Because members of the SPA are spread across the country, we recognise that many will be unable to travel to join us at our regular meetings.
That is why, in recent years, we have been videoing talks at meetings and other special events so that everyone can enjoy the presentations by our expert speakers. It is another way that the SPA caters for all members, wherever they may live!
Please note that YouTube now put ads on videos but these are not controlled by the SPA, nor do we receive any funds from the adverts.
Meeting at Institute of Physics on 30 April 2022. Prof. Graziella Branduardi-Raymont on X-rays from the Solar System, plus second half with Robin Scagell and Grant Bowskill, speaking on recent product developments. Also relayed via Zoom.
Online meeting on 29 January 2022. Prof. Geraint Jones on the Comet Interceptor mission, plus second half with Robin Scagell and Alan Clitherow.
Online meeting on 30 October 2021. Second half with Robin Scagell and Matthew Barratt.
View online Please note that the first half, with Dr Suzie Imber, is no longer available at the request of the speaker.
Online meeting on 31 July 2021 with Dr George Seabroke on The Gaia Revolution
Online meeting on 24 April 2021 with Prof Andrew Coates on Current and Future Mars Missions (replaces Prof Geraint Jones).
Online meeting on 30 January 2021 with Dr Stephen Feeney on The Hubble Constant: a Crisis in Cosmology.
Online meeting on 21 October 2020 with Prof Andy Newsam on Exploring an Ever-Changing Universe
Online SPA meeting with Dr Susanne Schwenzer, Saturday 25 July 2020: Curiosity at Gale Crater
Dr Susanne Schwenzer explains how NASA’s Curiosity probe has been exploring the geology of Gale Crater on Mars.
Online SPA meeting with Prof Lucie Green, Saturday 23 May 2020: Solar update
We are currently at a minimum of solar activity. But what causes the Sun to vary its activity level, and when can we expect the next maximum?
You can view a recording of this meeting in full at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoXJTIV58_4
25 January 2020 meeting
Prof Stephen Serjeant: Citizen Science and the Data Avalanche
Robin Scagell: What’s Up for Feb-April 2020; How Tycho Changed the Universe
26 October 2019 meeting
Prof Serena Viti: A Journey into the Formation and Evolution of Stars and Planets
Robin Scagell: What’s Up for November 2019 – January 2020
Graham Cluer: Detecting Meteors by Radar
27 July 2019 meeting
For copyright reasons, David Whitehouse’s talk could not be videoed
Prof David Rothery: Moons of the solar system
27 April 2019 meeting
At the request of the speaker, Dallas Campbell’s talk on Space was not videoed
Robin Scagell: What’s Up for May-July 2019
David Arditti: Planetary imaging
30 March 2019 SPA Convention
Prof Richard Nelson: The Formation of Planetary Systems
Prof Ian Robson: The Story of Pluto
Dr John Davies: New Horizons in the Solar System
Prof Ian Crawford: The Scientific Legacy of Apollo and the case for renewed exploration of the Moon
Prof Monica Grady: 1969 And All That
26 January 2019 meeting
Dr Queenie Chan – Meteorites and the Ingredients of Life. Please note: we apologise for the poor sound quality of this video as the local microphone was accidentally switched off
Robin Scagell – What’s Up for February–April 2019
Dr Lee Macdonald – The Victorian Origins of Deep-Sky Photography
Annual General Meeting
27 October 2018 meeting
Dr Colin Stuart – How we’ll live on Mars
Robin Scagell – What’s Up Nov 18–Jan 19
Paul Sutherland – Aurora chasing on a budget
Robin Scagell – It’s about time
29 September Cardiff meeting
Prof Ian Robson – The Changing Scene of Astronomy
Philip Wallace – The Birth, Life and Death of Stars
Dr Megan Argo – When Galaxies Collide
28 July 2018 meeting
Prof Dave Rothery – Mercury and the BepiColombo mission
Dave Finnigan – Some deep-sky objects
Graham Cluer – Chasing the solar eclipse
28 April 2018 meeting
Prof Andrew Coates – Looking for Life on Mars with the 2020 ESA ExoMars Rover
Robin Scagell – What’s Up for May–July 2018
Ian Ridpath – Pictures in the Sky
27 January 2018 meeting
Dr Greg Hunt – Highlights of Cassini
Martin Lewis – High resolution planetary imaging
28 October 2017 meeting
Prof. Tim O’Brien — Radio Transients
Robin Scagell — What’s Up Nov 17-Jan 18
Mell Jeffery — Occultations
29 July 2017 meeting
Dr Manish Patel — Searching for Signs of Life with the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter
Dr Manish Patel — Searching for Signs of Life with the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (Q & A)
Robin Scagell talks about total solar eclipses
29 April 2017 meeting
Prof Giovanna Tinetti — A virtual journey to the planets in our Galaxy
Robin Scagell — What’s Up for May to July 2017
Tracie Heywood — Stars to suit your lifestyle
SPA Cambridge Convention, 1 April 2017
Prof. Ian Robson — The Changing Scene of Astronomy
Dr Helen Mason — Active Regions and Solar Flares
Dr Helen Walker: Mars Orbiters, Rovers and Landers
Prof. Iwan Williams: The CONSERT experiment aboard Rosetta — What it did and what it discovered
Prof. Karen Masters: What Have Astronomers Learned From Citizen Science?
