Soaring temperatures did not deter over 80 people from attending the BAA Back to Basics Beginners’ Meeting hosted by the Cotswold Astronomical Society at Cheltenham last Saturday (1st October).

Talks and workshop sessions on Solar observing (Peter Meadows), Lunar observing (Martin Morgan-Taylor), Planets (David Arditti), and Astro-Imaging (Rik McRae) were complemented with a general overview and equipment talk by Callum Potter.

An excellent lunch kept everyone well nourished for the afternoon session.

And during the lunch break, solar H-Alpha scopes were set up outside and a number of sunspots and small prominances were seen.

Much thanks goes to the Cotswold Astronomical Society, local organisers of the event.

In 2012 the BAA will be holding two more of these Back to Basics meetings – in Newbury on March 17, and in Bedford on October 7th (Sunday).

Here are a few photos of the day (taken by Tony Ireland of the Cotswold Astronomical Society).