Past Lectures

See below for the full list of past lectures. For current lectures please follow this link.

If you would like to attend a lecture please contact us.

The Transient Universe.

18 Dec 2018    8:00 pm

Prof. Tim O'Brien (University of Manchester) will be presenting the lecture.

Venue: Goostrey Village Hall.

Edmond Halley, Geophysicist, Royal Navy Explorer Sea Captain and Astronomer Royal

05 Jan 2019    8:00 pm

Dr Allan Chapman (Wadham College, Oxford) will be presenting the lecture.

Venue: Calvary Church Hall, Macclesfield

Winter Exhibition

26 Jan 2019    6:30 pm

Venue: Goostrey Village Hall

Winter Exhibition and Public Event

26 Jan 2019    6:30 pm

Venue: Goostrey Village Hall

Enceladus and other Icy Moons in the Solar System!

19 Feb 2019    8:00 pm

Rachael Hamp (Open University) will be presenting the lecture.

Venue: Goostrey Village Hall

When Galaxies Collide!

19 Mar 2019    8:00 pm

Dr Megan Argo (University of Central Lancashire) will be presenting the lecture.

Venue: Goostrey Village Hall

The challenges of the SKA project

16 Apr 2019    8:00 pm

Mathieu Isidro (SKA Organisation, Jodrell Bank) will be presenting the lecture.

Venue: Goostrey Village Hall

Asteroids - Exploration and Exploitation

21 May 2019    8:00 pm

Dr Rhian Jones (University of Manchester) will be presenting the lecture.

Venue: Goostrey Village Hall

It’s a Hot Big Bang Universe: the discovery of the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation

18 Jun 2019    8:00 pm

Professor Ian Robson (STFC, Royal Observatory Edinburgh) will be presenting the lecture.

Venue: Goostrey Village Hall CW4 8PE

Current Trends in Astrobiology

16 Jul 2019    8:00 pm

Dr Mark Hadley (Macclesfield Astronomical Society) will be presenting the lecture.

Venue: Goostrey Village Hall CW4 8PE

ANNUAL SUMMER EXHIBITION

20 Aug 2019    8:00 pm

Venue: Goostrey Village Hall CW4 8PE

Annual Summer Exhibition

20 Aug 2019    8:00 pm

Venue: Goostrey Village Hall

The Extremely Large Telescope Project

17 Sep 2019    8:00 pm

Professor Isobel Hook (University of Lancaster) will be presenting the lecture.

Venue: Goostrey Village Hall CW4 8PE

AGM

15 Oct 2019    8:00 pm

Venue: Calvary Church, Macclesfield, SK11 8RH

AGM

22 Oct 2019    8:00 pm

Venue: Red Lion, Goostrey

Using remote access observatories for public education and access to off world data

19 Nov 2019    8:00 pm

Peter Williamson (FRAS, BBC Radio Shropshire Eye on the Sky) will be presenting the lecture.

Venue: Goostrey Village Hall CW4 8PE

Water,Volcanoes and Robots on Mars

17 Dec 2019    8:00 pm

Dr Peter Fawdon (Open University) will be presenting the lecture.

Venue: Goostrey Village Hall CW4 8PE

Sir Robert Stawell Ball (1840 - 1915) Astronomer, Writer and Populariser

04 Jan 2020    8:00 pm

Dr Allan Chapman (Wadham College, Oxford) will be presenting the lecture.

Venue: Calvary Church, Macclesfield, SK11 8RH

Winter Exhibition - Public Beginners Evening https://www.eventbrite.com/e/maccastrosoc-winter-exhibition-public-beginners-evening-2020-tickets-87828811339

01 Feb 2020    7:00 pm

Venue: Goostrey Village Hall

Weathering Solar Storms: Living with Space Weather

18 Feb 2020    8:00 pm

Professor Jim Wild (University of Lancaster) will be presenting the lecture.

Venue: Goostrey Village Hall CW4 8PE

CANCELLED

17 Mar 2020    8:00 pm

Dr Julian Onions (CANCELLED) will be presenting the lecture.

