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# Coventry and Warwickshire Astronomical Society

## Sitemaps

- [XML Sitemap](https://covastro.org.uk/sitemap.xml): Contains all public & indexable URLs for this website.

## Posts

- [Past Meetings](https://covastro.org.uk/past_meetings/)
- [See the partial solar eclipse in Broadgate  - Wed 12th August 2026](https://covastro.org.uk/see-the-partial-solar-eclipse-in-broadgate-wed-12th-august-2026/) - 6pm - 8.30pm Join members of the society in Coventry City Centre for a public viewing of the partial solar eclipse. We will be meeting in the Upper Precinct near the Lady Godiva Statue and, weather permitting, you should have a great opportunity to experience the eclipse with knowledgeable astronomers on hand to answer your
- [From the Archives - As Easy As PI(E) by Ted Nicholls](https://covastro.org.uk/from-the-archives-as-easy-as-pie-by-ted-nicholls/) - This is the first posting that delves into the MIRA archives for interesting contributions from members past and present. Hopefully, this will become a regular feature of the site. In this post, we revisit an interesting article in MIRA 7 from 1984 submitted by Ted Nicholls about the fascinating history of PI and attempts to
- [September '26 Monthly Meeting - Black Hole Astronomy 101](https://covastro.org.uk/september-26-monthly-meeting-black-hole-astronomy-101/) - Earlsdon Methodist Church Hall, Earlsdon Avenue South, CV5 6DN Friday 11th September 2026 7:00 – 9:00pm Dr Jiachen Jiang - Assistant Professor in Physics, University of Warwick This evening Dr Jiachen Jiang,, will tackle some of the most popular misconceptions about black holes and how growing black holes make their surrounding environments some of the
- [July '26 Monthly Meeting - How Big Is Space?](https://covastro.org.uk/july-25-monthly-meeting-how-big-is-space/) - Earlsdon Methodist Church Hall, Earlsdon Avenue South, CV5 6DN Friday 10th July 2026 7:00 – 9:00pm This month's meeting sees Neil Haggath FRAS explain how astronomers measure the distances of astronomical bodies, and the history behind the various methods - from the Greeks measuring the distance of the Moon 2000 years ago to how we
- [August '26 Monthly Meeting - Stellar Variability and Flares – From Our Sun to Alien Worlds](https://covastro.org.uk/august-26-monthly-meeting-stellar-variability-and-flares-from-our-sun-to-alien-worlds/) - Earlsdon Methodist Church Hall, Earlsdon Avenue South, CV5 6DN Friday 14th August 2026 7:00 – 9:00pm Dr. Lauren Doyle - Assistant Professor, University of Warwick Our Sun is the best-studied star in the Universe, but many stars are far more active, producing enormous flares and displaying behaviour that still puzzles astronomers today. Starting with what
- [June ’26 Monthly Meeting –  AGM & When local telescope makers dream BIG](https://covastro.org.uk/june-26-monthly-meeting-agm-when-local-telescope-makers-think-big/) - Earlsdon Methodist Church Hall, Earlsdon Avenue South, CV5 6DN Friday 12th June 2026 7:00 - 9:00pm Tonight we have our (very short!) Annual General Meeting followed by the monthly Sky Notes and a talk by one of our members and local enthusiast, Gray Batchelor, titled "When local telescope makers dream BIG" where he reveals something
- [Karen Takes on the Messier Marathon!](https://covastro.org.uk/karen-takes-on-the-messier-marathon/) - The Messier Marathon challenges amateur astronomers to view the entire Messier catalogue of 110 deep sky objects in one evening. This is quite a challenge and the ability to achieve this depends on the observer’s latitude and the time of year (owning to the length of the night). In fact, any hope of completing the
- [May '26 Monthly Meeting - T Coronae Borealis The Blaze Star](https://covastro.org.uk/may-26-monthly-meeting-t-coronae-borealis-the-blaze-star/) - Earlsdon Methodist Church Hall, Earlsdon Avenue South, CV5 6DN Friday 8th May 2026 7:00-9:00pm For this month's talk, we welcome Gary Poyner to the society where he will be talking about much anticipated outburst of T CrB - "the Blaze Star". Gary has been observing the night sky for over 60 years. As former head
- [October '24 - Discovering Transiting Exoplanets with NASA's Tess Mission](https://covastro.org.uk/october-24-discovering-transiting-exoplanets-with-nasas-tess-mission/) - Earlsdon Methodist Church Hall, Earlsdon Avenue South, CV5 6DN October 11th 2024, 7pm – 9pm Dr Dan Bayliss of the University of Warwick will be our speaker for October. Dr. Bayliss studied in New Zealand and Australia before eventually moving to the UK. His research work focusses on transiting exoplanets and is actively involved in
