The CMHASD crew 2025

Member Diane Clarke wrote ”Over the weekend of 11 – 13 April 2025 several members of the CMHASD attended the BAA Winchester weekend at Sparsholt College. The event was well attended with approximately 120 members of the BAA.  The weekend started with a talk about the BepiColumbo mission from Professor David Rothery and ended with a presentation of “The Winchester Report” by Crayford’s very own ‘Men in Brown Coats’.

The Alfred Curtis memorial lecture “We are made of star stuff” was given by Professor Dame Joycelyn Bell Burnell. The Professor’s presentation included same exam answers from American students such as – “H20 is hot water” & “CO2 is cold water” as well as – “Water is composed of two gins Oxygin & Hydrogin” Oxygin is pure gin, “Hydrogin is water & gin”

After the lecture She took some questions, and is seen here answering a two-part question from member John Archer, the first part of John’s question – “How does one address Dame Jocelyn” to which the reply was “Jocelyn”.

Before Joycelin gave the lecture the BAA president Ms Janice McClean read from the late Storm Dunlop’s appreciation of the life of Alfred Curtis 1901 -1976 to give the attendees an illustration of who he was.

Alfred “Alf” Curtis lived in Winchester, he was a fellow of the RAS and started the BAA “Winchester Weekend” which was originally held at King Alfreds College now known as The University of Winchester.  The first weekend taking place in 1967 with 56 attendees.  The weekends proved so popular that by 1976 the number had risen to 242, so the BAA relocated from King Alfreds to Sparsholt Collage in 2007.

There were also presentations from:

Professor Tony Freeth talking about the Antikythera Device.

Prof Mike Edwards delivered a lecture on the chemical makeup of other worlds.

Prof Boris Gänicke spoke about how Worlds will end including the end of the Earth when the Sun swells to become a red giant.

There was also a talk about the current range of “Smart Telescopes” given by Mr Steve Knight.

Professor Lucie Green gave a presentation about observing solar eclipses from space with the ESA PROBA 3 pair of satellite’s that were launched on the 05.12.24 and is currently going through various test phases before first light is received.

During the members session on Sunday afternoon, there were several contributions including:

Mark Radice’s presentation about stargazing in Namibia.

Nicky Fleet asking when is a Shower “not a Shower” related as to how the popular press promote meteor events such as the Perseid’s

“The Winchester Report” given by CMHASD members David Grist, Steve Floodgate & Gary Hunt.

All in all, a very varied and packed Winchester weekend.”

Below is a slideshow of photos and images members took of the weekend.