Mapping Milky Way, Dark Matter, Weighing Milky Way, BAA Radio Astronomy Section

I have a book on amateur radio astronomy from the 1960s which describes hydrogen line radio observing as “only for the [really] advanced amateur” & mapping the Milky Way as an exercise for those who are at nearly professional level…..and here we are – all doing it, only a few decades later! And doing it for such a cheap cost – long gone are the £thousands required for such projects.

So now – we move forward – some of us are mapping the Milky Way in 3D(Wow!), demonstrating dark matter(Wow! Wow!), weighing the Milky Way(little Wow!) and maybe even contributing to the advancement of science(Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow!) – but perhaps most incredibly we can all walk in the scientific footsteps of those who came before us, and travel that journey of scientific discovery that leads us to understand the universe through eyes not our own, in wavelengths we cannot see, at distances we can hardly comprehend, over time periods that reduce our civilisation to a tiny pin-prick in the history of the universe!(Lots of Wows!)

……I am trying to encourage everyone here to give this all a try – it is NOT difficult!

AND if anyone would like to get help on your journey or just talk to others about their (proposed or actual) projects on H-Line then there is a joint BAA/SARA members H-Line meeting on Monday night (under auspices of BAA RAG). Log in details =

Microsoft Teams: (UTC+0) 19:00 on 5 Jan 2026:
Join the meeting now
Meeting ID: 360 212 052 639 56
Passcode: Jr36E8dw

Any problems joining contact me on andrew (at) thornett (dot) net or +447770841767.

Drop me an email if you would like to be added to the mailing list for future meetings.

Andy