BAA Autumn Meeting 2025 – Orkney

The 2025 Autumn Meeting is being held on Orkney from the evening of September 5th to Sunday 7th, with the main day being Saturday 6th September.

The meeting is being held in association with the Orkney International Science Festival (OISF), which runs from Thursday 4th September through to Wednesday 10th September. BAA members will be able to access a 25% discount on ticket prices to OISF events.

The venues for the Autumn Meeting talks are the King Street Halls, Kirkwall and the Orkney Theatre, Kirkwall (Kirkwall Grammar School).

The outline programme for the weekend is

5th September – King Street Halls, Kirkwall

7.30 – 8.30 pm 
HUNTING THE FIRST STARS AND GALAXIES – Dr Adam Carnall, Edinburgh University
The earliest stages of the story of the formation of galaxies have now been revealed in stunning details by the James Webb Telescope. It’s taken the story all the way back to the first few hundred million years after the Big Bang itself. Dr Adam Carnall of Edinburgh University’s Institute for Astronomy shows images of stars and galaxies formed over 13 billion years ago and tells the story of their detection – and of more mysteries ahead.

6th September – Orkney Theatre, KGS, Kirkwall

10.00 am The Green Flash – Mike Frost
It’s a fleeting and beautiful sunset phenomenon, which has inspired storytellers from ancient Egypt to the present day. Mike Frost is director of the BAA’s Historical Section.

11.30 am Unusual phenomena of the Northern Lights – STEVE, SAID, SAR and others – Sandra Brantingham
What we have learned about the aurora through time. Sandra Brantingham is director of the BAA’s Aurora and NLC Section

12.30 pm – Buffet Lunch

2.00 pm This Solar Cycle Lyn Smith
How Solar Cycle 25 is progressing and the latest information from NASA’s Parker Solar Probe mission to the sun’s corona. Lyn Smith is director of the BAA’s Solar Section.

2:30 pm Sky Notes – Nick James
A look back at recent observations of the night sky and a look forward to events coming up in the next couple of months. Nick James is director of the BAA’s Comet Section.

3.30 pm The Sloan Digital Sky Survey – Dr Anne-Marie Weijmans, St. Andrews University
A look at its story, scientific discoveries, and what we can expect from it in the next few years. Dr Anne-Marie Weijmans is a Reader in Astrophysics at the University of St Andrews.

7.30 pm Members Dinner, Kirkwall Hotel, Kirkwall
Members are welcome to bring a partner/guest. The provisional menu is here. Diners will need to make choices from the final menu a week before the dinner.

7th September

11:00 am – 3:30 pm Skyscape Archeology Tour
We will visit some of the Orkney neolithic monuments to look at their contexts in the landscape and nightscape.
Our guides for the tour will be Dave Craig who has studied the solar alignments of Maeshowe and Prof. Mark Edmonds one of Orkney’s leading archaeologists. Due to coach availability the party will be limited to 12. Members are welcome to bring a partner/guest.

Tickets

Tickets for the talks, lunch and refreshments on Friday evening, and Saturday are priced at £15.00 for members (and SPA members) using the general discount code (available to logged in members in the document store). Non-members price is £20.00. Young person prices are £7.50 and £10.00.

The Saturday dinner price is £40.00

The Sunday tour price is £40.00

You can book tickets now on the TicketTailor booking system.

Accommodation

We are not organising accommodation for attendees.

There are many hotels, B&B’s, AirBnB’s, self-catering etc. As accommodation does get booked up quickly it is best not to wait to the last-minute, and suggest booking as soon as you can.

Travelling to Orkney

There are ferries to Orkney from Scrabster (near Thurso), Gill’s Bay (half way between Thurso and John O’Groats) daily. There is a less frequent service from Aberdeen.

Kirkwall Airport is served by Loganair – and there are direct flights from Inverness, Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow daily. There are also less frequent direct flights (with a stop) from London and Manchester.

If you have any questions please reach out to the Local Organiser or Meetings Secretary.

Local Organiser : Callum Potter (callump@britastro.org)
Meetings Secretary: Steve Floodgate (meetings@britastro.org)

Venue

Orkney Theatre, The Meadows, Kirkwall, KW15 1QN