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| 28-Mar | Jan-Peter Muller - Mapping landscape features on the Earth, Moon and Mars from orbit Bredhurst Village Hall  Prof Muller will describe how landscape features on the Earth, Moon and Mars can be mapped from orbiting satellites using AI and a virtual 3D. He will compare 3D views generated from orbit with those from the Mars2020 rover to show the potential and limitations of armchair exploration SPEAKER DETAILSProf Jan-Peter Muller  Jan-Peter Muller received a BSc. degree in Physics with honours from Sheffield University in 1976, an MSc. in Atmospheric Physics and Dynamics from Imperial College London in 1977 and a PhD. in Planetary Meteorology from University College London in 1982, during which time he spent 1979 as a NASA Intern in the Jet Propulsion Laboratory working with the Voyager Imaging Science Team. Prof. Muller is Emeritus Professor at the Mullard Space Science Laboratory in the Dept. of Space and Climate Physics, University College London. He is a Co-Investigator on the ESA Mars Express HRSC and ESA Harmony Thermal-IR multi-angle mission launching in the late 2020s. Prof. Muller's research interests include imaging sensor technology development for comparative planetology and exploration especially for Cubesats, the development and application of deep learning to applications such as cloud detection, cloud-top wind-field mapping, very high resolution surface albedo mapping and super-resolution restoration. He has been an active leader in the field of automated mapping of Earth, Moon, Mars and Jupiter and image interpretation for the last 20 years. This has included the development of advanced algorithms for automated 3D surface and solid earth deformation measurement and automated extraction of global environmental information. https://www.ucl.ac.uk/mssl/people/prof-jan-peter-muller. | |
| 11-Apr | Prof. Rodney Buckland - Exoplanets: Quo Vadimus? Bredhurst Village Hall  It is only just over thirty years since we were able to show that the Sun is not unique in having a family of orbiting planets. With more than 7,000 'exoplanets' confirmed, what kind of bodies are we finding and what orbits are they in? What are the prospects for finding habitable worlds in the Goldilocks zones of their host stars? With opportunities for amateurs to become involved in exoplanet research and three European missions to be launched in the next few years, this is a good time to become aware of, and perhaps even contribute to, this exciting field of astrophysics. SPEAKER DETAILSRodney Buckland  Having pointed the biggest telescope in the Southern Hemisphere for visiting astronomers from the UK during his University holidays, Rodney became a digital computing engineer in NASA's Deep Space Network during the Pioneer 6 & 7 and Mariner Mars 6 & 7 missions. Responding to a newspaper advert 'Wanted Antarctic Expedition Scientist: no experience necessary' he went on to operate a cosmic ray observatory and construct a new underground muon telescope at Mawson, MacRobertson Land. After postgraduate study at UCL, he became a study manager of Future Science Missions at ESA HQ in Paris and at ESTEC in The Netherlands. Returning to the UK, he helped the UK Insurance sector support fledgling commercial satellite operators and launch vehicle suppliers manage their financial risks before joining the Open University as a Research Fellow in Innovation. In recent years, he supervises postgraduate students' research in space science and technology. | |
| 25-Apr | ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING Bredhurst Village Hall  This is your chance to discuss how the Society operates and to make suggestions about future activities, to appprove the annual accounts and to elect the Committee for the forthcoming year. Any Member can put themselves forward for election to the Committee. Indeed we would welcome some new blood so please do not be shy in volunteering. Please send any proposals for changes to society business to secretary@midkentastro.org.uk by no later than 11 April 2025. The Constitution can be viewed and downloaded from HERE. The AGM is open to all MKAS Members and Visitors, however only Members are entitled to vote. Please download and review the following documents: [2 of 3 documents currently available] - Agenda for the 2025 AGM - Minutes of the 2024 AGM (Draft) - Committee Roles and Responsibilities The following reports will been sent to members in advance of the AGM: - MKAS Accounts 2024-2025 The following reports will be presented at the AGM: - Treasurer's Report and Audited Accounts - Chairman's Report - Programme Secretary's Report - Membership Secretary's Report - GP20 update | |
| 09-May | Prof. Michael Smith - The heart and lungs of a galaxy: tensions and hypertensions in the Universe. Bredhurst Village Hall  The evolution of the Universe and the large scale structure therein are the subjects of increasing tension. These issues will be discussed and we will ask what has caused the very early galaxies to appear so fast, how the gas in between got enriched and then how the galaxy growth got quenched. Research into the prime suspect, the supermassive black hole at the heart could hold the key. A means by which the black hole can solve some of these issues by ejecting high pressure jets into expanding and contracting lungs will be explored. SPEAKER DETAILSProf Michael Smith  Born in Ipswich, Professor Smith was educated in England and Australia before obtaining a first class honours degree in Mathematics from Imperial College, London, in 1976, and a doctorate in Astrophysics from the University of Oxford in 1979. He went on to work at higher education institutions in Illinois, Maryland and Iowa, USA; Leicester Edinburgh and Armagh in the UK, Leiden, The Netherlands, Trieste, Italy and Heidelberg in Germany, where he held a von Humboldt Fellowship. Prof. Smith is an Associate of The Royal College of Science, a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and a member of the International Astronomical Union. | |
| 30-May | Speaker & Topic TBC Bredhurst Village Hall | |
| 13-Jun | Arthur Fentaman - Astrophotography using Smartphones Bredhurst Village Hall  Arthur Fentaman will give an overview of how to take images of the night sky using mobile phones, followed by an extended Q&A session. SPEAKER DETAILSArthur Fentaman  Arthur is a published astrophotographer and active MKAS member. He was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society in 2020. | |
| 27-Jun | Prof. David Southwood - Electromagnetic threats from the Sun Bredhurst Village Hall  SPEAKER DETAILSProf David Southwood CBE  David was formerly the Director of Science and Robotic Exploration at the European Space Agency (2001-2011) and President of the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) 2012-2014. He received a CBE in the 2019 Queen's Birthday Honours. Before going to ESA, he was a space scientist at Imperial College, London. At ESA, he oversaw building and launching spacecraft to Venus, Mars and the Moon as well as the Rosetta probe with lander Philae to comet Churymuov-Gerasimenko, in addition to several major space telescopes. He led the team that landed a European probe on Saturn's largest moon Titan in 2005. An instrument he built at Imperial operated in orbit around the planet Saturn aboard the NASA Cassini spacecraft from 2004-2017. He is a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society, was awarded the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal and won the 2011 Sir Arthur C. Clarke award for space achievement. He was chairman of the Steering Board of the UK Space Agency 2016-2019. He is currently a senior research investigator at Imperial College. | |
| 11-Jul | Jeremy Phillips - Going over to the Dark Side - remote imaging Bredhurst Village Hall  Abstract to follow. SPEAKER DETAILSJeremy Phillips  Until retirement, Jeremy worked as an executive producer making documentaries and factual programmes for the Discovery TV network. He first got interested in astronomy at 11 years old when his father bought him a second hand 3in refractor telescope. After getting up at 3am, he pointed it at the brightest object in the sky and couldn't believe what he saw. Jeremy said "it actually had rings. This was Saturn of course, and it blew me away. From that moment I was hooked. Through astrophotography I still get the same buzz today." During the night Jeremy looks at the sky, often travelling several hours to a dark sky location, but by day he enjoys life with his wife and two daughters at his our home in south west London. | |
| 25-Jul | Speaker & Topic or MKAS Summer Social - TBC Bredhurst Village Hall Details to follow. |
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