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New Members - Download Application form New Members - Download Application form Existing Members - Download Renewal form Existing Members - Download Renewal form Zoom link for Paid Up Members - (automatically takes you to registration and supplies log in details) Zoom link for Paid Up Members - (automatically takes you to registration and supplies log in details) Booking for visitors closes 4 - hours before the meeting starts Booking for visitors closes 4 - hours before the meeting starts Visitors register here - takes you to TicketSource for registration and payment Visitors register here - takes you to TicketSource for registration and payment
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Next Meeting: Wednesday September 10th at 8:00pm Charles Messier - Comet Hunter Roger O’Brien
HAG Membership details: •£10 per year - renewable at end of July* •Non-members £2.00 first 3 meetings then annual membership subscription due pro rata for remaining meetings. •Free to under 18s and full time students. Proof of status may be required. •Under 16s must be accompanied by an adult.
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Visitors welcome - £2.00 per meeting
This meeting will be held at: University of Hertfordshire Lindop Building College Lane Hatfield AL10 9AB (What 3 words: stars.stones.energetic) and simultaneously on Zoom. There is plenty of parking space around the venue which is free after 19:00
We're diving into the fascinating world of 18th- century astronomy, and specifically, the remarkable work of Charles Messier. Dubbed the "Comet Ferret," by King Louis XV of France, Messier was a prodigious observer, yet ironically, his most enduring legacy isn't about comets at all. Instead, it's his ground-breaking catalogue of diffuse celestial objects – nebulae and star clusters – that truly cemented his place in scientific history. We'll explore how his meticulous observations, initially intended to avoid confusion with comets, inadvertently provided future generations with a foundational map of the deep sky, shaping our understanding of the cosmos even today. Join us as we uncover the story behind the famous Messier objects and the man who charted them. After six decades, Roger O’Brien is still an amateur astronomer. Whilst working for 26 years in a bank in the City, he “survived” to earn a BSc in Astronomy and began teaching. One course was held at the Sele School and it was students from that course, who founded the Hertford Astronomy Group. He says that one of his proudest moments was to be elected President of HAG.
Visitors most welcome at meetings or on Zoom
ZOOM
Visual Observing Sessions Our visual observing group is now up and running. You can learn more here or if you want to jump straight in then just complete the Visual Observing Response form below and we’ll let you know when we are next meeting. Next session - To be announced
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HAGAS

The next meeting of astrophotography group is:

To Be Announced Room 1A161 Lindop Building College Lane Hatfield AL10 9AB
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2025-26 Programme (subject to change)
Wed, Sep 10
Roger O’Brien
Charles Messier - Comet Hunter
Wed, Oct 8
Greg Smye- Rumsby
The History of Longitude at Greenwich
Wed, Nov 12
Garry Hunt
A Lifetime in Space
Wed, Dec 10
Students from the University of Hertfordshire
Subject matter TBC
Wed, Jan 14
Marina Galand
Aurora Around the Solar System
Wed, Feb 11
Simon Foster
Our Living Sun
Wed, Mar 11
Jerry Stone
Nell, Esther & Aunt Effie - The Centenary of the First Liquid- Fuelled rocket Launch
Wed, Apr 8
Sheridan Williams
Fascinating Astronomical Facts
Wed, May 13
Lewis Dartnell
AGM followed by A Scientist Goes to the Movies
Wed, June 10
Louise Devoy
Royal Observatory, Greenwich: A history through objects
Wheathampstead Village Day July 12 2025 Pictures courtesy of Jerry Stone Richard Sheppard and Steve Heliczer
Hertford  Astronomy Group Zoom link for Paid Up Members - (automatically takes you to registration and supplies log in details) Zoom link for Paid Up Members - (automatically takes you to registration and supplies log in details) Visitors register here - takes you to TicketSource for registration and payment Visitors register here - takes you to TicketSource for registration and payment
Next Meeting: Wednesday September 10th at 8:00pm Charles Messier - Comet Hunter Roger O’Brien
We're diving into the fascinating world of 18th-century astronomy, and specifically, the remarkable work of Charles Messier. Dubbed the "Comet Ferret," by King Louis XV of France, Messier was a prodigious observer, yet ironically, his most enduring legacy isn't about comets at all. Instead, it's his ground-breaking catalogue of diffuse celestial objects – nebulae and star clusters – that truly cemented his place in scientific history. We'll explore how his meticulous observations, initially intended to avoid confusion with comets, inadvertently provided future generations with a foundational map of the deep sky, shaping our understanding of the cosmos even today. Join us as we uncover the story behind the famous Messier objects and the man who charted them. After six decades, Roger O’Brien is still an amateur astronomer. Whilst working for 26 years in a bank in the City, he “survived” to earn a BSc in Astronomy and began teaching. One course was held at the Sele School and it was students from that course, who founded the Hertford Astronomy Group. He says that one of his proudest moments was to be elected President of HAG.
Visitors most welcome at meetings or on Zoom
This meeting will be held at: University of Hertfordshire Lindop Building College Lane Hatfield AL10 9AB (What 3 words: stars.stones.energetic) and simultaneously on Zoom. There is plenty of parking space around the venue which is free after 19:00
Wheathampstead Village Day July 12 2025
(Pictures courtesy of Jerry Stone, Richard Sheppard and Steve Heliczer)
2025-26 Programme (subject to change)
Wed, Sep 10
Roger O’Brien
Charles Messier - Comet Hunter
Wed, Oct 9
Sam Rolfe
Raman Spectroscopy and the search for life in the Solar System
Wed, Nov 13
Robert Connon Smith
So Simple a thing as a Star
Wed, Dec 11
Jill Stuart
The governance of the "Final Frontier"
Wed, Jan 8
Martin Lewis
Planetary Imaging at the Edge
Wed, Feb 12
Quentin Stanley
The Art of (Numerical) Modelling
Wed, Mar 12
Mike Foulkes
Eclipses.
Wed, Apr 9
David Southwood
A Decade as an ESA Director
Wed, May 14
Alan Heavens
AGM followed by Light Bending in the Sky
Wed, June 11
Jerry Stone
Is Pluto a Planet?
2025 Hertford Astronomy Group Last Updated: 16 July 2025