SOCIETY IN FOCUS

At Brighton Astro we’d been having a run of bad luck with our public astronomy events. First there were February’s weekend storms and then, just as the weather had started to improve, COVID-19 appeared.

These are strange times for us, as they are for every other astronomy society. We’ve had to cancel all of our planned monthly meetings and our stargazing evenings. But we decided that just because we can’t gather physically it doesn’t mean we can’t learn about the cosmos. With help from our friends in the Physics and Astronomy department at the University of Sussex we’ve been organising virtual meetings, where members of our group can watch an astronomy talk broadcast live online.

Our first talk, hosted by astronomer Ciaran Fairhurst (right), was a huge success. Over 100 people tuned in to hear about his research. There are lots of different options for hosting a talk online. We’ve chosen Twitch so that people can watch by clicking a link, without having to install software.

Moving our talks online means we’re able to offer them to a wider audience and we’re not limited to the 60 people per month who can fit into our meeting place. It’s important for us to continue to support our local community so we’re all doing what we can to keep spirits up and keep in touch. It’s just a shame we’ve had to cancel our pub visits – they’re more difficult to recreate online.

Pete Goodman, co-founder Brighton Astro

▶ brightonastro.com