Comet Section Meeting

After a long break we are planning our first face-to-face section meeting to take place at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich on Saturday, 2023 July 8. Our last meeting was in York in 2019 so there is a lot to catch up on. The meeting is open to anyone who has an interest in comets.

You can book your place at our TicketTailor page (£6 adult BAA members / £8 adult non-members). You can access the 25% BAA member discount by logging in to the BAA website and following this link. Use the general code. If you are a member of Flamsteed Astronomy Society you can also access this discount. Please contact the Society for your promo code. You enter the promo code after you select the number of tickets, on the screen where you provide your details.

There are lots of comet connections with the observatory including a comet which is mounted on the dome of the Annie Maunder Astrographic Telescope. Rail, bus and air connections to Greenwich are very good so I hope you can come along.

The nearest station to the venue is Cutty Sark which is on the DLR. From here it is only a few minutes’ walk to the museum with entry through the gates on Romney Road. There is also a bus stop right outside the museum for services 129, 177, 188, 286, 386 and N1. The grounds around the museum will open as normal at 7am but the doors will not open until 9am. We need to be out of the museum by 6pm. Please bring your Ticket Tailor booking with you so that we can check you off at the door. If you are early there are plenty of excellent places to buy coffee or breakfast between the station and the park.

The meeting starts with an introduction in the Lecture Theatre at 9:30 am followed by a walk up the hill for the special comet-themed planetarium show which will start at 10:15. If you arrive late you can meet us at the planetarium around 10 am or join when the meeting proper starts back at the Lecture Theatre at 11:30 am. There will be FAS and BAA representatives at the museum entrance, in the lecture theatre and at the planetarium to welcome you.

We have a lunch break scheduled from 12:45 – 13:45. No lunch is provided so bring your own and eat it in beautiful Greenwich Park (sunny weather not guaranteed). You can also get lunch from the café at the museum although this is likely to be very busy and we only have an hour. There are plenty of great pubs in the area but getting lunch offsite would be very challenging given the timings. I suggest you don’t try and reserve any pub visits until after the meeting! There are multiple food vendors in the areas outside the park. We will provide coffee/tea and pastries for the afternoon break which will be set up in an area outside the main lecture theatre. No food or drink will be allowed in the lecture theatre.

All of the talks will be recorded and we will put them online after the event. The meeting schedule is quite tight but there will be an opportunity to ask questions and some time for discussion at the end of the meeting. This is a great opportunity to meet fellow comet enthusiasts face-to-face.

My thanks to Flamsteed Astronomy Society and to the NMM for their assistance with this event.

Venue

National Maritime Museum, Greenwich