Past Events - 2021
WORK IN PROGRESS - We're a relatively small Group, but undertake lots of activities, so please bear with us while we try to keep these details up to date.
Live Views of the Moon from Caithness (23rd Jan)
As a trial run for future public events where Caithness Astronomy Group intend to live stream views of the night sky, we took advantage of a brief break in the wintry showers to stream telescopic views of the gibbous Moon to members via Zoom and to the public via our Facebook page.
This short session achieved what was intended - it allowed the techology & equipment required to be tested out, and for the experience obtained to help with future plans. The breaks in the snow showers & clouds allowing for detailed views of the Moon obtained were a welcome bonus!
Celebrating 30 Years of the Space Telescope (12th Feb)
For this event CAG live streamed (via Zoom and our Facebook page) presentations celebrating the amazing achievements during the Hubble Space Telescopes 30 years of operation.....
CAG members Neil McLean, Iain Darby & Gordon Mackie delivered short talks on a number of Hubble related topics.
AGM (Sat 27th Feb at 10.30am via Zoom)
After the Chairman's report, the annual statement of accounts were accepted and the following office bearers and committee members were (re-)elected as part of the proceedings:
Chairperson: Gordon Mackie
Secretary: Keith Nicholson
Treasurer: Alan Gerrard
Other committee members: John Hilton, Dina Hilton, Christian Wilhelm, Iain Darby.
Membership for 2021 was set at £15 for adults and £25 for family membership (the same as last year).
CAG events at the Caithness International Science Festival (multiple events during March)
For this year's festival CAG provided a range of content for the programme, which was held online.
CAG also arranged for previous CAG guest speaker Dr Mike Simms to contribute to the event programme....
The various talks are available to view on the CISF YouTube channel.
“The Sky: why it matters and how we might lose it” (16th Apr)
Presentation by Prof Andy Lawrence (Institute of Astronomy at the University of Edinburgh) looking at how the worrying exponential increase in man-made satellites in orbit around the Earth could have serious consequences that outweigh the benefits they bring.....
After this presentation, CAG Chair Gordon Mackie presented a selection of images taken over the past year that help illustrate the benefit the local dark skies in the north of Scotland brings to amateur astronomers....
This presentations above were recorded and are available on the CAG Facebook page and also via the CAG YouTube account.
"Lunar Observing: the more you look, the more you see" (21st May)
Presentation by CAG member Gordon Mackie - a keen lunar observer and imager.
The presentation covered a variety of important factors for those interested in observing or imaging the Moon, and also provided details on a range of interesting features that amateur astronomers can see with relatively basic equipment......
"Partial Solar Eclipse" (10th June)
Unfortunately the forecast for significant cloud cover meant that our plans to live stream views of the eclipse were cancelled. However there were a few fleeting gaps in the clouds and a few members managed to see and image the eclipse in progress.
"Extremophiles & Why There Must be Life Elsewhere in the Universe" (9th July)
Presentation by Dr Martin Braddock