Venue: Goostrey Village Hall CW4 8PE

Galaxies - One Giga Year at a time

21 Apr 2020    8:00 pm

Dr Julian Onions (University of Nottingham) will be presenting the lecture.

Venue: ONLINE

Variable Stars and Citizen Science

19 May 2020    8:00 pm

Heidi Theimann (Open University) will be presenting the lecture.

Venue: ONLINE

Wonders of the Southern Sky

16 Jun 2020    8:00 pm

Professor Ian Morison (Macclesfield Astronomical Society) will be presenting the lecture.

Venue: ONLINE

Extremophiles: Cold and Hungry

21 Jul 2020    8:00 pm

Tom McNally (Imperial College, London) will be presenting the lecture.

Venue: ONLINE

ANNUAL SUMMER EXHIBITION

18 Aug 2020    8:00 pm

Venue: ONLINE

The Lost Meteorites of Antarctica (www.ukantarcticmeteorites.com)

15 Sep 2020    8:00 pm

Dr Geoffrey Evatt (University of Manchester) will be presenting the lecture.

Venue: ONLINE

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING - Members only

20 Oct 2020    8:00 pm

Venue: ONLINE

Mercury and the BepiColombo mission

17 Nov 2020    8:00 pm

Professor David Rothery (Open University) will be presenting the lecture.

Venue: ONLINE

The Frontiers of Astronomy

15 Dec 2020    8:00 pm

Dr Robin Catchpole (Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge) will be presenting the lecture.

Venue: ONLINE

The 200th Anniversary of the RAS and The British Learned Society

09 Jan 2021    8:00 pm

Dr Allan Chapman (Wadham College, Oxford) will be presenting the lecture.

Venue: ONLINE

The planet Venus

16 Feb 2021    8:00 pm

Dr Steve Hurley (Macclesfield Astronomical Society) will be presenting the lecture.

Venue: ONLINE

Living near a star; new encounters with our Sun

16 Mar 2021    8:00 pm

Professor Robert Walsh (University of Central Lancashire) will be presenting the lecture.

Venue: ONLINE

Gaia - the billion star mapping machine

20 Apr 2021    8:00 pm

Professor Rob Jeffries (Keele University) will be presenting the lecture.

Venue: ONLINE

Herschel to Hawkwind – Music and Space, a symbiotic relationship

18 May 2021    8:00 pm

Peter Williamson FRAS (BBC Radio Shropshire, Eye on the Sky) will be presenting the lecture.

Venue: ONLINE

From Apollo to the Space Shuttle - with a glimpse into the future of Spaceflight

15 Jun 2021    8:00 pm

Rod Woodcock (The British Interplanetary Society) will be presenting the lecture.

Venue: ONLINE

Black holes: past, present and future

20 Jul 2021    8:00 pm

Dr Ziri Younsi (University College London) will be presenting the lecture.

Venue: ONLINE

ANNUAL SUMMER EXHIBITION

17 Aug 2021    8:00 pm

Venue: TBC

“Supermassive Black Holes, Exoplanets, and other discoveries from your sofa”

21 Sep 2021    8:00 pm

Dr Brooke Simmons (University of Lancaster) will be presenting the lecture.

Venue: ONLINE

'Our Place In The Universe - How Lucky Do You Feel Today?'

16 Nov 2021    8:00 pm

Steve Warbis (Macclesfield Astronomical Society) will be presenting the lecture.

Venue: Goostrey Village Hall CW4 8PE

A hidden side to the Universe: unveiling distant starbursts

21 Dec 2021    8:00 pm

Dr Julie Wardlow (University of Lancaster) will be presenting the lecture.

Venue: Goostrey Village Hall CW4 8PE

Our Island Universe - the Milky Way and its place in time and space.

08 Jan 2022    8:00 pm

Professor Ian Morison (Macclesfield Astronomical Society) will be presenting the lecture.

Venue: ONLINE

PLEASE NOTE: This lecture takes place on a Saturday

Satellite Navigation - satellites and systems

15 Feb 2022    8:00 pm

Dr Steve Hurley (Macclesfield Astronomical Society) will be presenting the lecture.

