Annual Meeting 2017

We celebrated the 50th Anniversary of the Webb Deep-Sky Society on Saturday the 3rd of June 2017 at the Institute of Astronomy in Cambridge.

Members can expect the usual meeting report in a future issue of the DSO, but we'd like to thank everyone for making this one of the best attended and most successful Annual Meetings in recent years. It wouldn't have been the same without you 😉

Speakers

We were fortunate to be able offer a range of fascinating topics from a truly international group of speakers. On behalf of the Webb Deep-Sky Society I would like to thank them all.

10:45–11:45 Wolfgang Steinicke on William Herschel’s hole in the sky and the discovery of dark nebulae.
11:45–12:30 Imaging the Southern Sky from Chile. Objects, tips and planning with Bernhard Hubl.
13:30–14:30 A film by film maker George Sibley entitled William Herschel and the Universe (featuring our own Wolfgang Steinicke).
14:30–15:30 Our professional keynote was given by Professor Carlos Frenk entitled Everything from nothing: how our universe was made.
16:15–17:00 Mark & Janet Robinson told us about Webb to Ranyard: one half of a correspondence.
17:00–18:00 Steve Gottlieb travelled from the US to talk about Advanced Observing with a very large Dobsonian.

William Herschel and the Universe

Flyer for William Herschel and the Universe

On March 13th, 1781, in his own back yard, using a telescope he built himself, a 42-year old musician named William Herschel found a new planet for the first time in history. That discovery doubled the size of the known solar system and would change not only his own life, but astronomy as well.

William Herschel and the Universe, a film by Florida film maker George Sibley, tells the story of how a previously unknown amateur astronomer and his telescopes took the scientific world by storm.

Herschel's systematic observations of objects few other people could even see made possible the first comprehensive catalogue of the night sky. His sister became the first professional female astronomer. It's a fascinating story, and Sibley filmed much of it on the actual locations where it took place.

The film also features interviews with leading Herschel scholars, including the Webb Deep-Sky Society's own Wolfgang Steinicke.

Trade Stands

Thank you to our stall holders for turning up with their wares.