1985 - 2010

Letchworth & District Astronomical Society

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2010 marks the society's 25th anniversary, and we invite everyone to join us in celebrating this special year.
Have a look at our plans for the year on our Programme page.

We had a superb PUBLIC STAR PARTY on April 17
Visitors were able to see Venus, Mars, Saturn and the Moon!
Our Autumn PSPs will be on September 18 and October 16, featuring the Moon and Jupiter.

		Main Meeting Our next Main Meeting is on July 28 at 7:30pm Guest Speaker : Carolin Crawford Additional Meeting We hold these meetings four times per year They feature talks by members of the society. Our next Additional Meeting is on September 9 at 7:30pm We meet at the Elizabeth Howard Memorial Hall, Hillshott, Letchworth All welcome. See the Meetings page for more details Observing Sessions We are having an additional Observing Session on June 4 at 9:30pm at our observatory at The Standalone Farm Centre. Contact us for details of ad-hoc sessions over the summer, including our planned Pluto Hunt ! Astronomy Workshops Our Astronomy workshops re-start in Autumn: September 10: Adults' Workshops September 11: Young Person's Workshops Follow the link for more details. The workshops are open to the public. Places are limited and must be booked in advance. Write to events-at-ldas.org.uk [Replace "-at-" with "@"] Our new 14" Meade LX200 on its equatorial mount Astro-Image This image of Mars was produced by LDAS member Simon Kidd. The dark triangle is Syrtis Major and you can see the North polar cap. (North is at the bottom). Click on the image for a larger version. Mars is currently visible high in the south. Current Phase of the Moon This Applet requires java, please try again with a java enabled browser. Please wait for the image to load. This is a Java application.
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Whatever the level of your interest in astronomy, welcome to Letchworth & District Astronomical Society.

The LDAS is based in Letchworth, at the north end of Hertfordshire. We are a friendly society with over 100 members. We hold regular meetings, star parties and other events for members and the public alike. We are also more than happy to present talks to clubs, schools and other organisations, and for them to visit our observatory.

We hold meetings with guest speakers on the last Wednesday of each month, except in December, when we hold our AGM and Quiz around the middle of the month. Four times a year we also hold meetings where members of the society give short talks on astronomical topics. Due to the growth of the society, we have moved to a new location for our meetings, and we now meet at the Elizabeth Howard Memorial Hall near the centre of Letchworth. You can find details of our meetings on our Programme page.

We also have an observatory to the north of Letchworth at the Standalone Farm Centre, where we hold observing sessions. The observatory has recently been upgraded with a 14-inch Meade LX200 computerised telescope.

You can find out more about the society on our "About us" page.

We have had a very active programme for the International Year of Astronomy in 2009, and we are planning to continue some of these activities in the future. 2010 is our 25th anniversary and we have plans for special activities to celebrate this milestone.

Please look through these pages, and if you need any further information, do not hesitate to contact us.

Jerry Stone FBIS FRAS
Society Chairman
E-mail me at: chair-at-ldas.org.uk
For news about our events, and to book places, write to: events-at-ldas.org.uk
[Replace "-at-" with "@" - This formatting is to help prevent "spam' messages.]

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