Event Calendar

William Herschel. Image Credit: William Herschel Society

The guest speaker at our November meeting will be John Harris FRAS, member of the Society for the History of Astronomy, William Herschel Society and the Cotswold Astronomical Society.

William Herschel discoverer of Uranus and thousands of nebulae was the most eminent astronomer of his time. He was assisted by his sister Caroline who became a most prodigious astronomer in her own right becoming the first female discoverer of comets and deep sky objects. The talk touches on the contribution that Caroline made to the work of William.

William Lassell (1799-1880). Image Credit: Science Photo Library

Lassell made his fortune as a Liverpool brewer which enabled him to pursue his passion of astronomy, particularly an interest in the outer planets. Described as one of the first “Grand Amateurs” of the Victorian age, William Lassell’s list of achievements is truly impressive. He built a 24 inch reflector telescope using his own workshops, discovered Triton, the largest moon of Neptune, co-discovered Hyperion, a moon of Saturn and went on to discover Ariel and Umbriel, two new moons of Uranus.

Gerard Gilligan first became interested in the great science of Astronomy when he was 8 years old, following the Apollo 8 mission around the Moon.. He joined Liverpool Astronomical Society in 1984 and is a founder member of the UK based Society for the History of Astronomy.

Gerard lives in Liverpool, working at Liverpool University, School of Life Sciences, as a Technical Supervisor. He has a wife, two teenage children and an 8 inch dobsonian telescope to support.

Jon Reynolds from the Society for the History of Astronomy will be giving a talk on Arthur Eddington, Einstein and Dr Who.