Dr Robin Catchpole - title: "Asteroids, Comets, Impacts. Should we worry?"

The talk: Stand outside for a while at night and you will see a bright streak, as meteor the size of a sand grain burns up in the atmosphere. On average every 10 years an explosion twice the size of the Hiroshima bomb, occurs in the atmosphere. Perhaps once a century, we experience something in the megaton range. We will examine the history, origin and effect of these impacts, see what we are doing to predict them and how we might avoid them.

Dr Robin Michael Catchpole currently works as an astronomer at the Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge, having retired as Senior Astronomer at the Royal Observatory Greenwich in July 2004, after spending most of his career as an astronomer in South Africa. He has lectured on a number of cruise ships including Spirit of Adventure. His interests include, the composition of stars, supernovae, galaxies with balckholes and the structure of the centre of our galaxy.

The Vectis Astronomical Society meets on the 4th Friday of every month, except for December. This event is open for non-members to attend. The speakers come from all over the country and give a presentation for around 45 mins. We then stop for a break with tea and biscuits, which gives an opportunity to mingle and chat.

The second half of the evening sees a presentation by one of our regular members showing us what to we could see in the sky over the coming month.

This always involves some great pictures projected onto the large screen. Entry to the event is free of charge, although as we run as a charity, donations are always welcome.

Newsletters are available at the entrance for a suggested donation of £2.00

Please see our website for contact and membership details.