The 1950s
We present a collection of information, miscellaneous scans and photos that may bring back memories to some of our long-term members.
The society started life in 1953 as the Junior Astronomical Society. It formed after a group of astronomers decided that not enough was being done for the beginners to astronomy, and in particular youngsters. The founder members included Patrick Moore, Ernest Noon and Eric Turner, all of whom became presidents of the society in its early years. Legend has it that the discussion took place on the steps of the Royal Astronomical Society rooms at Burlington House in Piccadilly, London, following a meeting of the British Astronomical Association.
At that time there were few astronomical resources available other than a few books in public libraries, probably many years out of date. The only astronomical items in the press were brief items buried in the inside pages of the Times and the Telegraph on the first of each month, listing the events that would take place that month. Astronomy stories rarely made the headlines, other than space missions to the planets during the 1960s. So the JAS was one of the few sources of information about what was in the sky for many budding astronomers.
Here is a scan of the first printed issue of the society magazine, then called Junior Astronomer (2 MB PDF), dated June 1953. In its pages the first president, Eric Turner, made it clear that the term ‘Junior’ referred not to age but to all people who were juniors in astronomy. There is also an article by Dr J G Porter, who became our first Patron.
Further scans currently available:
Junior Astronomer, Volume 1 No 2, August 1953 (1.5 MB PDF)
Junior Astronomer, Volume 1 No 3, October 1953 (2 MB PDF)
Junior Astronomer, Volume 1 No 4, December 1953 (1.9 MB PDF)
Junior Astronomer Vol 1 No 5 and 6. March 1954 (1 MB PDF)
Junior Astronomer Vol 1 April 1954 (1 MB PDF)
Junior Astronomer, Volume 2 No 1, June 1954 (0.9 MB PDF)
Junior Astronomer, Volume 2 No 2, October 1954 (0.8 MB PDF)
Junior Astronomer, Volume 2 No 3, January 1955 (1 MB PDF)
Junior Astronomer, Volume 2 No 4, April 1955 (0.9 MB PDF)
Junior Astronomer, Volume 2 No 5, June 1955 (1 MB PDF)
Junior Astronomer, Volume 2 No 6, October 1955 (1 MB PDF)
The 1960s
In those days the majority of members were indeed teenaged, with a few elder statesmen keeping the society on track. Curiously, for a society with young members, London meetings in the early 1960s started at 6 pm on a Saturday night and finished at 9 pm. London was a safer place then.
Meetings were held at Caxton Hall in Victoria, a venue best known for its Register Office which was the scene of many celebrity weddings. The JAS met in the Tudor Room, upstairs, which had rather spartan seating for about 100 people and a grand chair for the chairman of the meeting, which was rarely used in our meetings as it was behind the projection screen.
The society magazine was renamed Hermes after the first few issues. Here are scans of copies of Hermes from July 1966 to October 1968, made by Jon Gregory of St Benedict’s Catholic Secondary School, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. The copies were donated to the school by a former member, now Prof. Ian Williams of the University of Bath. Please note that the resolution has been limited to avoid large downloads.
July 1966 (2.5 MB PDF)
October 1966 (3 MB PDF)
January 1967 (3.4 MB PDF)
April 1967 (2.7 MB PDF)
July 1967 (2.5 MB PDF)
October 1967 (2.5 MB PDF)
January 1968 (2.1 MB PDF)
April 1968 (1.6 MB PDF)
July 1968 (1.9 MB PDF)
October 1968 (4.2 MB PDF)
From 1966 onwards an additional publication was inaugurated, the JAS News Circulars. These were produced with a rapid turnaround, so as to be able to feature news from the observing sections and to report discoveries of new bright objects such as novae and comets. At that time, news of such events was slow to spread around even the professional astronomical community. A few observatories received telegrams about discoveries, but most information was sent out by mail from the International Astronomical Union in the USA.
On one occasion, JAS members received news of a nova discovery within a day or so as a result of rapid work, such as sticking printed labels on the back of envelopes that happened to be already addressed for mailing out!
1970s onwards
From 1970, meetings were held at Alliance Hall nearby, then briefly in 1977 and 1978 the Swedenborg Society. Subsequently we met at Holborn Public Library (1980-1993); The University of Westminster (1993-2001); St Mary’s Hospital, Paddington (2002-2006); the School of Oriental and African Studies (2006-2017); and University College London (2018-2020).
In 1980 the magazine changed its name to Popular Astronomy, and in 1992 the name of the society followed suit after much discussion.
The society celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2003 and the magazine carried a list of society officials from its inception up to that time, which you can read here.