Welcome to the LUAstro blog! Here we'll put all of our announcements; including our latest news, event posts, and more!
Week 17: Astrophotography Workshop
Meet us outside the Physics Building from 7pm for an evening of Astronomy Bingo, while watching Star Trek.
We hope to see you there!
Week 16: Astrophotography Workshop
Join us for an Astrophotography Workshop this Wednesday at 7pm! We'll meet outside the Physics Building at that time, before going up to C36 for a presentation and to give members a chance to learn how to post-process data from our very own Astrophotography telescope!
Observing Night (13/02/26)
On Friday (13/02/26) from 7pm onwards we ran an Observing Night! Two of our Exec members, alongside some others, stayed for the night to take a fantastic 10-hour exposure of the Heart and Soul Nebula, whilst other members observed the moons and stripes of Jupiter! Thanks to everyone who came!
Week 15: Biscuit & Cake decorating
Our event for this week is a space-themed biscuit and cake decorating competition this Wednesday at 7pm in Faraday Lecture Theatre. We'll bring all the materials, but feel free to bring your own if you wish! We hope to see you there!
Week 14: Society History Night
The event for last week was a Society History Night last Thursday at 7pm, in Cavendish Lecture Theatre. The event begun with
a talk from John, our President, on his research on LUAstro's 56-year history (which he had also detailed in this month's newsletter and on this website's history page), followed by a short quiz.
Click on this blog post to visit the history page that details information from the talk in more depth!
LUAstro Newsletter: January 2026
View our January Newsletter by clicking on this blog post! This month we talk about the history of LUAstro, which was founded by Dr Allan Chapman in 1970. Our President, John, has been researching the history of the society for a while, and contacted Chapman himself before he sadly passed away on the 21st January, alongside various other early members of the society. As well as detailing LUAstro's history, we also cover some of the photos members have taken the past month - including some of the Northern Lights and Jupiter.
Week 13: Scavenger Hunt
Our event for this week is an Scavenger Hunt this Thursday at 7pm. Meet us in the Cavendish Lecture Theatre at that time, where we will explain the basic rules. There will be fun prizes for the winning team! We hope to see you there!
Week 12: Astrophotography Workshop
Our event for this week is an Astrophotography Workshop this Wednesday at 7pm. Meet us outside the Physics Building at that time, where we will go to C36 for a presentation, before going to Astrolab for practice. We hope to see you there!
Week 11: Film Night
Our event for this week is a Film Screening of Interstellar this Wednesday, (13/01/26) from 6:20pm in Faraday Lecture Theatre! Don't forget to bring snacks!
Michaelmas Term 25/26
LUAstro Newsletter: December 2025
View our December Newsletter by clicking on this blog post! This month we talk about the Pleiades, which at least 4 of our
members chose to photograph on one of our December observing nights, showcase some of our other photos from the month, and have a piece by Professor Isobel Hook
on her work with the ESO in Chile!
From all of us here at LUAstro, thanks for the great year, and we hope you have a wonderful next one!
Week 10: Christmas Special Social!
Our final event of the term was a Christmas Lecture with Dr David Sloan followed by a festive Astronomy quiz! The event took place on Wednesday (10/12/25) from 7pm-9pm in Faraday Lecture Theatre. Dr Sloan gave a talk on the Intersection between Cosmology and Philosophy, discussing ideas such as the fine-tuning of the Universe, Boltzmann brains, and the Anthropic Principle (alongside a small post-lecture discussion on Roko's Basilisk, and the implications of Cosmology on religious beliefs).
Week 9: Space Industry Careers Talk!
This week, our event is a Talk on Careers in the Space Industry with LUPhys, CANSoc, and a special guest speaker;
Giacomo Rossetti, a Systems Engineer at the European Space Agency (ESA)! This event will take place day earlier than usual again, this Tuesday (2/12/25) from
5pm-7pm in Welcome Centre Lecture Theatre 2!
Click on this post to view a handout document written by Giacomo Rossetti, the speaker at the talk, on his experience and advice at getting a career in the Space Industry.
Week 8: Bat Walk / Observing Night!
Our event for this week is a joint Bat Walk / Observing Night event with the Climate Action Society,
a day earlier than usual on Tuesday (25/11/25) at 4pm! Join us outside LICA as we follow the Woodland Walk to look for bats, followed by an
Observing Night later on in the Astrolab if the weather stays clear. Make sure to bring boots as the path can get muddy.