Venue: Goostrey Village Hall, CW4 8PE

A Telescope or a Poem: A choice of Astronomies

12 Mar 2022    8:00 pm

David Levy (Jarnac Observatory, Vail, Arizona) will be presenting the lecture.

Venue: ONLINE

Please note this Lecture is on a SATURDAY

The Forgotten Star Atlas

15 Mar 2022    8:00 pm

Kevin Kilburn (Manchester Astronomical Society/Society for the History of Astronomy) will be presenting the lecture.

Venue: Goostrey Village Hall, CW4 8PE

Mars and the Missions

19 Apr 2022    8:00 pm

Dr Manish Patel (Open University) will be presenting the lecture.

Venue: Goostrey Village Hall, CW4 8PE

New rocks for understanding the early Solar System: Meteorites and asteroid sample return

17 May 2022    8:00 pm

Dr Rhian Jones (University of Manchester) will be presenting the lecture.

Venue: Goostrey Village Hall, CW4 8PE

The Volcanic History of the Moon.

21 Jun 2022    8:00 pm

Marissa Lo (University of Manchester) will be presenting the lecture.

Venue: Goostrey Village Hall, CW4 8PE

Myth to Mars

19 Jul 2022    8:00 pm

Pete Williamson FRAS (BBC Radio Shropshire Eye on the Sky) will be presenting the lecture.

Venue: POSTPONED

POSTPONED

SUMMER EXHIBITION

16 Aug 2022    8:00 pm

Venue: Goostrey Village Hall, CW4 8PE

“A rocket’s eye view of our Sun – examining our closest star from space”

20 Sep 2022    8:00 pm

Professor Robert Walsh (University of Central Lancashire) will be presenting the lecture.

Venue: Goostrey Village Hall, CW4 8PE

Annual General Meeting

18 Oct 2022    8:00 pm

Venue: Goostrey Village Hall. CW4 8PE

Astronomy and Art: Universal Appeal?

15 Nov 2022    8:00 pm

Professor Andy Newsam (Liverpool John Moore University) will be presenting the lecture.

Venue: Goostrey Village Hall, CW4 8PE

Gravitational Waves: Einstein's Messengers

20 Dec 2022    8:00 pm

Professor Robin Jeffries (Keele University) will be presenting the lecture.

Venue: Goostrey Village Hall, CW4 8PE

The Goodwill Moon Rock

14 Jan 2023    8:00 pm

Dermot Gething (UK Youth Ambassador for Apollo 17 Mission) will be presenting the lecture.

Venue: Calvary Church, Macclesfield

Please note this lecture is on a SATURDAY

The Great Silence

21 Feb 2023    8:00 pm

Dr Steve Hurley (Macclesfield Astronomical Society) will be presenting the lecture.

Venue: Goostrey Village Hall, CW4 8PE

Spacecraft I have Known and Loved

21 Mar 2023    8:00 pm

Professor John Zarnecki (Emeritus Professor of Space Science - Open University) will be presenting the lecture.

Venue: Goostrey Village Hall. CW4 8PE

How to Photograph a Black Hole

18 Apr 2023    8:00 pm

Andy Briggs (Manager of YouTube Channel, 'Space Oddities') will be presenting the lecture.

Venue: ONLINE

Please note this Lecture is ONLINE

The Search for Life on Mars

16 May 2023    8:00 pm

Dr Peter Grindrod (Natural History Museum, London) will be presenting the lecture.

Venue: Goostrey Village Hall. CW4 8PE

The JUICE Mission to Jupiter and Ganymede

20 Jun 2023    8:00 pm

Dr Chris Arridge (University of Lancaster) will be presenting the lecture.

Venue: Goostrey Village Hall. CW4 8PE

The Art of Astrophotography

18 Jul 2023    8:00 pm

Professor Ian Morison (Macclesfield Astronomical Society) will be presenting the lecture.

Venue: Goostrey Village Hall. CW4 8PE

SUMMER EXHIBITION

15 Aug 2023    8:00 pm

Venue: Goostrey Village Hall. CW4 8PE

An Overview of the SKA project

19 Sep 2023    8:00 pm

Ray Brederode (SKA Jodrell Bank Observatory) will be presenting the lecture.

