HOME » About Wycombe Astronomical Society

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

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

The Society is for beginners as well as for the more advanced astronomers, working together for a fulfilling hobby everyone can enjoy. The Society holds meetings at Woodrow High House, which is situated 5½ miles from High Wycombe and 2 miles from Amersham Hospital just off the A404.

The meetings are on the every third Wednesday of each month and start around 7.45pm. They include Society matters, national and international news and a main lecture. 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, the BBC's Dr. David Whitehouse and the famous Canadian Astronomer, Jack Newton.

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

A monthly newsletter called Cygnus, is sent free to all members. The attention of our editors ensures that the Society has a professional-looking newsletter that others envy. It includes details of the meetings and activities of the Society, future events organised by the national astronomical societies and articles written by our members.

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 at places of astronomical interest that are just waiting to be explored.

The Society has regular observing sessions during most months of the year, weather permitting. Members can use the Society's 10-inch Schmitt-Cassegrain 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.

The Society owns astronomical equipment, 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.

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