- [Apr '26 Monthly Meeting - The Land of the Long White Cloud and Astronomical Diversions](https://covastro.org.uk/apr-26-monthly-meeting-the-land-of-the-long-white-cloud-and-astronomical-diversions/) - Earlsdon Methodist Church Hall, Earlsdon Avenue South, CV5 6DN Friday 10th April 2026 For this month's meeting, we welcome back our intrepid explorer Mike Frost whose wanderings have taken him down under to the Land of the Long White Cloud. Now, for many astronomers, any talk of cloudy skies is not necessarily going to set
- [Mar '26 Monthly Meeting - Human Robotics for Space Exploration](https://covastro.org.uk/mar-26-monthly-meeting-human-robotics-for-space-exploration/) - Earlsdon Methodist Church Hall, Earlsdon Avenue South, CV5 6DN Friday 13th March 2026 For this month's meeting we welcome back Dr Martin Braddock who has a special interest in astro-biology. Alongside his professional career in biomedical science, Dr Braddock has developed a deep and wide-ranging interest in astronomy, cosmology and astrobiology. He is particularly interested
- [Feb '26 Monthly Meeting - The 200" Hale Telescope on Mount Palomar](https://covastro.org.uk/feb-26-monthly-meeting-the-200-hale-telescope-on-mount-palomar/) - Earlsdon Methodist Church Hall, Earlsdon Avenue South, CV5 6DN Friday February 13th - 7-9pm For this month's talk, we welcome Dr. Steve Barrett for his presentation on the iconic Hale 200" (5.1m) telescope that was the largest telescope in the world from 1949 until the mid-1970s (ref: Wikipedia). Dr Barrett is a Senior Research Fellow
- [Jan '26 Monthly Meeting - What Has The Space Programme Ever Done For Us?](https://covastro.org.uk/jan-26-monthly-meeting-what-has-the-space-programme-ever-done-for-us/) - Earlsdon Methodist Church Hall, Earlsdon Avenue South, CV5 6DN January 9th 2026, 7-9pm For the first Monthly Meeting of 2026, we welcome back to the Society Mary McIntyre. Many of us know Mary from past presentations to our group. She is an accomplished astrophotographer and sketch artist. Mary's last talk featured a discussion of different
- [December '25 - Christmas Party and Astrophotographical Techniques in 2025](https://covastro.org.uk/december-25-christmas-party-and-astrophotographical-techniques-in-2025/) - Earlsdon Methodist Church Hall, Earlsdon Avenue South, CV5 6DN For this year's end of year meeting, our own Karen Smith will be presenting a session on Astrophotographical Techniques in 2025. Karen has become a prolific astrophotographer is a regular contributer of images for a monthly Sky Notes sessions. Karen will be taking us through the
- [November '25 Monthly Meeting - The Reverend John Flamsteed](https://covastro.org.uk/november-25-monthly-meeting-the-reverend-john-flamsteed/) - Earlsdon Methodist Church Hall, Earlsdon Avenue South, CV5 6DN November 14th 2025 7- 9pm Dr Mike Lancaster will present this months talk on John Flamsteed who was in effect, the first Astronomer Royal. Flamsteed hailed from Denby in Derbyshire and with Dr Lancaster's association with the Derby and District Astronomical Society, it is probably no
- [October '25 Monthly Meeting - Modern Astrophysics and Observing with the World's Largest Telescopes](https://covastro.org.uk/october-25-monthly-meeting-modern-astrophysics-and-observing-with-the-worlds-largest-telescopes/) - Earlsdon Methodist Church Hall, Earlsdon Avenue South, CV5 6DN October 10th 2025 7pm-9pm For October's meeting, we welcome Dr Tom Killestein from the Astronomy and Astrophysics Group at Warwick University. Dr. Killestein works primarily with the Explosive Transients Group. Dr. Killestein was awarded the Warwick Prize Fellow and is has interests in high performance deep
- [September '25 Monthly Meeting - Rocks From Outer Space](https://covastro.org.uk/september-25-monthly-meeting-rocks-from-outer-space/) - Earlsdon Methodist Church Hall, Earlsdon Avenue South, CV5 6DN September 12th 7pm - 9:30pm For September's main talk, we welcome Dr Rider Stokes who is a postdoctoral researcher currently working at the Open University. Dr Stokes specialises in planetary science - particularly mineralogical studies of the surfaces of asteroids and plantary formation and has several
- [Raw Sky by Mark Tweedie and Clint Hamilton  - An Exhibition of Mixed Media Astronomical Images, Sketches and Poetry](https://covastro.org.uk/raw-sky-an-exhibition-of-mixed-media-astronomical-images-sketches-and-poetry/) - Rugby Art Gallery and Museum - Floor One Gallery, Little Elborow St, Rugby CV21 3BZ19th August - 6th September 2025: https://www.ragm.co.uk We are delighted to announce an exhibition showing some of the stunning work created from our own Mark Tweedie, a well known and prolific astrophotographer..The exhibition, in collaboration with mixed-media artist Clint Hamilton, featuring
