Astronomy in the City

We invite you to attend our programme of free public events, Astronomy in the City. Join us for stargazing, observing with portable telescopes, talks from our experts about cutting edge astronomy research, and your chance to ask them anything about astronomy!

The event will feature live exhibits developed by our group, presentations on "Exploring the Sky this month" and the main science talk, followed by a live Q&A session open to the public. According to weather conditions, observing will proceed on campus thanks to the help of AstroSoc and the Knowle Astronomical Society.

Astronomy in the City events are strictly all ticket, and begin in the Poynting Building on our Edgbaston campus, within easy reach of local transport links.

2024/2025 Events
Wednesday 23 October 2024
Wednesday 20 November 2024
Spring 2025 (tbc)

Please join our mailing list to keep up to date.

Upcoming Events

Our next Astronomy in the City event is Wednesday November 20th 2024, 17:30 –21:00. Booking essential!

Each Astronomy in the City event will feature a talk on a different astrophysical topic connected to the research done at the University of Birmingham.

November Event: we will be hearing from Dr Federica Rescigno, who will be talking how we discover planets around distant stars.

	November Programme
17:30	Refreshments and Astronomy Exhibits
18:00	Talks begin
	1st Talk. AstroSoc: Exploring the Night Sky in December
	2nd Talk. Dr Federica Rescigno: Shadows and wobbles: the secrets to finding exoplanets
	Abstract: Ever wondered how astronomers are able to find planets orbiting stars other than our Sun? We will reveal the clever techniques that we can use to detect exoplanets, from tracking tiny "shadows" from objects passing in front of stars, to detecting the small "wobbles" that planets imprint on their host Sun. Join us to explore how these methods help us identify new worlds and even learn they may look like, bringing us closer to finding Earth-like planets—and perhaps signs of life—in the universe.
19:00	Panelist Q&A with our experts
19:30	Observing (Chancellor's Court, Poynting Physics roof) and Planetarium Talks
21:00	End

Astronomy in the City is aimed at secondary school age and above (Year 7+). Younger children are welcome to attend the talks/observing on campus.
All under-18s must be accompanied by an adult.

Observing on Campus

Depending upon the weather, all visitors are invited to join members of AstroSocBAS and Knowle to observe with their portable telescopes from Chancellor's Court in the heart of our Edgbaston campus from 7:30 pm. Please remember to wrap up warm for the cool evenings.

Where to Find Us

The talks and refreshments will be held in the Poynting Physics Building (R13 on the campus map), with telescopes in nearby Chancellor's Court. The University's website has directions to the Edgbaston campus and how to reach the Poynting Physics Building; the lecture theatre, refreshments and demonstrations are on the second floor.

Disabled access is readily available on campus .

Tickets

Admission is only available with a ticket, which can be booked for free from Ticket Tailor.

Letter from the Observatory Director

Hello and welcome to the November edition of Astronomy in the City 2024!

Like me, I’m sure many of you enjoyed the stunning aurora borealis we were treated to last month. The incredible light display was sparked by an X-class solar flare and a coronal mass ejection, which sent particles hurtling towards Earth’s magnetosphere at speeds of around 1.5 million miles per hour. These particles are funnelled along magnetic field lines to the north and south poles, where they collide with oxygen and nitrogen molecules in the atmosphere to produce the dazzling displays that were visible right across the UK. The increased activity this year is due to the Sun reaching the peak of its 11-year cycle, known as the solar maximum period. At this time, its magnetic poles ‘flip’ (like exchanging the north and south poles on Earth), which can drive powerful storms.

October proved to be a spectacular month for stargazers. In addition to the aurora, Comet A3 (also known as Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) was visible until the end of the month (with binoculars) by looking west just after sunset. The comet was discovered in 2023, and originates from the Oort Cloud, a vast sphere of icy bodies residing at the very edge of our solar system. By tracking its motion, astronomers have been able to show that Comet A3 only visits the inner solar system once every 80,000 years. We’d love to see your photos of Comet A3 or the aurora – you can tweet them to @UoBobservatory on X.

