VAS Summer BBQ

Fort Victoria
Saturday 26th June
Mid afternoon onwards
Bring your own food and drink

Paul England has booked 3 BBQ's and is happy to open planetarium etc. Also opening BBQ up to all Fort Vic shops etc.

It is with deep sadness that Vectis Astronomical Society announces the death of long-serving member and Observatory Director Roger Hayward. Roger died at St Mary’s Hospital on 21st January.

The Isle of Wight County Press obituary is available here.

The funeral service will be held at St Blasius Church, Church Road, Shanklin on February 3rd. at 2pm, followed by a private service at the crematorium.

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.