Institute of Astronomy Cambridge

2012 Annual General Meeting 43 Societies represented Minutes of 2011 were agreed Subscriptions unchanged from previous year: Less than 20 members: £28.50, members: £45; More than 45 members: £57 Subscription is half if paid promptly! On-line payment facility is now available

2012 Annual General Meeting Society web sites are again being reviewed by the FAS in a competition to find the best – cash prizes will be awarded of £150, £100 and £50 based on criteria of Quality Content Usefulness Also: do you have a link to the FAS site? Please tell your webmaster

2012 AGM continued FAS newsletter is now available in electronic form – pass-worded areas. Society officers must use MARS (Membership and Renewal system) to update contacts etc. Please communicate with the FAS – ‘help us to help the societies’ Auditors fee was increased from £15 to £50.

Solar Observing

1. Big Bangs & Black Holes – Prof. Carol G. Mundell of Liverpool John Moores University Mostly talked about Gamma Ray Bursts - narrow beam of intense radiation released during a supernova γ-flash detection recently automated, some last just 64ms, longest 2000s. Bepposax: Dutch/Italian satellite – detecting GRBs UK research leads the world through automated in experimental observation through Liverpool telescope on La Palma Torroidal magnetic winds and twists through plasma focussing it – 2. The search for High Red-shift Quasars – Prof. Paul Hewitt, Director of Cambridge Institute of Astronomy First Quasar was 3c273 in 1959 – located by lunar occultation For reference, WMAP is looking at a region z=1000 Early search for high redshift objects limited by CCD sensitivity 1 promising object in 10 billion objects There are possibly only 20 quasars above z=7.9 [ Z=7.08 equates to a distance of billion light-years ]

3. Twinkle Twinkle Little star, How I Wonder... Dr Johanna Jarvis Highly illustrated talk about Stellar Evolution e.g. V838 Monoceros very fast ejection, not a planetary nebula.

4. Impacts – Andy Green of Stardome Fast paced, exciting run through a large number of space impacts, all highly illustrated. Short attention span required.  Colliding Galaxies  Fireballs  Meteorites  Impacts on Mercury  Impact damage to the Apollo 17 lunar rover  Temple 1 impactor  MIR damaged by failed docking with Soyuz space craft  Barwell meteorite, Cixicub. and many more Planetary Landscapes, Prof. Paul Murdin Same lecture was delivered at CMHAS in April at Brampton rd. end