SOCIETY IN FOCUS
Hertford Astronomy Group (HAG) normally meets on the second Wednesday of each month from September to June. Our meetings are popular, often with over 75 people attending, but with the COVID-19 risk we decided to try a virtual meeting. Chairman Alan Willison sent out a message to our mailing list of over 700 subscribers, announcing that our May meeting would be online using Zoom. Here’s how we got on...
Alan began the Zoom meeting and explained the format and introduced Martin Weston, who helps run HAG’s active astrophotography section. He gave a run-down of sights to see in the night sky over the next month. He used Stellarium (just like he does at our physical meetings) and by sharing his screen everyone was able to watch as he took them around the night sky, pointing out sights of interest.
I then did a rundown on the state of America’s activities in space exploration.
I had prepared a visual presentation of almost 150 images covering the Space Launch System (SLS) and Orion spacecraft, engine testing, preparations at Kennedy Space Center and programmes such as Starliner and X-37B, plus the work of SpaceX and Virgin Galactic. Viewers could post questions using Zoom’s Chat facility.
Over 50 people took part in our first online meeting. It was a success and can be viewed on YouTube at bit.ly/30rWBAs. Jerry Stone, HAG programme secretary
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