Lancaster and Morecambe Astronomical Society

2009 - 2010 session

Welcome to the LaMAS web site. This site is developed and maintained by LaMAS to provide astronomical resource to local amateur astronomers.

The Lancaster and Morecambe Astronomical Society was formed in 1978 to provide a friendly forum for local amateur astronomers and people interested in all things astronomical. The society caters for everyone interested in Astronomy, from beginners to experts, from amateurs to Professional Astronomers, of all ages. We currently have about 40 members.

The society meets once per month, at 7:30 pm on the first Wednesday of the month. We meet in the small meeting room of the Church of the Ascension, Junction of Michaelson Road/ Lancaster Road, Torrisholme. Click for a Map and Directions.

The Society holds 10 meetings per year (from September to June) on a variety of topics. Why not browse through the list of forthcoming presentations?

Each meeting is £1.50, including tea/coffee and biscuits. Under 18s are free!

Annual Membership is £10.00 (subscriptions run from January - January)

If you have any queries, questions or suggestions, please contact us at the society

NEW!! Click here for photos of Xmas Meal

Next Meeting...

Wednesday 3^rd February 2010

Songs of the Stars: the real Music of the Spheres

By Professor Don Kurtz

(University of Central Lancashire)

We humans are intensely visual creatures. For us "seeing is believing." But there are other ways to know the world and universe. For example, for my dog and yours "smelling is believing", and for many species of bats "hearing is believing". 2500 years ago the Pythagoreans believed in a celestial Music of the Spheres, an idea that reverberated down the millennia in Western music, literature, art and science. We now know that there is a real music of the spheres: The stars have sounds in them that we can use to see right to their very cores. This multi-media lecture looks at the relationship of music to stellar sounds. You will hear the real sounds of the stars (with a key change, of course) and you will even hear musical compositions where every member of the orchestra is a real (astronomical) star. You will learn about the latest discoveries using stellar sounds and vibrations, including stars that are giant diamonds the size of the Earth, and a class of the most peculiar stars in the sky that were discovered by the lecturer. You will even hear how stellar sounds have been used to discover a new planet that survived its star's "red giant" stage, much as the Earth will 5 billion years in the future when the Sun swallows Mercury and Venus. The talk will finish with a description of the NASA Kepler Space Mission, launched in March 2009, that will find Earth-sized planets in large numbers, and see to the hearts of the stars with unprecedented precision by "listening" to the real Music of the Spheres.

Start Time: 7.30 pm

Venue: Church of the Ascension, Michealson Ave. Torrisholme

Entry £1.50 (refreshments included)

Everyone welcome!

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