Wycombe Astronomical Society

About us

Registered Charity Number 297024
President: Prof. Heather Couper BSc FRAS FRSA
Vice Presidents: Dr. Robert Lambourne & Prof. Stuart Malin
















In addition other events are organised and attended by members on the Society's behalf throughout the year. Outings can provide an unusual break for the whole family to places of astronomical interest that are just waiting to be explored.

The Society owns astronomical equipment, and has a library of books, videos and magazines which are available to members at no charge.

In the time that our Society has been in existence, it has been mentioned in national and international publications, visited by notable astronomers (including Dr. Patrick Moore OBE who addressed an audience of over three hundred in 1992) and in 1986, the astronomer and television presenter Dr. Heather Couper became our President.

The Society has a bright future and we hope that you can be part of that future.











The Chiltern Observatory in the grounds of  Woodrow High House

The Society is very friendly and active and is for beginners as well as for the more advanced astronomers, working together for a fulfilling hobby everyone can enjoy.

We are a charity affiliated to the Society for Popular Astronomy and the Society is a member of the Federation of Astronomical Societies and a member of the Chilterns & Thames Valley Group of Astronomical Societies.

The Society holds monthly lecture meetings at Holmer Green Senior School on the 3rd Wednesday of the month and Practical Astronomy meetings at Woodrow High House on the 1st Thursday of the month. Both locations can be found just off the A404 between High Wycombe and Amersham.

The Lecture meetings at Holmer Green Senior School start at 7.45pm. They include Society matters and a main lecture on a wide variety of Astronomical subjects.  Many of our lecturers are guests who are invited to visit the Society to talk about their subject. In the past, our guest lecuturers have included Dr. Robert Lambourne of the Open University,  Dr. Jocelyn Bell-Burnell, Chris Lintott, Ian Ridpath, Andy Lound, Nik Szymanek, and the BBC's Dr. David Whitehouse.

Woodrow High House, Amersham, Bucks

The Practical Astronomy meetings in the Frankie Vaughan Studio at Woodrow High House start at 8.00pm and are part lecture and part discussion on a variety of practical subjects around the observing the night sky, using telescopes and other equipment and astro photography.  They are very suitable for both novice and experienced observers with the latter very happy to help those who are new to our hobby.  If the skies are clear we will also open the observatory for members to use.

The Wycombe Astronomical Society was formed in 1981 for the benefit of all living in South Buckinghamshire interested in Astronomy.

Observing

The Society has regular observing sessions during most months of the year, weather permitting. These are usually at short notice and are posted on the Forum of this site and/or by e:mail to members. Members can use the Society's 11-inch Celestron CPC telescope housed in our observatory at Woodrow House. Other members also bring their own telescopes and binoculars which are freely available for others to use. Our observing season starts in August every year with a barbecue organised to coincide with the Perseid meteor shower.