If you can't make the Bat Walk, don't worry! Feel free to come later to the Observing Night (it should be going on until roughly 11pm). We hope to see you there!
Week 7: Home Experiments!
Our event for this week was a Home Experiments Workshop on Wednesday (19/11/25) at 7pm! Attendees were given random household equipment, and worked in groups to construct simple experiments to explain the Universe! One group calculated the speed of light to be 500,000,000 metres/second, whereas another group determined the size of an oil molecule to be 5 micrometres across! It was lots of fun - thanks to everybody that came to the event!
Observing Night (16/11/25)
On Sunday (16/11/25) from 7:20pm onwards we ran our second Observing Night of the term! Three of the Exec and another member stayed to take photos of the Pleiades, whereas earlier members enjoyed views of the planets, Blackpool Tower, and the odd meteor! At some point, clicking on this post will link to all the photos taken by members!
Week 6: Board Game Night
Our event for this week is a Board Game Night on Wednesday (12/11/25) at 7pm! We'll have a wide selection of board games to choose from - meet us outside the Physics Building to be let in!
LUAstro Newsletter: November 2025
View our November Newsletter by clicking on this blog post! This month we talk about our plans for November, showcase some of our best photos from our recent events, and have a piece by Ianto Evans (our Observation Officer) on Daylight Savings Time!
Week 5: Bonfire Night Social
Our event for this week is a Bonfire Night Social on Wednesday (5/11/25), where we'll be heading into town to watch a fireworks display! We'll meet at 5:30pm outside the Physics Building before heading to the Underpass to get the 5:40pm bus to town. The Bonfire itself will begin at 6:30pm with the Fireworks commencing at 6:45pm. After the display's ended, we'll head back to campus!
Week 4: Halloween Pumpkin Carving & JWST Processing Workshop
This week we ran two events simultaneously! A Pumpkin Carving event with the Physics Society took place on Wednesday (29/10/25) at 7pm in Faraday Lecture Theatre whilst a JWST Data Processing workshop was run as a free event at 7.15pm in Astrolab. Thank you to everyone who came! I'll make a page about this event when I next get the chance!
Week 3: Film Night
Our event for this week was a Film Night on Wednesday (22/10/25) at 7pm in Faraday Lecture Theatre. Following a Discord poll, members chose to watch 2001: A Space Odyssey, with some posters given out to paid members following the film. Thank you to everyone who came! Click on this link to see our Instagram post about the event.
LUAstro Newsletter: October 2025
View our October Newsletter by clicking on this blog post! In this newsletter, we reflect on our events from last term, introduce our new Exec, showcase some of our members' best photos from last year, and have a piece by Ianto Evans (our Observation Officer) on the recent Radio Jove station that has been set up just off campus.
Week 2: Introduction to Astronomy
Join us this Wednesday (15/10/25) in Furness Lecture Theatre 2 at 7pm for an Introduction to Astronomy talk. We'll be talking about the Society's range of equipment, and what's involved in Astrophotography (as well as how you can get involved). It will be followed by a tour of Astrolab! Click on this link to see our Instagram post about the event.
Week 1: Quiz and talk by Dr. Mat Smith
Join us this Wednesday (08/10/25) in Cavendish Lecture Theatre at 7pm for a fun quiz and a talk by Astrophysics lecturer Dr. Mat Smith. There will be a great range of prizes for the winners, and posters will be given out for those with Official Memberships. Click on this link to see our Instagram post about the event.
Freshers' Fair 25/26
We gave out flyers and free stickers at our Freshers' Fair stall this year; showing freshers our photos and new posters and telling them more about what we do. We hope any new members enjoyed the stickers! Click on this link to see our Freshers' Fair 25/26 Instagram post.
Meet our new Exec!
Hello Astronomers, and welcome back to LUAstro! This year, we have a new Exec consisting of myself, John Ray, as President, Aysha Faquiri as Vice-President, Finlay Daniel-McKeigue as Treasurer, Lina Andonova as Socials & Trips Officer, and Ianto Evans as Observation Officer. With a larger Executive this year, hopefully we'll be able to get a lot more done! Click on this link to see our 25/26 Exec Instagram post.
Welcome to the LUAstro website!
Hello Astronomers, and welcome to www.LUAstro.space! This is the brand-new website for the Society that I've been working on personally over the past couple of months. As it's only a couple of months old or so at this point, everything is currently still a bit experimental. Nevertheless, I think it's good enough for now! Click on this cool and perfectly-coded blog post to learn more about how this website is going to be used, and a couple of fun secret things that I've added.
