Sorry for the delay in posting this news item. I have had problems contacting speakers for our monthly meetings.

However, Dr Guy Moore will present an extension to his excellent "CQ ETI" series which has been published in New Zenith for the last few editions.

Our monthly speaker for Friday 27th November has been changed as follows:

Cosmic Casualty - Farce and Fortuity in the Exploration of Space

Frontier exploration is rarely easy or predictable. When we send unmanned envoys out into the solar system, things can and do go wrong. Doug Ellison presents a few highlights from our recent history of exploration demonstrating that ingenuity, creativity and luck are all important ingredients when billion dollar budgets and a life's work are on the line.

Cassini, Galileo, Genesis, MER.  Names of missions past and present that history will record as successful, but none of which had a trouble-free adventure across our solar system.  Aborted engine firings, broken antennae, exploding parachutes, burst airbags.  Each has a story to tell, and from each, engineers have a lesson to learn. The speaker presents a fast-paced account of the glorious missions that nearly weren't.  

About the Speaker

Self confessed space exploration addict Doug Ellison is a multimedia producer by day, and founding administrator of the well respected Unmannedspaceflight.com forum by night. Over the past 5 years he has talked to astronomy and science societies, schools, and the general public, conveying the excitement and adventure of our solar system. As an ambasador for the amateur space imaging community, he has presented to scientists at Cornell University, JPL and the Europlanet conference. He has written for The Planetary Report, Spacedaily.com, and has been interviewed for Planetary Radio and The Sky at Night.

Bring your astronomical equipment to the Isle of Wight Observatory for free advice on how to get the best from it.

Whether it's a telescope that has been gathering dust in the loft, or advice on how to use your digital camera for astronomical photos, volunteers from Vectis Astronomical Society will be on hand to answer your questions.

Thursday 30th July, 7:30pm - 9:30pm drop-in event (no booking required).
Isle of Wight Observatory at Watery Lane, Newchurch. (Opposite Amazon World and Thomsons Garden Centre)
Cost: Free

If you can spare a couple of hours to help with our upcoming IYA events around the Island, we would be pleased to hear from you.

The next few events should be quite large and we really need as many members as possible to attend. Hopefully you can bring you telescope or binoculars along and help us to spread the "astronomy" word.....

Please contact Bill or Brian at the observatory on a Thurday or at the monthl ymeetings.