Welcome to B.A.S.

Welcome to the home of Bedford Astronomical Society.

Please feel free to browse the site and see who we are and what we do. You are welcome to get in touch to ask about the society, or general questions on astronomy.

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Announcements

Hester Hawkins

We are delighted to have been contacted by Stuart Antrobus, a local historian and author, who has compiled some research into the life and works of Hester Hawkins - another prominent astronomer from Bedford. Stuart advises there is a library exhibition at Bedford Central running from Saturday 2nd March to Monday 29th April which will feature some of Hester's books on astronomy.

In addition, a Blue Plaque has been installed at Hester's old home - 18 Linden Road, bedford (now a YMCA). We'll be aiming to get a picture to upload to the website, and Stuart has kindly submitted a extensive article on Hester that we will uploading and publishing very shortly!

Our sincerest thanks to Stuart! Here are a couple of pictures from the unveiling, the article from Stuart will be up shortly!

  • Patrick Cunningham and Mayor Hodgson

    Patrick Cunningham and Mayor Hodgson

  • Bedford Astronomical Society Chairman Peter Hudson with Mary McKeown

    Peter Hudson with Mary McKeown

  • Joshua and Hester Hawkins

    Joshua and Hester Hawkins

Latest BAS News

April 17th Observing

29th March 2019

The next and final regular Wednesday observing session of the season will be on Wednesday 17th April 9-10:30pm provided...

Observing report

29th March 2019

An excellent evening on Monday 25th March. Four telescopes in operation in mild still conditions. About 40 people attended,...

Monday 25th March : Observing

25th March 2019

Conditions look very promising for observing tonight. Twitter updates will start from 6:00pm. This will be the last Observing...

Latest BAS News

April 17th Observing

29th March 2019

The next and final regular Wednesday observing session of the season will be on Wednesday 17th April 9-10:30pm provided...

Latest BAS Images

Slightly belatedly, and with apologies to Bob Wickens, Peter Hudson and Kevin Earp, we have some images on the Blood Moon Eclipse that Bob shot while on a cruise in Costa Rica (jealous? us??) while Kevin submits an excellent capture of the recent comet 46P/Wirtanen as it passed close by The Pleiades. Peter imaged the conjunction of Mars and Neptune 1 day apart in early December, and it perfectly shows the separation between the two planets over the course of 24 hours. Enjoy!