Venue: Goostrey Village Hall. CW4 8PE

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

17 Oct 2023    8:00 pm

Venue: Goostrey Village Hall. CW4 8PE

Scouts from a long way away - what interstellar objects can tell us

21 Nov 2023    8:00 pm

Professor Chris Lintott (University of Oxford) will be presenting the lecture.

Venue: Goostrey Village Hall. CW4 8PE

George Gibbs FRAS, Curator and Designer of the Jeremy Horrocks Observatory and Inventor of the Heliochronometer

19 Dec 2023    8:00 pm

Graham Mcloughlin (Preston Astronomical Society) will be presenting the lecture.

Venue: Goostrey Village Hall. CW4 8PE

Disaster! Space weather on the big screen

16 Jan 2024    8:00 pm

Professor Jim Wild (Lancaster University) will be presenting the lecture.

Venue: Goostrey Village Hall, CW4 8PE

The Search for Dark Matter

20 Feb 2024    8:00 pm

Dr Steve Hurley (Macclesfield Astronomical Society) will be presenting the lecture.

Venue: Goostrey Village Hall, CW4 8PE

Exploring Titan, Earth's True Sister 'Planet'

19 Mar 2024    8:00 pm

Professor Louis Mayo (Marymount University, USA) will be presenting the lecture.

Venue: ONLINE

Please note this is an ONLINE lecture

The New Liverpool Telescope. The World's Largest Fully Robotic Telescope,

16 Apr 2024    8:00 pm

Dr Joao Da Silva Bento (Liverpool John Moores University) will be presenting the lecture.

Venue: Goostrey Village Hall, CW4 8PE

”Lad from Sandbach does good”

21 May 2024    8:00 pm

Nicholas Booth will be presenting the lecture.

Venue: Goostrey Village Hall, CW4 8PE

Elliptical and Lenticular Galaxies - Their Stars and Interstellar Medium

18 Jun 2024    8:00 pm

Dr Anne Sansom (The University of Central Lancashire) will be presenting the lecture.

Venue: Goostrey Village Hall, CW4 8PE

When Giants collide: Gravitational Wave Astronomy

16 Jul 2024    8:00 pm

Andy Briggs (Space Oddities) will be presenting the lecture.

Venue: ONLINE

Please note this is an ONLINE lecture

SUMMER EXHIBITION

20 Aug 2024    8:00 pm

Venue: Goostrey Village Hall, CW4 8PE

The James Webb Telescope: Mission Highlights and Recent Discoveries

17 Sep 2024    8:00 pm

Thomas Harvey FRAS (The University of Manchester) will be presenting the lecture.

Venue: Goostrey Village Hall, CW4 8PE

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

15 Oct 2024    8:00 pm

Venue: Goostrey Village Hall, CW4 8PE

The Music of the Stars

19 Nov 2024    8:00 pm

Dr Anne-Marie Broomhall (University of Warwick) will be presenting the lecture.

Venue: Goostrey Village Hall, CW4 8PE

Legacy of lunar sample return missions

17 Dec 2024    8:00 pm

Divya Ravy (University of Manchester) will be presenting the lecture.

Venue: Goostrey Village Hall, CW4 8PE

NASA’s OSIRIS-Rex Mission

21 Jan 2025    8:00 pm

Dr Sarah Crowther (University of Manchester) will be presenting the lecture.

Venue: Goostrey Village Hall, CW4 8PE

The Anthropic Principle

18 Feb 2025    8:00 pm

Dr Steve Hurley (Macclesfield Astronomical Society) will be presenting the lecture.

Venue: Goostrey Village Hall, CW4 8PE

The planet next door

18 Mar 2025    8:00 pm

Nicholas Booth will be presenting the lecture.

Venue: Goostrey Village Hall, CW4 8PE

“The remarkable nova GK Persei”

15 Apr 2025    8:00 pm

Professor Tim O'Brien (Jodrell Bank Observatory, University of Manchester) will be presenting the lecture.