Dr Floor van Leeuwen: GAIA: ESA’s Mission to construct the largest and most precise 3D space catalogue ever made
28 January 2017 meeting
Dr Jonathan Pritchard — The Cosmic Dawn and the First Galaxies
Nicky Fleet — What’s Up for February-April 2017
Tony Sizer — The Stars, Like Dust
Annual General Meeting
29 October 2016 meeting
Dr Rene Breton — Einstein’s Relativity: Tested to the Limit with Pulsars
Robin Scagell — What’s Up for November 16 – Jan 17
Alice Sheppard — Astronomy from your Laptop
Special meeting at Jodrell Bank, 17 September 2016
Prof Tim O’Brien — The Story of Jodrell Bank
Prof Michael Bode: The Liverpool Telescope — a Giant Robotic Eye on the Universe
Prof Rob Jeffries — Gravitational Waves
Prof Ian Morison: Are We Alone? The Search for Life beyond the Earth
Prof Lucie Green — 15 Million Degrees: Journey to the Centre of the Sun
30 July 2016 meeting
Prof Sheila Rowan — Gravitational Waves: The New Astronomy
Robin Scagell, Ian Morison, Richard Fleet: Summer Observing
30 April 2016 meeting
Dr Morgan Fraser: Gaia — The Milky Way and Beyond
Robin Scagell — What’s Up for May-July 2016
Stuart Atkinson — Comets! Fear, Fact and Fiction
30 January 2016 meeting
Dr Lewis Dartnell — Astrobiology: The Search for Alien Life
Robin Scagell — What’s Up for Feb-April 2016
Jan Drozd — Astronomy in Western Art
Annual General Meeting
31 October 2015 meeting
Dr Jeff Wagg — the Square Kilometre Array
Ian Morison — The Night Sky for November 2015 – January 2016
James Hilder — the Search for a Dark Sky
25 July 2015 meeting
Prof. Chris Evans — The World’s Biggest Telescope Ever — ESO and the E-ELT
Robin Scagell — What’s Up for Summer 2015
Jerry Stone — Is Pluto a Planet?
