SPA Meeting on Saturday 24 October at the Humfrey Rooms, 10 Castilian Terrace, Northampton NN1 1LD, 2 pm – 5 pm
The main speaker is Dr Farzana Meru, on The Birth of Planets.
How did our Solar System planets form? Is our Solar System unique?
We are living in exciting times where we are seeing spectacularly detailed images of planet-forming discs. These are giving us clues on how and when planets form, and have completely revolutionised what we know about planet formation.
In this talk Farzana Meru, of the University of Warwick, presents what we know about how planets may form and evolve in their parent disc. She will also show how observations combined with state-of-the-art simulations of planet-forming discs are enabling us to make leaps and bounds of progress in understanding planetary formation and evolution.
Following this, and after a break, Robin Scagell will describe what’s in the sky for the next three months, then Mary McIntyre will talk about Reflection, Refraction & Excitation: The Hunt For Atmospheric Optics. We get a lot of cloud in the UK and as astronomers this can be frustrating. However, there is so much beauty in the atmospheric optical effects associated with certain cloud types. This talk is all about rainbows, haloes, arcs, sundogs, etc – how they form and where to see them. It will also touch on noctilucent clouds and aurorae. Once you know what you’re looking for you will be amazed at how often you spot things!
Admission
Attendance is free for members and their friends.
How to get there
The Humfrey Rooms are the headquarters of the Northampton Natural History Society and are centrally located within Northampton city centre off Derngate. Details are available at nnhs.info/Find-Us.
Note that car parking on the road outside the venue is now for residents only. Council car parks, such as St John’s Multi Storey Car park or Albion Place Long Stay Car Park, charge £2.20 for the day on a Saturday.
Northampton station is a 16-minute walk according to Google Maps.
Further SPA meetings will be held on Saturday 30 January 2027 and 24 April 2027 at UCL. Details to be announced.
How to get to the Gustave Tuck Lecture Theatre for SPA meetings
The nearest tube station is Euston Square (Circle and Metropolitan lines). Turn left on leaving the barrier, which brings you to the top of Gower Street. Walk 150 m down Gower Street and the entrance to UCL is on your left.
At certain times the security guards may ask your purpose but you should say that you are going to the SPA meeting at Gustave Tuck. Then cross the quadrangle to the door on the far right.
Climb the stairs to your right to the 2nd floor, or take the nearby lift.
The Gustave Tuck Lecture Theatre is nearby, with its main entrance through double doors. There are a few steps up to this, but there is a wheelchair lift should it be needed.
About the meetings
The first section of each meeting is generally taken up by a talk from a guest speaker, while the second has shorter items on current astronomical events, and possibly reports from sections. Meetings start at 2 pm (doors open 1:30 pm) and continue until 5 pm.
Here is a Google map of the venue to help you with directions:
BAA meetings
In a reciprocal agreement, SPA members are welcome at meetings of the British Astronomical Association. Forthcoming BAA meetings are as follows:
Friday 18 – Saturday 19 September BAA Autumn meeting, Liverpool
For further details and to book please visit https://britastro.org/event/autumn-2026-meeting
Meeting videos
You can view videos of the main talks at previous meetings on your computer. Just click on the image at right to see what’s currently available. There are videos of talks about all aspects of astronomy there – they’ll keep you entertained for hours!