OBSERVING THE BRIGHTEST OBJECTS IN THE UNIVERSE - DR VICKY FAWCETT
2025-11-17 19:00 - 21:30 (Europe/London) | Methodist Hall Chipping Norton / Zoom
Methodist Hall, Chipping Norton – 7pm for 7.30pm start
Summary: Almost every known galaxy contains a supermassive black hole at its heart, including our own Milky Way, which have masses millions to billions that of our Sun. Understanding how these monster black holes shape their surroundings is crucial to our understanding of how galaxies evolve. Some black holes are very energetic, launching powerful winds and jets, and are referred to as “active”. We have recently found a population of these active black holes that are extremely bright (referred to as “quasars”) and enshrouded by dust that exhibit peculiar properties. An emerging theory is that these dusty black holes represent a key stage in galaxy evolution.
DR Vicky Fawcett is an astronomy postdoctoral researcher at Newcastle University studying quasars: extremely bright galaxies powered by supermassive black holes. She is part of two major astronomy collaborations: the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI), an optical spectrograph on the Mayall telescope in Arizona, and the Multi-object Optical and Near-IR spectrograph (MOONS), an infrared spectrograph soon to be installed on the Very Large Telescope in Chile.

CHRISTMAS TALK - MERCURY, METEORITES AND THE BEPICOLUMBO MISSION - DR JULIA CARTWRIGHT
2025-12-08 19:00 - 21:30 | Long Compton Village Hall
The talk explains why meteorites remain some of the most important materials for understanding the where, what and why of our
Solar System, as they preserve information about key events and processes. For Mercury, as one of the least
explored planets, we still don’t exactly know how it formed or what is going on at the surface. I’ll be
discussing how important these cosmic samples are, and how they contribute to our knowledge of how the
planets, like Mercury, formed. With the upcoming ESA/JAXA BepiColombo mission on its way to
Mercury, and building off of NASA MESSENGER mission data, I’ll discuss some of the latest work being
done here at the Institute for Space, University of Leicester, in our research to understand the history of the
smallest rocky planet in our Solar System.
Dr. Cartwright is a planetary scientist, cosmochemist and expert in the study of meteorites, with research
focused on understanding the timings, formation and evolution of planetary surfaces. She uses multiple
petrological and geochemical analytical techniques to understand both large- and small-scale processes in
the Solar System.
Having worked in the field for over two decades, including many notable international research institutions,
she is currently an independent research fellow at the University of Leicester, where she is leading research
to understand the surface composition of the planet Mercury, as part of the ESA/JAXA BepiColombo team
using novel equipment at UoL. She is also involved with in-situ resource utilisation (ISRU) topics,
particularly for exploring applications to the lunar surface, as well as studies of meteorites, regoliths and
asteroids.
The talk will be in person at Long Compton Village Hall 7pm for 7.30 Start (Members Only)

CLUB NIGHT
2026-01-19 19:00 - 21:30 | Methodist Hall Chipping Norton / Zoom
Methodist Hall 7pm for 7.30
Topics TBN

Dr Rene Breton - Manchester University and Jodrell Bank
2026-02-16 19:00 - 21:30 | Methodist Hall Chipping Norton / Zoom
Dr Rene Breton – Manchester University and Jodrell Bank
Methodist Hall, Chipping Norton 7pm for 7.30 start

CNAAG ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
2026-03-16 19:00 - 21:30 | Methodist Hall Chipping Norton / Zoom
Methodist Hall Chipping Norton 7pm for 7.30 start
Club Members Only

CLUB EVENING
2026-04-20 19:00 - 21:30 | Methodist Hall Chipping Norton / Zoom
A chance for Club members to socialise and give short talks on topics of interest. Talks will include: Lagrange Points, The Artemis Program and an update on what to observe in April and May.
Doors open 7pm for 7.30pm start

SKEAKER EVENING, A TALK - 'DO JETS FROM SUPERMASSIVE BLACK HOLES FLICKER' BY EMMA ELLEY, OXFORD PHYSICS DEPT
2026-05-18 19:00 - 21:30 | Methodist Hall Chipping Norton / Zoom
Emma Elley is a DPhil student supervised by James Mathews, working on high resolution hydrodynamic simulations of jets from active galactic nuclei over kiloparsec scales.
Her work focuses on modelling radio synchrotron emission from radio galaxies with ‘flickering” jet power to understand whether this leads to observable features on scales of 10s of kpc. Further to this she studies the interaction of variability with magnetic field structures using relativistic magnetohydrodynamic simulations.
Her research interests are: Astrophysical Jets; Particle Acceleration; Active Galaxies and X-ray Binaries

CLUB EVENING
2026-06-15 19:00 - 21:30, 2026-08-17 19:00 - 21:30 | Methodist Hall Chipping Norton / Zoom
A chance for Club members to socialise and give short talks on topics of interest.
Doors open 7pm for 7.30pm start.

SPEAKER EVENING : A TALK ON WOLF-RAYET STARS by PAUL CROWTHER, PROFESSOR of ASTROPHYSICS, from the UNIVERSITY of SHEFFIELD
2026-07-20 19:00 - 21:30 | Methodist Hall Chipping Norton / Zoom
Professor Paul Crowther is Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Sheffield and is currently Vice President of the Royal Astronomical Society. Paul’s research involves the study of the birth, life and death of the most massive stars in the universe. Such stars are rare, but dominate the ionising budget of galaxies and the energetics of young stellar populations. Paul’s primary scientific goals involve the study of late evolutionary phases of massive stars, notably Wolf-Rayet stars. This is achieved via ultraviolet to infrared observations with large ground and space based telescopes (e.g. VLT, HST), plus sophisticated analysis tools.

Paul’s presentation will provide an overview of Wolf–Rayet (WR) stars. This class of objects was first identified in 1867 from the Paris Observatory and exhibit incredible emission line spectra, which permit their identification throughout the Milky Way and in external galaxies.They are now known to represent the final, hydrogen-poor stage in the evolution of the most massive stars, Paul will present a variety of phenomena exhibited by these very special stars.

SPEAKER EVENING - A TALK ON FLORIDA'S WINTER SKY PARTY BY MARK RADICE
2026-09-21 19:00 - 21:30 | Methodist Hall Chipping Norton / Zoom
Although not a professional scientist, Mark enjoys understanding the intricacies of the universe and what can be seen through an amateur telescope.

He recognises that not everyone has access to a telescope and so join him to explore the lunar surface, visit the planets in our solar system and travel through the Milky Way to distant galaxies – all with a cup of tea or coffee !. Mark writes for Astronomy Now (the UK’s leading astronomy
magazine) and was shortlisted for the 2021 AstroPhotography of the Year competition. When not observing from his garden observatory, he enjoys visiting dark skies in the UK and overseas.

This presentation describes the best week of observing he has ever experienced. Join this presentation for a week under tropical skies with a large Dobsonian and portable refractor as we leave rainy England for Florida’s Winter Star Party.

CLUB NIGHT
2026-10-19 19:00 - 21:30 | Methodist Hall Chipping Norton / Zoom
A chance for members to give short talks on their areas of interest, swap or sell equipment and generally socialise.
Held in the Methodist Hall Chipping Norton, doors open at 7 for a 7.30pm start.

CHRISTMAS TALK AND BUFFET
2026-12-14 19:00 - 21:30 | Long Compton Village Hall
This year the Christmas talk will be given by CNAAG Founder Robin Smitten. It promises to be an entertaining evening.
This is a members only event.
Long Compton Village hall 7 for 7.30pm start.