25 April 2015 meeting
Prof Tim O’Brien — Novae: an Ultra-Panchromatic View
Robin Scagell — What’s Up for May–July 2015
Dr David Mannion — The Future of Spaceflight
SPA Convention, 28 March 2015
Dr Helen Walker — Commanding a UK Satellite
Dr Lucie Green — Europe’s Journey to the Sun: Solar Orbiter
Prof. Monica Grady — Mars missions and Exomars
Prof. Ian Wright — Rosetta/Philae – Landing (many times) On a Comet
Prof. Tim O’Brien: The Moon and Beyond. Jodrell Bank and the Early Days of Solar System Exploration
31 January 2015 meeting
Living with a star: The Sun as a natural hazard — Prof. Mike Hapgood
What’s Up for Jan-Mar 2015 — Robin Scagell
An Introduction to Astro-Imaging with a Digital Camera — Prof Ian Morison
25 October 2014 meeting
Supernovae and the Accelerating Universe – Prof. Bob Nichol
The SPA Deep-Sky Section – Dave Finnigan
26 July 2014 meeting
Prof. Ian Robson – The Confessions of an Astronomer
Robin Scagell — What’s Up for August-September 2014
Richard Fleet – Video Meteor Observing
27 April 2014 meeting
Dr John Richer – High Frequency Radio Astronomy
Robin Scagell – What’s Up for May–July 2014
Geoff Elston — Solar Filters
25 January 2014 meeting
James Hilder – Near-Horizon Observing
Robin Scagell – What’s Up January – March 2014
Citizen Science – a Revolution in Your Browser
Annual General Meeting
26 October 2013 meeting
A Life of Comets – Rob McNaught
What’s up for 2013 Nov-Dec – Robin Scagell
Observing Comet ISON – Jonathan Shanklin
SPA Cambridge Convention, 12 October 2013 – 60 Years of Astronomy
A Meteoric 60 Years – David Bryant
The next 60 years – Prof Martin Rees (Astronomer Royal)
Astro-Imaging : Then and Now – Nik Szymanek
The Cambridge Observatories in 1953 – Mark Hurn
Engineering the exploration of Mars – Ralph Cordey
27 July 2013 meeting
Latest Results from the Herschel Space Observatory – Derek Ward-Thompson
Perseids and Fireballs – Tony Markham
Special meeting in Edinburgh, 15 June 2013
Dr Duncan Forgan – The Formation of Planets and Extraterrestrial Intelligence
Special meeting in Preston, 11 May 2013
The Largest Structure in the Universe – Dr Roger Clowes
Citizen Science – Dr Jason Kirk
Dr Joanne Bibby: Exploding Stars — Where the Elements Come From
Planets and Pulsations – Simon Murphy
Solar Eruptions and Space Weather – Dr Timo Laitinen
Astronomy and the Public – Prof. Sir Arnold Wolfendale, FRS
27 April 2013 meeting
Sixty years of Radio Astronomy – Tim O’Brien
An Introduction to Astronomical Sketching – Sally Russell
26 January 2013 meeting – A Tribute to Sir Patrick Moore
Conversations about Sir Patrick Moore and his Astronomy
60 years of Astronomy, the JAS and the SPA – Robin Scagell
27 October 2012 meeting
Strange Weather: Exploring the Giant Planets – Leigh Fletcher
Reflector vs Refractor – Dr Ian Morison
21 July 2012 meeting
The Universe in the Classroom – Paul Roche
Night Sky Glows – Richard Fleet
28 April 2012 meeting
How to hear Black Holes – Mike Cruise
Transits of Venus – Tony Sizer
28 January 2012 meeting
The Square Kilometre Array – Peter Wilkinson
Looking for Aurorae – Robin Scagell
Planetary Imaging with a Dobsonian Telescope – Martin Lewis
29 October 2011 meeting
Fred Hoyle: Physics, Astrophysics and Cosmology – Simon Mitton
Astronomy from Kosovo – John Chapman-Smith
Spectroscopy – Jack Martin
30 July 2011 meeting
Fingerprints of the Early Universe – Hiranya Peiris
Results from Cassini – Jerry Workman
30 April 2011 meeting
Spacecraft I have known and loved – John Zarnecki
The next 50 years in Space – Jerry Stone
Noctilucent Clouds – John Murrell
29 January 2011 meeting
Does Life on Earth imply Life on Mars? – Monica Grady
Planetary Observing – Andrew Robertson
October 2010 meeting
The View from Saturn – Carl Murray
25 April 2009 meeting
Songs of the Stars: Prof Don Kurtz (part 1)
Songs of the Stars: Prof Don Kurtz (part 2)
Songs of the Stars: Prof Don Kurtz (part 3)
31 January 2009 meeting
Detecting Meteors with Radio Astronomy – Noah Hardwicke
From Flying Sandbanks To Rubble Piles Part 1 – Prof. Iwan Williams
From Flying Sandbanks To Rubble Piles Part 2 – Prof. Iwan Williams