Around 80 attended this years ever-popular Deep Sky Section meeting, with a really interesting and varied series of talks themed loosly round 'the death of stars'.

After a visit to Newbury in 2011, the Deep Sky Section is returning to Northampton in 2012. The meeting, hosted by the Northamptonshire Natural History Society, will take place on Saturday March 10 at the Humfrey Rooms, 10 Castillian Terrace, Northampton, NN1 1LD.

For directions to venue see http://www.nnhs.info/general/location.htm.

2012 marks the 25th anniversary of supernova 1987A in the Large Magellanic Cloud and several of the talks will have the death of stars as a theme.

There has been a change to the programme as Martin Lunn is unable to attend, and the programme is now:

09:30			Coffee
10:00 - 10:45		Stewart Moore	Welcome and a review of the section year
10:45 - 11:30		Bob Winter	The death of stars
11:30 - 12:15		Robin Leadbeater	The spectra of dying stars
12:15 – 12:30		David Boyd	Behaviour of Gyulbudaghian’s Nebula and PV Cep
12:30 – 12:45		Owen Brazell	New Planetary Nebulae
12:45			Buffet Lunch
14:30 - 15:15		Andrew Robertson	Building and using a large Dobsonian telescope
15:15 - 16:00		Chris Longthorn	Observing from New Mexico Skies
16:00			Tea
16:30 – 17:30		Dr Matthew Malek	Cosmic genesis - a unique view of the birth of a neutron star
17:30			Meeting round up and close

The professional talk will be given by Dr Matthew Malek of Imperial College on "cosmic genesis - a unique view of the birth of a neutron star". The talk will discuss the processes that generate neutrinos in a core-collapse supernova, the observations of 19 (or 20) neutrinos from SN1987A, the inference of a compact object at the centre of the collapse, and conclude with the mystery of the "missing" neutron star since then.

Many people will remember the 2 superb talks that Matthew gave at the Winchester Weekend in 2011, so we look forward to hearing him again at Northampton.

There are plenty of public car parks near the venue and Northampton is easily reached by train from London.

Coffee and tea will be available from 9:30 with the meeting starting at 10:00. The entrance fee of £10 (payable at the door) includes tea and coffee throughout the day along with a buffet lunch.

Exhibition of deep sky material by Section members is encouraged (bring your own display boards).

It is hoped that the BAA and the Webb Deep Sky Society will have sales stands at the meeting.

All BAA members and friends are very welcome.

Annual Meeting of the Deep Sky Section, 2011 March 12

held at Ashford Village Hall, Ashford Hill, Berkshire

Dr Stewart Moore, Director of the Deep Sky Section, welcomed the audience to the meeting and thanked Newbury Astronomical Society for hosting it. He especially thanked Ann Davies and David Boyd for arranging the refreshments. He explained that this year marked the thirtieth anniversary of the Section's foundation, in September 1981, and so this year’s meeting would be a timely opportunity for several talks reviewing the changes seen over those three decades.

You can download the Full Meeting Report as a PDF.

The September 2011 Section newsletter is now available to download from the members download area. You will need to be logged in for this link to work.

Director’s Report
Observations Received
The Whirlpool Supernova
SN Discoveries for BAA Members
Imaging the Soap Bubble Nebula - Bob Winter
Where Stars Don’t Twinkle - Mike Gallear
Images of the Crescent Nebula
It was One of Those Nights - Grant Privett
Further Images of Abell 39
Comets and Clusters
Local Group Galaxy Project
Dark Nebulae
Variable Nebula Update - Grant Privett
Deep Sky News - Owen Brazell
Deep Sky Section Meeting 2012
The Webb Society Meeting 2012
Section Officers