- [August '25 Monthly Meeting - "A Girl's Death, rugby, Rugby and Astronomy: Dating a Dolland Telescope](https://covastro.org.uk/august-25-monthly-meeting-a-girls-death-rugby-rugby-and-astronomy-dating-a-dolland-telescope/) - Earlsdon Methodist Church Hall, Earlsdon Avenue South, CV5 6DN August 8th 2025 - 7pm - 9pm Dr Seabroke is a Principal Research Fellow at UCL and is working on several European Space Agency missions (Gaia, GaiaNIR, ARRAKIHS, and others). Dr Seabroke's family has a long history in the field. His great, great grandfather (also named
- [MIRA 123 - Follow Karen Smith's experience with the Hubble's 35th Anniversary Challenge!](https://covastro.org.uk/mira-123-follow-karen-smiths-experience-with-the-hubbles-35th-anniversary-challenge/) - As society members already know, Karen is an avid astro-photographer contributing amazing images to our monthly meetings. The last edition of our monthly magazine (MIRA123) contains a full feature on Karen's experiences taking on the Hubble Challenge which, for the Silver Award, requires entrants to submit images and engage with outreach projects. The challenge itself
- [July '25 Monthly Meeting - Next Generation of Transit Survey](https://covastro.org.uk/july-25-monthly-meeting-with-guest-speaker/) - Earlsdon Methodist Church Hall, Earlsdon Avenue South, CV5 6DN July 11th 2025 – 7pm – 9pm For this month's guest speaker presentation, we welcome Dr. Faith Hawthorn - a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Warwick. Dr Hawthorn's interests include the search for new transiting exoplanets in particular, analysing data from the Tess Mission.
- [June '25 Monthly Meeting - AGM, BBC Repair Shop Chasing Eclipses with Gray Bachelor](https://covastro.org.uk/agm/) - Earlsdon Methodist Church Hall, Earlsdon Avenue South, CV5 6DN June 13th 2025 – 7pm – 9pm For this month, we had a packed program starting off with our AGM that was followed by a presentation about the BBC TV Repair Shop episode that covered the restoration of a star projector once owned by former society
- [May '25 Monthly Meeting - Kuiper Belts Around Other Stars](https://covastro.org.uk/may-25-monthly-meeting-kuiper-belts-around-other-stars/) - Earlsdon Methodist Church Hall, Earlsdon Avenue South, CV5 6DN May 9th 2025 – 7pm – 9pm For this month's presentation, we welcome Dr Tim Pearce to talk about the debris that exists around planetary systems. Dr. Pearce is a Stephen Hawking Fellow at the University of Warwick and is the lead author and contributor to
- [April '25 Monthly Meeting - What Are Alien Worlds Made Of?](https://covastro.org.uk/april-25-monthly-meeting-what-are-alien-worlds-made-of/) - Earlsdon Methodist Church Hall, Earlsdon Avenue South, CV5 6DN April 11th 2025 – 7pm – 9pm This month's speaker is Dr. Thomas Wilson who will be presenting a session entitled "What Are Alien Worlds Made Of?" Dr. Wilson is a planetary astrophysicist and is works in several teams working with world-class instruments capable of ultra-high
- [December '24 Monthly Meeting - Christmas Party with talks from Karen Smith and Gray Batchelor](https://covastro.org.uk/december-24-monthly-meeting-christmas-party-with-talks-from-karen-smith-and-gray-batchelor/) - Earlsdon Methodist Church Hall, Earlsdon Avenue South, CV5 6DN December 13th 7pm - 9pm Credit NASA / Joel Kowsky For December, we have our annual festive event and we are pleased to welcome Society members Karen Smith who will be talking about Adventures in Astronomy and Gray Batchelor who will reminisce about his solar eclipse
- [November '24 Monthly Meeting - Future Telescopes](https://covastro.org.uk/november-24-monthly-meeting-what-are-alien-worlds-made-of/) - Earlsdon Methodist Church Hall, Earlsdon Avenue South, CV5 6DN November 8th 2024 - 7pm - 9pm Credit NASA / JPL Caltech For this month's talk, the Society is please to welcome back Dr David Arditti who will present on "Future Telescopes". David is well-known in the astronomical community through his work with the British Astronomical
- [March '25 Monthly Meeting - Saturn](https://covastro.org.uk/march-25-monthly-meeting-saturn/) - Earlsdon Methodist Church Hall, Earlsdon Avenue South, CV5 6DN February 14th 2025 - 7pm - 9pm The this month's talk, we welcome Mike Foulkes who is the British Astronomical Association's Section Director for Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Mike and the BAA maintain a comprehensive section devoted to Saturn and the outer gas giants which is
- [February '25 Monthly Meeting - Who's Who in the Moon](https://covastro.org.uk/february-25-monthly-meeting-whos-who-in-the-moon/) - Earlsdon Methodist Church Hall, Earlsdon Avenue South, CV5 6DN February 14th 2025 - 7pm - 9pm This month's guest speaker is Mike Frost who needs little introduction for members of the society. For everyone else, Mike is a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Section and also the Director for the Historical Section of the British
