Welcome to the website of the South West Herts Astronomical Society
Who we are
Chairman - Sean Meehan
The Society was founded in 1968, with the aims of promoting the science of astronomy and encouraging popular interest in the subject.
From September to May regular meetings are held in Rickmansworth, usually on the last Friday of the month. Illustrated talks are given on various aspects of astronomy, presented either by our own members or by visiting speakers. The Society is fortunate to have the use of a planetarium, where a monthly tour of the night sky is conducted. We also have use of a 11 inch Celestron Schmidt Cassegrain telescope.
The Society also owns its own observatory for use by members, and regular weekly observing sessions are held on Saturday nights. The observatory is equipped with a 14-inch reflecting telescope designed and built by members of the Society, as well as a number of smaller instruments. Members are able to use these or their own instruments to observe from the site, which enjoys wide views of the sky with minimal light pollution.
A monthly newsletter keeps members informed about the activities of the society and the observing sessions, and also includes summaries of the talks given at the monthly meetings.
Visitors and prospective members are welcome to attend our meetings.
Would you like to join us?
We welcome new members and potential members are welcome to come to one of our monthly meetings as a visitor. For further details see the join us page (link in the left hand menu bar) or send an enquiry to our secretary using the contact us link.
You do not have to be an expert to become a member - we welome all those interested in astronomy, from beginner to those with extensive knowledge. We number both amongst our membership.
The Transit of Venus
The Transit of Venus
as seen from
our observatory at Flaunden in 2004 (image taken by a member of the Society).
Venus is at the point of final contact and is just about to exit the Sun's disc,
bottom right. Unfortunately the transit was very early in the morning in 2012 and was also obscured by cloud so we do not have any images this time.