - The early phases

April... Our Solar System... the Sun, neighbouring Planets & other orbiting bodies to be found in our celestial backyard.

May... Informal open discussion night. An opportunity to talk amongst ourselves share our interests, studies & projects.
Please bring along your burning new to Astronomy question(s). Do you have something to show or share? Show us your current project, have you brought something new for your scope, a book or article that caught your eye, favourite web-site, have you discovered a new Space App. Whatever it is you're welcome to join us.

As cloudy Winter skies set in we huddle inside to contemplate how the Universe works.

June... The Life Cycle of Stars.

July... Galaxies are the largest visible building Blocks of our Universe.

August... How to Use and Maintain your telescope

This will be a combination of the current Loan Telescope hand-over session, plus instruction on basic maintenance of a Dobsonian telescope, ending with a mirror collimation demonstration.

We have just one more deep & meaningful topic to see off a rainy Spring before heading back to outdoor observing topics again.

September... Life in the Universe, Drake equation, Fermi paradox, SETI search, Breakthrough listen, Breakthrough Starshot, Kepler & TESS exoplanets & more.

October... Astronomy Observing Challenges,
We dig into why budding astronomers need an observing challenge. The Messier Hunt and Lunar 100 are popular examples, but wait there's more.

November... What is a Star Atlas and do we need one? What features should you look for? The more of these features a Star Atlas has the better it will be!