- [January '25 Monthly Meeting - Remote Control for Astrophotograpy Imaging](https://covastro.org.uk/january-25-monthly-meeting/) - Earlsdon Methodist Church Hall, Earlsdon Avenue South, CV5 6DN January 10th 2025 - 7pm - 9pm In this month's talk, our own Mark Tweedie gave a live interactive demonstration of how to setup and acquire images under remote control. Setting up a night's astro-photography session can be tricky enough without having to deal with virtual
- [September '24 - Seeking Sun's Sisters](https://covastro.org.uk/september-24-seeking-suns-sisters/) - Earlsdon Methodist Church Hall, Earlsdon Avenue South, CV5 6DN September 13th 2024, 7pm – 9pm For this month's meeting, we're pleased to have Paul Fellows talk about the search for our sun's companions. Paul is the chairman of the Cambridge Astronomical Society and a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society. In addition to his interest
- [Resources for Dark Nebulae and other Deep Sky Objects](https://covastro.org.uk/resources-for-dark-nebulae-and-other-deep-sky-objects/) - The Society's speaker of the month in June 24, Owen Brazell gave an extremely interesting talk on Dark Nebulae. As part of the talk, Owen provided a list of references for books and tools he has found useful for imaging these beautiful (if challenging) objects. Please note that this is not a comprehensive list of
- [August '24 Monthly Meeting - Observing by Camera and Pencil](https://covastro.org.uk/august-24-monthly-meeting-observing-by-camera-and-pencil/) - Earlsdon Methodist Church Hall, Earlsdon Avenue South, CV5 6DN August 9th 2024, 7pm - 9pm Credit: Mark Tweedie This months presentation is from Mark Tweedie - a keen astro-photographer and sketcher. While advances in camera technology and image processing techniques have been game changers for many amateurs, Mark reminds us that we can still create
- [July '24 Monthly Meeting - Dark Nebula and AGM](https://covastro.org.uk/july-24-monthly-meeting-agm/) - Earlsdon Methodist Church Hall, Earlsdon Avenue South, CV5 6DN July 12th 2024, 7pm - 9pm For this month, we welcome back Owen Brazell who will be giving a talk on Dark Nebula. Owen is President of the Webb Deep-Sky Society - an organisation setup to "encourage amateur observations of double stars and 'deep-sky objects". For
- [CAWAS Trip to Marsh Observatory - January 2024](https://covastro.org.uk/cawas-trip-to-marsh-observatory-january-2024-2/) - In January 2024, we received an invitation to look around the recently opened Marsh Observatory at Warwick University. When the announcement was first made, it seemed like our entire membership wanted to attend! Fortunately, we were able to secure 2 visits on different dates so that we could could comfortably enjoy the experience. I was
- [June '24 Monthly Meeting - Mars and the Red Planet](https://covastro.org.uk/june-24-monthly-meeting-mars-and-the-red-planet-latest-information/) - ...with Dr Richard McKim, Director of the Mars Section of the British Astronomical Association. https://britastro.org/forums/users/dr-richard-john-mckim
- [February '24 Monthly Meeting - Using Cosmic Explosions to Explore the Universe](https://covastro.org.uk/march-24-monthly-meeting-using-cosmic-explosions-to-explore-the-universe/) - When conducting his research, Professor Nial Tanvir looks further – and further back – than almost anyone else on the planet. As an expert on gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), the most luminous and violent explosions known to science, he has led teams which have found some of the most distant objects in the universe, providing valuable
- [December '23 Monthly Meeting - Adventures in Photometry and Spectrometry](https://covastro.org.uk/cawas-trip-to-marsh-observatory-january-2024/) - Tony Green presented this month's talk about the challenges of making precise photometric observations using small telescopes. The talk covered the use of photometric filters, transformations, aperture photometry and uploading results to the AAVSO database. As an added stocking filler (although the Christmas buffet meant that time was short) there was an extra section on
- [May '24 Monthly Meeting - Things That Go BANG In The Night](https://covastro.org.uk/may-24-monthly-meeting-things-that-go-bang-in-the-night/) - Mark is a Warwick Prize Fellow working in the Astronomy and Astrophysics Group at the University of Warwick. He is a member of the Extragalactic Transients Group and his research focuses mainly on the study of supernovae with a particular emphasis on thermonuclear supernovae. Many stars in the Universe end their lives as white dwarfs
