IDAS SILVER JUBILEE CONVENTION

May 20th 2006

The Ilkeston & District Astronomical Society (IDAS) celebrated it's 25th year of existence on May 20th 2006 by holding a special Silver Jubilee Astronomy Convention. The event was held at the Heanor Welfare Centre, Wilmot Street, Heanor, where members of the Society and the public were treated to four excellent and diverse astronomical related talks, as well as good trade support.

It has to be said that the overall attendance for the event was lower than we had expected, but it's nice to report that most of our Society members were able to come along for the day. Even so, those people who did turn up got a good days entertainment for their money.

Our Chairman, John Brown was the MC for the Convention, and he did a good job of keeping things running to time throughout the day. John began by welcoming everyone and he explained the running order for the day. Afterwards, he introduced our first Guest Speaker to the stage, who was Prof. Michael Merrifield (University of Nottingham), and he gave a talk entitled "How to Build a Galaxy".

Michael did an excellent job of explaining the make-up of a typical galaxy, and how astronomers thought they were formed. Everyone seemed to enjoy the talk, and this put us on track for the rest of the day. Afterwards, we had a 30 minute refreshment break, and Paul Hawkins was on hand keeping everyone filled up with tea, coffee and biscuits.

Our second speaker of the day was Prof. David Hughes (University of Sheffield), whose talk entitled "Probing the Comets: Deep Impact and beyond", was well received by the audience. David began by giving a brief account of comets through history, and then he brought us right up to date with the results of the recent Deep Impact mission.   As you may remember, this was a NASA mission to crash a small probe into a comet and observe the resultant explosion from a passing mothership. Afterwards, David discussed what NASA and ESA had planned for future missions, and this included further fly-bys and sample returns missions.

After Prof. Hughes' talk everyone adjourned for lunch, and while some people sat inside and ate sandwiches several more walked into Heanor town centre where they picked up a bite to eat. This then may be a good time to mention the two traders who came along for the day. The Widescreen Centre and Rother Valley Optics brought along an excellent display of equipment and accessories that were all available to buy. The Widescreen Centre boasted a large selection of telescopes, including the very latest GoTo telescopes from Skywatcher and Meade. Not to be outdone, Rother Valley Optics brought along one of the impressive 12" Meade Lightbridge Dobsonian telescopes. From what could be seen, money changed hands quite frequently throughout the day, so we hope the traders thought the day was worthwhile.

The afternoon session began with our Secretary Mark Thomas giving a talk entitled "We've never had it so Good?". Mark very kindly stepped in at the last minute due to our original speaker falling ill just a couple of days before the Convention. Even though Mark had little time to prepare for the talk he did a fine job of entertaining the audience.

Mark discussed how amateur astronomy had changed over the last 25 years, and the progress that had been made in technology, both for the good and the bad. Mark also discussed the pro's and con's (i.e. minefield) of digital imaging versus traditional film. Mark's talk was very entertaining, and a lot of feedback came from the audience during the talk.

After the final refreshment break, our last speaker of the day gave us his talk. Prof. Nye Evans (Keele University), gave a talk entitled "The Dusty Universe". Nye explained to the audience just how abundant dust was in the universe, and the effects it has on it. Once again, this was another excellent talk, which finished the day off very nicely.

After Nye had finished his talk, the raffle prizes were drawn. Once again, we had an excellent list of prizes, and thanks go to Mary McNulty and Russell King for obtaining the prizes.  Here's what was on offer.

After one last look around the trade stands, it wasn't long before everything had to be packed away, and soon another IDAS Convention had come to an end. Even though everyone was exhausted, the event had been well worthwhile, and we hope that those of you who came along thought so to.

Click here to read a report about our 21st Birthday Convention that was held in 2002.