Venue: Goostrey Village Hall, CW4 8PE

The Professor Ian Morison Memorial Lecture: 'Big Cats'

20 May 2025    8:00 pm

Christopher Rose (Founder of Macclesfield Astronomical Society) will be presenting the lecture.

Venue: Goostrey Village Hall, CW4 8PE

What temperature is the surface of the Moon and why should I care?

17 Jun 2025    8:00 pm

Professor Neil Bowles (University of Oxford) will be presenting the lecture.

Venue: Goostrey Village Hall, CW4 8PE

Solar flares – the most powerful explosions in the solar system.

15 Jul 2025    8:00 pm

Professor Philippa Browning (University of Manchester) will be presenting the lecture.

Venue: Goostrey Village Hall, CW4 8PE

SUMMER EXHIBITION

19 Aug 2025    8:00 pm

Venue: Goostrey Village Hall, CW4 8PE

State of the art numerical simulations of galaxies and their star clusters.

16 Sep 2025    8:00 pm

Professor Robert Crain (Liverpool John Moores University) will be presenting the lecture.

Venue: Goostrey Village Hall, CW4 8PE

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

21 Oct 2025    8:00 pm

Venue: Goostrey Village Hall, CW4 8PE

Our Place in the Universe (How Lucky Do You Feel Today?)

18 Nov 2025    8:00 pm

Steve Warbis (Macclesfield Astronomical Society) will be presenting the lecture.

Venue: Goostrey Village Hall, CW4 8PE

‘Small steps to giant leaps: laying the scientific groundwork for the first human missions to Mars.’

16 Dec 2025    8:00 pm

Dr Frances Butcher FRAS (University of Sheffield) will be presenting the lecture.

Venue: Goostrey Village Hall, CW4 8PE

“Building rocky planets – in our own Solar System and beyond”

20 Jan 2026    8:00 pm

Professor Rhian Jones (University of Manchester) will be presenting the lecture.

Venue: Goostrey Village Hall, CW4 8PE

“Gently, Down the Stream: Monitoring Satellites with Neuromorphic Cameras”

17 Feb 2026    8:00 pm

Dr James Blake (University of Warwick) will be presenting the lecture.

Venue: Goostrey Village Hall, CW4 8PE

The Ultimate Fate of the Universe

17 Mar 2026    8:00 pm

Dr Steve Hurley (Macclesfield Astronomical Society) will be presenting the lecture.

Venue: Goostrey Village Hall, CW4 8PE

Forecasting the weather on extrasolar worlds.

21 Apr 2026    8:00 pm

Dr Vatsal Panwar (University of Warwick) will be presenting the lecture.

Venue: Goostrey Village Hall, CW4 8PE

The Professor Ian Morison Memorial Lecture - Things that go bump in the night

19 May 2026    8:00 pm

Dr Megan Argo (University of Lancashire) will be presenting the lecture.

Venue: Goostrey Village Hall, CW4 8PE

The Secret Metronome of Solar and Stellar Flares.

16 Jun 2026    8:00 pm

Dr Dmitrii Kolotkov (University of Warwick) will be presenting the lecture.

Venue: Goostrey Village Hall, CW4 8PE

Exoplanets: Searching and Characterising

21 Jul 2026    8:00 pm

Gary Gilbert will be presenting the lecture.

Venue: Goostrey Village Hall, CW4 8PE

SUMMER EXHIBITION

18 Aug 2026    8:00 pm

Venue: Goostrey Village Hall, CW4 8PE

How we detect and understand planets outside our Solar system

15 Sep 2026    8:00 pm

Professor Thomas Wilson (University of Warwick) will be presenting the lecture.

Venue: Goostrey Village Hall, CW4 8PE

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

20 Oct 2026    8:00 pm

Venue: Goostrey Village Hall, CW4 8PE

TBC

17 Nov 2026    8:00 pm

Steve Warbis (Macclesfield Astronomical Society) will be presenting the lecture.

Venue: Goostrey Village Hall, CW4 8PE

Variable stars, models and the Manhattan Project

15 Dec 2026    8:00 pm

Dr Philip Masding will be presenting the lecture.

Venue: Goostrey Village Hall, CW4 8PE