- [April '24 Monthly Meeting - Fast Spinning Dwarf Pulsars](https://covastro.org.uk/april-24-monthly-meeting-fast-spinning-dwarf-pulsarsapril-24-monthly-meeting/) - Image courtesy of NASA image library For April's monthly meeting, we welcome Warwick University research fellow Dr Ingrid Pelisoli. Dr Pelisoli's background involves the study of compact stars in binary systems, their evolution and how we might develop our current models for understanding the processes going on throughout the lifespan of these systems. Check out
- [January '24 Monthly Meeting - Eclipse and Revelation](https://covastro.org.uk/february-24-monthly-meeting-eclipse-and-revelation/) - Mike Frost (Director of the Historical Section of the BAA) treats us once again with his presentation on his latest project - a contributor to the new book Eclipse and Revelation due for release in early 2024. If you missed Mike's talk, he gave much the same talk to the BAA which can find that
- [March '24 Monthly Meeting - Observing Double Stars](https://covastro.org.uk/march-24-monthly-meeting-observing-double-stars/) - March's Monthly Meeting saw us welcome back Michael Morris who gave an interesting presentation on observing double stars. Mark's last talk on observing the moon sparked off a spate of drawings and images from members of the society being posted around the group. My bet is that this talk will generate similar activity!
- [Sketching the Moon](https://covastro.org.uk/sketching-the-moon/) - Sinus Iridum: sketch by Mark Tweedie Clavius: Sketch by Mark OK, I'll come clean - I'm not a huge fan of the moon - the Coventry skies are bright enough without having our companion satellite drowning out DSO targets when the clouds just happen to clear for a few hours. However, some of the images
- [Supernova SN2023IXF](https://covastro.org.uk/supernova-sn2023ixf/) - First reports of this Type II supernova were published on May 19th 2023 by Koichi Itagaki, a Japanese amateur astronomer accredited with discoveries of 3 supernovae - there's hope for us all yet. This supernova is in the M101 "Pinwheel" galaxy and is due to the collapse of a star at least 8 times the
- [November '23 Monthly Meeting - Observing the Moon](https://covastro.org.uk/november-23-monthly-meeting-observing-the-moon/) - Following November's presentation from our guest speaker Michael Morris about Observing the Moon, the Society has received a number of fantastic contributions from members about the moon that we share on our group channel. Rather than be perceived as the bain of the astro-imager, Michael's talk reminded us all that the moon offers constantly changing
- [November '23 - Astronomy On Tap comes to Coventry](https://covastro.org.uk/november-23-astronomy-on-tap-comes-to-coventry/)
- [October '23 Monthly Meeting - Accretion disks and planetary formation](https://covastro.org.uk/october-23-monthly-meeting-accretion-disks-and-planetary-formation/) - Rebecca Nealon is a Stephen Hawking Fellow and Assistant Professor in the Astronomy and Astrophysics group at the University of Warwick. Her research focuses on warped and misaligned accretion discs and planet formation. In particular, Rebecca considers protoplanetary discs (accretion discs around young stars) as well as black hole discs. In her work, Rebecca uses
- [September '23 Monthly Meeting - Reminiscences and Theory of Solar Eclipses](https://covastro.org.uk/september-23-monthly-meeting-accretion-disks-and-planetary-formation/) - This month's talk was kindly delivered by Sheridan Williams. More details to follow...
- [August '23 Monthly Meeting - Somewhere over the rainbow...](https://covastro.org.uk/august-23-monthly-meeting-somewhere-over-the-rainbow/) - Our August monthly meeting included a special talk about rainbows and an array of weird atmospheric effects from our guest presenter Mary McIntyre. Mary's passion and expertise for photography and optical phenomena really shone through in this presentation. For a flavour of what Mary's been photographing over the years, check our her site at https://marymcintyreastronomy.co.uk
- [Partial Solar Eclipse - 25th October 2022](https://covastro.org.uk/partial-solar-eclipse-25th-october-2022/) - Start time: 10:07:30 BST Max: 10:57:34 BST End time: 11:49:22 BST (source: dateandtime.com) We enjoyed clear-ish skies to observe the partial eclipse. Mark Edwards organises the CAWAS event at Broadgate... thanks to all who helped out!
- [Deep Sky Imaging and Going "Old School"](https://covastro.org.uk/deep-sky-imaging-and-going-old-school/) - There have been some unbelievable advances in imaging in recent years that has enabled amateurs in city locations to produce stunning images of deep sky objects. Our own Mark Tweedie shares some fantastic images of deep sky objects but like others, this time consuming endeavour is all too often thwarted by our closest celestial neighbour.
