Lecture - Thursday 19th April - 7.30pm

Lecture theatre for this and the May lecture has changed to Room 5.12 in the Royal College building

The Sun's Evolving Magnetic Skeleton
The Leon Davies Lecture
Prof. Clare Parnell, Professor of Applied Mathematics, School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of St Andrews

Solar flares and coronal mass ejections are two of the most commonly known solar phenomenon with videos of these events taken by ESA and NASA satellites shown on mainstream news programmes and in newspapers. They are extremely energetic and can blast highly energetic particles to Earth and beyond causing both beautiful auroral displays and also potentially millions of pounds worth of damage to telecommunication, global positioning or military satellites. But where do they get their energy from and how do they occur?

All the events in the Sun’s atmosphere, both large and small, get their energy from the Sun’s magnetic field. Exactly how this energy is transferred into heat and motion is still not properly understood. In this lecture, I will focus on the Sun’s magnetic field explaining how it differs from the Earth’s magnetic field, what it looks like and how it changes in time. It is through some of these changes that solar flares and coronal mass ejections arise.  This talk will take you on a journey from the magnetics of iron filings all the way to the forefront of magnetic solar research today using iron filing experiments, spectacular images of the Sun taken by NASA and ESA space telescopes and images created using the latest research techniques. The talk should be appropriate for both adults and children of higher primary age and above.

Biography:  Professor Clare Parnell became the first female Professor of Mathematics at the University of St Andrews in 2011. Although born in England, she left in 1988 to attend University in Wales in the city of Cardiff, before moving to St Andrews to undertake her PhD in Solar Physics.  Since then she has spent just one year away from Scotland in the USA. Her research has been recognized by the award of three Fellowships and two prizes: the RAS Fowler award in 2006 and the Leverhulme Prize in 2007.  Clare is a keen hill walker and climbed all the munros during her PhD. She has two children, both at secondary school and has recently started taking them munro bagging.  Other hobbies include cycling, swimming and wildlife photography.

Location - Room 5.12 Royal College, Strathclyde University.  Access is via the Montrose Street entrance, take the lift to Level 2 or walk up one flight of stairs, exit the lift and take the 2nd set of steps on your left, go through the double glass doors.  Walk to the end of the corridor then turn right (west).  Room 5.12 is on your left towards the end of the corridor.

Lecture and AGM - Thursday 17th May - 7.30pm

Lecture theatre for this event has changed to Room 5.12 in the Royal College building

Asteroid Exploration and Exploitation : from nanoprobes to asteroid engineering
Prof. Max Vasile, Professor of Space Systems Engineering, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of Strathclyde

The Society Annual General Meeting will be held after this lecture.

BAA Historical Section meeting - Saturday 26th May 2018

The BAA are holding a Historical Section meeting in Stirling on Saturday 26th May 2018.  The cost is £5 for BAA members and £10 for non-members, including refreshments but not lunch.  More information is available here: https://britastro.org/node/12254

Public lectures for the 2017-2018 session

The ASG's free public lectures for the 2017-18 session are as follows, the dates and titles are shown below.  They are normally held in Room 6.41 Royal College, Strathclyde University unless otherwise advised.  For April and May 2018 lectures the venue has changed to Room 5.12 also in the Royal College.  Access is via the Montrose Street entrance, take the lift to Level 3, exit the lift and take the 2nd set of steps on your left, go through the double glass doors.  Room 6.41 is on your left approximately half way along the corridor.  The lectures start at 7:30pm and are preceded from 6:45pm by either a presentation on the month's skywatching highlights or by a social event giving you the opportunity to meet other members.

The lecture programme for the 2017-18 session is as follows: