Flamsteed Astronomy Society

13/06/2026

Another excellent day of solar viewing at the Royal Observatory Greenwich!

Around 400 visitors joined us during the day, with plenty to see both through the solar telescopes and around the Observatory site. The Sun was bright despite some passing low cloud, and we were treated to a full solar halo - a beautiful bonus for the session.

Visitors also had the chance to see the new Mirror Moon installation at the ROG, adding another point of interest alongside the solar viewing.

Huge thanks, as always, to our brilliant team of Flamsteed volunteers for keeping everything running so smoothly and helping so many visitors enjoy safe views of the Sun.

12/06/2026

Our first Flamsteed Landscape Astrophotography Masterclass took place at the National Maritime Museum on Tuesday 9 June, with presentations from Alec Knox, Helen Edwards and Tej Dyal.

The evening explored the long relationship between landscape, art and the night sky, from ancient astronomical alignments and classical landscape painting through to modern nightscape photography. Alec introduced the principles of composition and equipment choices, Helen explained how she planned and captured her beautiful images of the Stones of Stenness in Orkney, and Tej showed how careful planning can produce striking alignments of the Sun and Moon with familiar London landmarks.

Many thanks to Alec, Helen and Tej for putting together such an enjoyable and practical workshop, and to Simon and the RMG IT team for recording the evening for members.

Read Clive’s full report here:

The first Flamsteed Landscape Astrophotography Masterclass was held at the National Maritime Museum’s lecture theatre on Tuesday 9th June and presented by Alec Knox, Helen Edwards and Tej Dyal.Alec – Linking the traditions of classical landscape painting with modern night-sky imaging.Alec starte...

12/06/2026

Solar viewing confirmed - Saturday 13 June

We are going ahead with our rearranged public solar viewing session at the Royal Observatory Greenwich tomorrow.

The session starts at 11am in the Dolphin Sundial area, just inside the main entrance.

The forecast looks reasonably encouraging, with skies likely to be relatively clear for much of the day. There may be some disruption from low cloud at times, but this should hopefully clear fairly quickly.

Full details here:
https://www.flamsteed.info/event-details/confirmed-on-public-solar-viewing-session-at-the-royal-observatory-greenwich-saturday-13-june-2026-06-13-11-00

Please note that normal admission charges apply to enter the Royal Observatory.

THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CONFIRMED ON FOR SATURDAY 13 JUNE. We are running a public solar viewing event at the Royal Observatory Greenwich. All members and non members are welcome. Please note, these events are held inside the Royal Observatory Greenwich, so normal entrance charges apply.

11/06/2026

Solar viewing rescheduled to Saturday 13 June

Our public solar viewing session at the Royal Observatory Greenwich has been rescheduled from Friday 12 June to the weather back-up date of Saturday 13 June.

The forecast currently looks much more favourable for Saturday, though we will make a further go/no-go decision tomorrow.

If confirmed, the session will start at 11am in the Dolphin Sundial area, just inside the main entrance.

Full details here:
https://www.flamsteed.info/event-details/rescheduled-public-solar-viewing-session-at-the-royal-observatory-greenwich-saturday-13-june-2026-06-13-11-00

Please note that normal admission charges apply to enter the Royal Observatory.

THIS EVENT HAS BEEN RESCHEDULED TO SATURDAY 13 JUNE. We are running a public solar viewing event at the Royal Observatory Greenwich. All members and non members are welcome. Please note, these events are held inside the Royal Observatory Greenwich, so normal entrance charges apply.

04/06/2026

Event Recap: Citizen & Amateur Science Projects Workshop!

On 28th May, Flamsteed members gathered at Mycenae House for an inspiring, hands-on workshop exploring the incredible ways amateur astronomers can contribute to real, cutting-edge scientific research.

Here is a glimpse of what our speakers covered:

☀️ Part 1: Amateur Science Projects with Paul May
Paul kicked off the evening by diving into the world of solar spectroheliography, showcasing stunning H-alpha images of the Sun captured from his own home setup. He also demonstrated how amateurs can apply Newton's Laws to calculate planetary densities (getting within 5% of Jupiter's actual value using Io!) and use tools like the Star Analyser 100 to decode the elemental composition of stars and planetary atmospheres. Finally, he shared how amateurs can tap into professional datasets like the Zwicky Transient Facility and Helioviewer.

🔴 Part 2: Cloudspotting on Mars with Mark Jeffery
Mark introduced this year's featured citizen science project: Cloudspotting on Mars. Using data collected by NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft, volunteers are directly helping planetary scientists map Martian weather by identifying up to 25 different cloud types - like streak, vortex, and disc clouds - over the planet's unique topography. It’s a vital project helping us understand the Martian atmosphere ahead of future human exploration!

A huge thank you to Paul and Mark for an inspiring evening, and to Clive Inglis for compiling the full report.

👉 Want to dive into the technical setups, software used, and project details? Read the full write-up on our website:

Part 1 – Amateur Science Projects with Paul May Paul started the evening with his discussion on amateur science projects covering four topics: Spectroheliography Paul gave an update on the progress made with his MLAstro SHG 700 Spectroheliograph. How a spectroheliograph works is explained briefly ...

31/05/2026

Another shining day of solar observing at the Royal Observatory Greenwich

Our latest public solar viewing session at the Royal Observatory Greenwich proved to be another busy and successful day.

After losing the previous scheduled session to cloud, our volunteers were delighted to be back in action, joined by five first-time solar volunteers who quickly got stuck in. Despite high haze and contrails throughout the day, the Sun remained visible and there was plenty to show visitors through the H-alpha telescopes and Sunspotters.

Over 400 attendees joined us during the session, seeing sunspot groups, prominences, plages and filaments across the solar disc.

Many thanks to Alec for writing the report, and to all the volunteers who helped make the day such a success.

Read the full report here:

After missing our previous scheduled solar observing session due to cloud cover on both days, the team was eager to get up and running again at the Royal Observatory Greenwich this Saturday.Regular participants were joined by five new volunteers, bringing our total number to fourteen for the day. Ev...

30/05/2026

Another excellent day of solar viewing at the Royal Observatory Greenwich!

Despite the high haze, the Sun stayed visible for all of the session and our volunteers were able to show around 450 visitors views through three solar telescopes.

Huge thanks to today’s Flamsteed volunteers: Clive, Mike, Kelly, Richard, Alec, Tony, Yvonne, Sue and Simon - and a special welcome to our five first-time solar volunteers: Frederick, Philippe, Holly, Neale and Chris, who all got stuck in brilliantly.

A great team effort, and another very successful public observing session at the ROG.

29/05/2026

Solar viewing at the Royal Observatory Greenwich - Saturday 30 May

We are going ahead with our public solar viewing session at the Royal Observatory Greenwich tomorrow.

The session starts at 11am in the Dolphin Sundial area, just inside the main entrance.

The forecast suggests there may be some high-altitude haze or cloud, so conditions may not be as clear as we would ideally like, but we are hoping for some clearer spells during the session.

Temperatures should be cooler than recent days, but it may still become quite warm by the afternoon. If you are coming along, please bring water, use sun protection, and take care while queuing.

Full details here:
https://www.flamsteed.info/event-details/confirmed-on-public-solar-viewing-session-at-the-royal-observatory-greenwich-saturday-30-may-2026-05-30-11-00

Please note that normal admission charges apply to enter the Royal Observatory.

THIS EVENT IS CONFIRMED ON FOR SATURDAY 30 MAY. We are running a public solar viewing event at the Royal Observatory Greenwich. All members and non members are welcome. Please note, these events are held inside the Royal Observatory Greenwich, so normal entrance charges apply.

21/05/2026

Our penultimate main lecture of the season drew a packed audience for Dr Ed Bloomer’s talk, “On the hunt for black holes: what are they, and why should you avoid them?”

Ed took us from the basics of what black holes are - and what they are not - through gravitational waves, colliding black holes, direct imaging, M87, Hawking radiation and the rather unfortunate consequences of getting too close. Along the way, there were marshmallows, gravitational lensing, spaghettification and plenty of reasons to keep a safe distance from the nearest event horizon.

The evening also included Thomas Obitz’s members’ talk on data-driven astronomy, exploring how amateurs can still contribute in the age of large all-sky surveys, as well as members’ images and artwork from our recent astro art workshop.

Many thanks to Dr Ed Bloomer, Thomas Obitz, and everyone who joined us for such a popular evening.

Read Yvonne Jacobs’ full report here:

The penultimate main lecture of the season proved to be a very popular one, with the lecture hall packed and barely an empty seat in the house.The evening commenced as ever with members’ images, but this time with a twist; a selection of artwork from the recent astro art workshop, where a variety ...