- [July '23 Monthly Meeting - What Goes Up...](https://covastro.org.uk/july-23-monthly-meeting-what-goes-up/) - With our scheduled speaker unfortunately unable to attend, our very own Chairman, none other than "Mr Pokemon" himself stepped up to deliver a very entertaining talk about flight performance challenges of spaceships visiting remote worlds. With John's expert knowledge in aviation, we learned about the challenges taking off and landing on and how things might
- [June '23 Monthly Meeting -  AGM](https://covastro.org.uk/june-23-monthly-meeting-agm/) - Summer time is upon us again and given that the nights get even shorter as we approach the Solstice, what better way to celebrate than to hold our AGM! Not to worry though, we don't spend too much time going through this - normally takes a few minutes meaning we still have plenty of time
- [May '23 Monthly Meeting - Houston we have a problem. We have met ETI!](https://covastro.org.uk/may-23-monthly-meeting-houston-we-have-a-problem-we-have-met-eti/) - May's guest speaker is Dr Martin Braddock is a professional scientist and project manager working in the field of drug discovery and development with 36 years’ experience of working in academic institutes and large corporate organisations. He holds a BSc in Biochemistry and a PhD in Radiation Biology (from the Radiation Biology Unit, Atomic Energy
- [April '23 Monthly Meeting - Aurorae: Tracking and Capturing Nature's Light Show](https://covastro.org.uk/april-23-monthly-meeting-aurorae-tracking-and-capturing-natures-light-show/) - Nigel Bradbury will reveal the secrets of spotting one of the world’s greatest phenomenon, the Aurora Borealis, the Northern Lights. Nigel is a renowned international expert in this phenomenon. During the presentation at the meeting on April 14 he will take us on a journey to his various expeditions and share his amazing photographs. He
- [March '23 Monthly Meeting - Exoplanets](https://covastro.org.uk/exoplanets/) - For the March Monthly Meeting, we welcome Marina Lafarga Magro, Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Warwick University who will deliver a presentation on Exoplanets. Despite confirmation of the existence of exoplanets is relatively recent (30 years or so) their existence was considered as far back as the 17th century! The result of NASA's Kepler mission
- [February '23 Monthly Meeting - Pioneering Women of the British Astronomical Association](https://covastro.org.uk/february-23-monthly-meeting-pioneering-women-of-the-british-astronomical-association/) - A talk by Mike Frost, Current Director of the BAA's Historical Section, at CAWAS's meeting of 10th February 2023. Picture: Margaret Lindsay Huggins “I'm not using the microphone,' Mike announced at the beginning of his talk. 'I like to wave my arms about!' Thus preparing us for an entertaining, enthralling and enthusiastic presentation. “Pioneering Women
- [Get Ready for Star Count 2023! Spread the word!](https://covastro.org.uk/get-ready-for-star-count-2023-spread-the-word/) - Star Count is an annual citizen science project open to all ages organised by CPRE - the Countryside Charity. Star Count begins 17th and ends 24th of February. Thousands of people take part in the annual Star Count that simply involves counting the stars within Orion. As well as being fun activity for friends and
- [What's happening in 2023...](https://covastro.org.uk/whats-happening-in-2023/) - Mark gives us a summary of what we can expect to see in the new year...
- [January '23 Monthly Meeting - Observing and Imaging Mercury and Venus with David Arditti](https://covastro.org.uk/january-23-monthly-meeting-observing-and-imaging-mercury-and-venus-with-david-arditti/) - For January's monthly meeting we are thrilled to welcome the President of the British Astronomical Association - David Arditti. David Arditti is a composer of contemporary classical music. Observer and imager from light-polluted Outer London. His main current interest is imaging the Moon and planets in high-resolution, but he also dabble in solar, cometary and
- [December '22 Monthly Meeting - Building an observatory for a shade over £1000???](https://covastro.org.uk/an-observatory-for-a-shade-over-1000/) - OK, so how do you turn a simple garden shed into a back garden observatory for £1000. From background research, through to constructing a pier and dealing with the challenges of engineering the roll off roof, Mark Tweedie tells us how he did it! CAWAS-Build-an-observatoryDownload
- [On your Marks for our December CAWAS Christmas Catch Up](https://covastro.org.uk/on-your-marks-for-our-december-cawas-christmas-catch-up/) - Join us for our Christmas special featuring our own Mark Edwards going through the highlights of the December heavens. Hopefully, we'll have something more interesting than nimbostratus or fog to look forward to! After a break where we'll be tucking into some free Christmas nibbles, we have another Mark (our own Mark Tweedie) present on
- [October '22 Monthly Meeting](https://covastro.org.uk/october-22-monthly-meeting/) - This month, Mark introduced the Sky Notes with details about the forthcoming partial eclipse of the sun on October 25th. Weather permitting, we will be once again running an outreach session in Broadgate in town Sunspot activity is still strong but not quite achieving the levels of activity that might be expected taking past cycles #
- [November '22 Monthly Meeting](https://covastro.org.uk/november-22-monthly-meeting/) - For this meeting, we welcome Owen Brazell who has a fascinating talk on Planetary Nebula. Mark will be taking us through what's going on in the November skies and takes a closer look at the famous Seven Sisters. Also, check out the occultations of Mars and Uranus in early December.

## Pages

- [Home](https://covastro.org.uk/)
- [MIRA Magazine](https://covastro.org.uk/mira-magazine/) - Coventry and Warwickshire Astronomical Society Magazine Editor: Ivor L. Clarke Click here for our previous editions. MIRA 127
- [Mira Magazine Back Issues](https://covastro.org.uk/test-accordion/) - From this page, you can access our MIRA back issues. The complete set of MIRA magazines is now available. The early versions have been recreated from scans, images and the original text and probably looked a lot prettier than some of the attempts made here to reproduce them. Apologies to the original contributors. 2026 -
- [Meetings & Membership](https://covastro.org.uk/membership/) - Getting There CAWAS monthly meetings are held on the 2nd Friday of each month at our meeting room on the first floor of the Earlsdon Methodist Church Hall, Earlsdon Avenue South CV6 6DN. Meetings start at 7pm and finish around 9pm with light refreshments served. what3words ///deeply.speech.enjoy If you are making your first trip to
- [In The Sky](https://covastro.org.uk/in-the-sky/) - A look at what's happening in the heavens from Coventry. Thanks to Mark Edwards for his monthly Sky Notes he presents each month at our Society Meetings.
- [Our History](https://covastro.org.uk/about-us/) - By Irene Rogers Welcome to the Coventry and Warwickshire Astronomical Society (CAWAS)(Affiliated to the British Astronomical Association) CAWAS is an association of people of all ages and from all walks of life who are interested in any aspect of astronomy. It covers a wide range of experience, from those able to pass on their knowledge
- [Warwickshire AS Early History](https://covastro.org.uk/warwickshire-as-early-history/) - Most of this information has been extracted from a document titled “CAWAS HISTORY” by an unnamed author who further attributes details from J.H. Osbourne and Alan Hancocks. In 1959, a member of the Coventry Astronomical Society – a Mr M.J.O. Green who “was extremely knowledgeable on the subject of astronomy, optics and design” advertised in the local
- [Coventry AS Early History](https://covastro.org.uk/coventry-as-early-history/) - The inaugural meeting of the Coventry Astronomical and Meteorological Society was held in Room A5 of the Coventry Technical College, formerly at The Butts, Coventry, on Friday 20th November 1939 at 6.30pm. The location was due to the fact that many of the founder members were college staff. The meteorological element was apparently so that amateur

## Events

- [Perseids Maximum](https://covastro.org.uk/event/perseids-maximum/)
- [TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE](https://covastro.org.uk/event/total-solar-eclipse/) - See July's Sky Notes for more information
- [Moon - new](https://covastro.org.uk/event/moon-new-3/)
- [Moon at perigee (363,284 km)](https://covastro.org.uk/event/moon-at-perigee-363284-km/)
- [Moon near Mars](https://covastro.org.uk/event/moon-near-mars/)
- [Moon - last quarter](https://covastro.org.uk/event/moon-last-quarter-4/)
- [Moon near Saturn](https://covastro.org.uk/event/moon-near-saturn-2/)
- [Mercury - greatest western elongation](https://covastro.org.uk/event/mercury-greatest-western-elongation/)
- [Jupiter - conjunction](https://covastro.org.uk/event/jupiter-conjunction/)
- [Moon - Full](https://covastro.org.uk/event/moon-full-3/)
- [Moon at apogee (405,548km)](https://covastro.org.uk/event/moon-at-apogee-405548km/)
- [Moon - 1st Quarter](https://covastro.org.uk/event/moon-1st-quarter-2/)
- [Moon near Venus](https://covastro.org.uk/event/moon-near-venus-2/)
- [New Moon](https://covastro.org.uk/event/new-moon/)
- [Mercury Inferior conjunction](https://covastro.org.uk/event/mercury-inferior-conjunction/)
- [Earth - aphelion](https://covastro.org.uk/event/earth-aphelion/)
- [Venus near Regulus](https://covastro.org.uk/event/venus-near-regulus/)
- [Moon - last quarter](https://covastro.org.uk/event/moon-last-quarter-3/)
- [Mars near Uranus](https://covastro.org.uk/event/mars-near-uranus/)
- [Moon - Full](https://covastro.org.uk/event/moon-full-2/)
- [Moon Apogee (406,266km)](https://covastro.org.uk/event/moon-apogee-406266km/)
