Public talks
The Society holds public talks about astronomy at Trinity School, Croydon CR9 7AT approximately every other Thursday during school term time. Our talks are open to all.
The talks are usually held in the Staff Canteen – see Talks location below for directions. Very occasionally the school may ask us to use another room and, if this is the case, details of the alternative room will be posted on this page.
Talks start at 7.30pm sharp and usually finish by 9pm including a break for refreshments. There is no charge but we suggest a donation of £3 per person towards society funds (larger donations are, of course, very welcome). Refreshments (tea & coffee) are available for a nominal charge of 50p. We accept cash and contactless (minimum £1) payments.
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This next meeting (27th March) will be the last meeting at Trinity and the last meeting on a Thursday.
After Easter, starting on Friday 2nd May 2025, our meetings will move to the small hall, Shirley Methodist Church, Eldon Avenue, CR0 8SD and will be held on the first and third Friday of each month. Our meetings will run, as now, from 7:30 – 9:30.
Shirley Methodist is within walking distance of Trinity School and is easily accessible by bus from East Croydon. There is parking on site but, if it is full, there is ample parking on nearby roads.
Further details will be given after the upcoming meeting and our website will be updated with directions, photographs etc.
Please note that, due to the change of meeting date, our AGM will now be on Friday 6th June.
2025 Talks programme
2025 dates
SPRING:
January 9th
This week we have Konrad Malin-Smith. One of our longest serving and oldest members Konrad was Chairman for eight years and served much longer on committee. A well known speaker both at Croydon and throughout the South East the minor planet 10381 Malinsmith was named in his honour. Tonight Konrad presents his talk as a celebration of his 90th birthday (last December). Appropriately it is called “Time”.
January 23rd
​We welcome Dr.Jan Drozd. His talk is called “Is anybody out there?” and is a look at the possibility of intelligent life in our galaxy and how we might recognise it. This is the postponed talk from last December.
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February 6th.
Dr.Paul Streeter is a post-doctoral researcher at the Open University. He is investigating the atmosphere of
Mars as part of the OU's ExoMars group. Tonight we will hear the latest results of his research in his talk:
The Weather and Climate of Mars.
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February 27th.
Tonight we welcome one of our members and a well known speaker, Roy Easto.
He will talk about "Atmospheres".
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March 13th.
Have you ever wondered how we know where we are on Earth? Now we all are familiar with Global Positioning Systems, but how did we know before this technology?
In tonight's talk, Celestial Navigation, William Bottaci takes us through the history of finding Longitude.
Stars, instruments, time and tables William will take us through the process and give us enough information that with a simple sextant we would be able to find our Latitude and Longitude.
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March 27th.
"The Wide BinaryTest"
We welcome Stephen Cookson (Chairman CrawleyAS).
He will talk about how we can use the motion of Wide Binary stars as part of the search for Dark Matter, General Relativity and competing theories. It begins with an introduction to Dark Matter, discussing how it explains galactic rotation curves and the role of astro-spectroscopy in measuring galaxy motion. It talks about a collaborative project with a university in Mexico City, exploring whether wide binary stars obey Newtonian gravity at large separations. The research analysed over 800,000 binary stars downloaded from the Gaia satellite to examine the relationship between stellar separation and velocity.
We also cover imaging and spectroscopy using an Star Analyser 100, investigating flyby stars and hidden companions, and automating binary detection with Python.
Stephen Cookson – Astronomer & Technologist
Steve Cookson is an amateur astronomer with a strong interest in deep-space imaging using an RC8 telescope and high-resolution guide cameras. He is a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and a member of the British Astronomical Association. His work extends beyond imaging, incorporating automation and remote telescope control through INDI, as well as DIY instrumentation such as 3D printed astrospectrometers.
Stephen has also authored scientific papers and continues to explore ways to combine data analysis with practical astrophotography. He engages with astronomical data archives like Gaia, using Python tools such as astroquery to support his research.
Stephen encourages fellow astronomers to contribute to environmental monitoring by measuring atmospheric COâ‚‚ as part of their weather observations. By integrating COâ‚‚ detection with standard weather tracking, he promotes a data-driven approach to understanding climate trends at a local level.
Change of venue.​
We will shortly be announcing a change of venue.
The dates for the rest of the year will be the 1st and 3rd Fridays:
May 2nd & 16th, June 6th & 20th, July 4th & 18th, August 1st & 15th, September 5th & 19th, October 3rd & 17th, November 7th & 21st, December 5th & 19th.
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Talks location
Trinity School, Shirley Road, Croydon CR9 7AT
If driving, enter the school from the Addiscombe Road A232 and follow the one way road, turning right at the mini roundabout by the exit onto Shirley Road.
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Parking is in the staff car park on the left opposite the main entrance to the school.
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See here for a map of how to get to our meeting room.
Directions to our meeting room from the Addiscombe Road entrance.
Enter via Addiscombe Road. The gates should be open but members will be sent the entry code by email.
You pass the "Boys Entrance" on the right. Keep going to the mini roundabout.
Drive in and soon turn left, signposted "Trinity School Reception"
At the mini roundabout the exit is on the left. Don't go left, go right at the roundabout.
Keep going towards "Exit".
Drive on to the sign for Reception (by the flagpole). Parking is in the staff car park to the left, reception is on the right.
Walk up the steps to Reception.
Once you are in Reception see this map for route to the Staff Canteen where we meet
Hint: to get in through the reception doors you may have to ring the bell. If you get stuck in reception go back out and ring the bell again to speak to the Porters.
Directions by bus
These buses stop outside and all of them connect with East Croydon Railway Station and tram stop.
119: Croydon Airport to Bromley
194: West Croydon to Lower Sydenham
198: Shrublands to Thornton Heath
466: Caterham-on-the-Hill to Addington Village
If coming from East Croydon get off at stop F (Trinity School). If coming the other way than you need stop P.
Trinity School is approximately 10 minutes on foot from the Sandilands tram stop.