Looking to the more distant universe, a team of astronomers (including researchers at UoB) made a remarkable discovery of a supermassive black hole that has torn a star apart and is using its wreckage to pummel another star that strayed too close. The team identified periodic flashes of X-rays, known as Quasi-Periodic Eruptions (QPEs), that occur when the second star crashes through the disc of debris that was created when the first star was ripped apart in a Tidal Disruption Event (TDE) in 2019. The discovery links these formerly separate phenomena for the first time and provides fresh insights into how black holes influence their surroundings in the centres of galaxies.

I hope you enjoy our event, and hearing about our research and the observatory in Birmingham. If you have any questions or feedback, you can get in touch with us at [email protected].

Clear skies!
Ben

Dr Ben Gompertz, Director of the University of Birmingham Observatory

Past presentations

Talk presentations from previous events:

Black Holes — Christopher Moore (December 2022)
Detecting Exoplanets: other worlds beyond our Solar System — Annelies Mortier (November 2022)
The Life and Death of Galaxies — Cressida Cleland (February 2022)
Aliens, Galaxies and the Big Bang: Introducing the James Webb Space Telescope — Natalie Williams (November 2021)
Fantastic bursts and where to find them - the brightest supernovae in the Universe — Matt Nicholl (October 2021)
Space, Spins and Very Dense Things: The Whirling Wobbliness of Precessing Gravitational Waves — Lucy Thomas (March 2021)
Gravitational Lensing: Space-time under the influence (of gravity) — Dan Ryczanowski (February 2021)
Mapping the sky with Einstein's invisible waves — Valeriya Korol (November 2020)
Somewhere in between astronomy and relativity — Davide Gerosa (January 2020)
Galaxy Clusters: the Universe's biggest labs — Matteo Bianconi (October 2019)
When Stars Explode — Tyrone Woods (March 2019)
Instruments: Gravitational Wave and Musical Alike — Aaron Jones (Nov 2018)
How Big are Stars? — Dorottya Szecsi (October 2018)
Is there life elsewhere? — Amaury Triaud (March 2018)
The death of stars: Neutron stars, black holes and beyond — Alejandro Vigna Gómez (January 2018)
Untangling Jellyfish — Callum Bellhouse (November 2017) [ESO tour video]
Discoveries of gravitational wave astronomy — Christopher Berry (October 2017) [PowerPoint version (with animations)]
Supermassive black holes — Alberto Sesana (March 2017)
The music of the stars and the search for new worlds — Tiago Campante (January 2017) [PowerPoint version (with sounds)]
Nature or nurture: The formation and evolution of galaxies — Sean McGee (November 2016)
A universe of colour — Nathan Adams (bad-weather talk November 2016)
Little green men & cosmic lighthouses — Hannah Middleton (October 2016)
Gravitational waves special — Alberto Vecchio, Christopher Berry, Conor Mow-Lowry, Walter Del Pozzo, Will Farr & Alberto Sesana (February 2016)
Massive black holes & tidal disruption of stars — Ilya Mandel (January 2016)
Gamma-ray bursts: The brightest explosions in the Universe — Carl-Johan Haster (November 2015)
Einstein's greatest idea — Christopher Berry (October 2015) [General relativity at 100]
How many Earth-like planets in the Galaxy? — Will Farr (March 2015)
The 12 astronomy highlights of Christmas — Christopher Berry, Keelia Scott & Graham Smith (December 2014) [explanatory article]
The world's biggest telescopes and where we build them — Keelia Scott (November 2014) [features Andean foxes]
Present and ultimate fate of the Milky Way — Felicia Ziparo (October 2014)
Kepler Space Telescope: Earth-like planets around Sun-like stars — Guy Davies (October 2014) [Kepler Orrery video]
The future of space exploration: a journey to Mars — Maggie Lieu (February 2014)

Contact Us

For any enquiries regarding this event or our future observing plans, feel free to contact us through our email, facebook and twitter. And please join our mailing list for news of future events.

Astronomy in the City is brought to you in partnership with the University of Birmingham Astronomical Society, the Birmingham Astronomical Society, the Knowle Astronomical Society, Solihull School and Circles of Influence.

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