- [Bootids Maximum](https://covastro.org.uk/event/bootids-maximum/)
- [Summer Solstice](https://covastro.org.uk/event/summer-solstice/)
- [Moon near Venus](https://covastro.org.uk/event/moon-near-venus/)
- [Moon - 1st Quarter](https://covastro.org.uk/event/moon-1st-quarter/)
- [Moon near Mercury](https://covastro.org.uk/event/moon-near-mercury/)
- [Mercury - Greatest elongation east](https://covastro.org.uk/event/mercury-greatest-elongation-east/)
- [Moon New](https://covastro.org.uk/event/moon-new-2/)
- [Moon at perigee (357,195km)](https://covastro.org.uk/event/moon-at-perigee-357195km/)
- [Moon near Saturn](https://covastro.org.uk/event/moon-near-saturn/)
- [Venus near Jupiter](https://covastro.org.uk/event/venus-near-jupiter/)
- [Moon at Last Quarter](https://covastro.org.uk/event/moon-at-last-quarter/)
- [Moon at apogee - 406,368km](https://covastro.org.uk/event/full-moon-2/)
- [Moon near Antares](https://covastro.org.uk/event/moon-near-antares/)
- [Moon - Last Quarter](https://covastro.org.uk/event/moon-last-quarter-2/)
- [Eta Aquarids Maximum](https://covastro.org.uk/event/eta-aquarids-maximum/)
- [Moon at apogee 405,841 km](https://covastro.org.uk/event/moon-at-apogee-405841-km/)
- [Moon - Full](https://covastro.org.uk/event/moon-full/)
- [Triangle of Planets (before sunrise)](https://covastro.org.uk/event/triangle-of-planets/) - Mercury, Mars and Saturn very low in the eastern sky (alt: 4 degrees)
- [Moon near Regulus](https://covastro.org.uk/event/moon-near-regulus/)
- [Moon - First Quarter](https://covastro.org.uk/event/moon-first-quarter/)
- [Venus near Uranus and Pleiades](https://covastro.org.uk/event/venus-near-uranus-and-pleiades/)
- [Lyrids Maximum](https://covastro.org.uk/event/lyrids-maximum/)
- [Moon near Jupiter](https://covastro.org.uk/event/moon-near-jupiter/)
- [Moon Perihelion - 361,630km](https://covastro.org.uk/event/moon-perihelion-361630km/)
- [Comet Panstarrs Perihelion](https://covastro.org.uk/event/comet-panstarrs-perihelion/)
- [Moon - New](https://covastro.org.uk/event/moon-new/)
- [Moon near Pleiades and Venus](https://covastro.org.uk/event/moon-near-pleiades-and-venus/)
- [Comet MAPS Perihelion](https://covastro.org.uk/event/comet-maps-perihelion/)
- [Moon apogee 404,974 km](https://covastro.org.uk/event/moon-apogee-404974-km/)
- [Mercury greatest elongation west](https://covastro.org.uk/event/mercury-greatest-elongation-west/)
- [Full Moon](https://covastro.org.uk/event/full-moon/)
- [Moon - Last Quarter](https://covastro.org.uk/event/moon-last-quarter/)

## Categories

- [Monthly Meetings](https://covastro.org.uk/category/monthly-meetings/) - Reserved purely for monthly meetings. Strictly speaking, this category should only be set after the meeting has taken place (i.e. modified at the same time the “Comming Soon” category is disabled)
- [Announcements](https://covastro.org.uk/category/announcements/) - Special announcements – reserved for particularly interesting events such as local presentations or something going on in the sky.
- [Activities](https://covastro.org.uk/category/activities/) - General club activities, outreach events, etc
- [Features](https://covastro.org.uk/category/features/) - Used for special projects or reports undertaken by club members. Typically, such posts will also require the “Coming Soon” category to promote the post to the home page.
- [Coming Soon](https://covastro.org.uk/category/coming-soon/) - This section contains posts about upcoming events and current articles. Past meetings can be found in the Monthly Meetings section. Other articles will be found in the relevant sections.
- [From the Archive](https://covastro.org.uk/category/from-the-archive/) - Posts highlighting previous articles published to the MIRA Magazine

## Event Categories

- [Moon](https://covastro.org.uk/events/category/moon_phase/)
- [Planets](https://covastro.org.uk/events/category/planet/)
- [Comets and Asteroids](https://covastro.org.uk/events/category/comets_and_asteroids/)
- [Meteors](https://covastro.org.uk/events/category/meteor/)
- [Sun](https://covastro.org.uk/events/category/sun/)
- [Earth](https://covastro.org.uk/events/category/earth/)