Our 2023/2024 season of astronomy outreach at Abriachan Forest ended on a high note this Saturday with a visit from Martin Hendry, Professor of Gravitational Astrophysics and Cosmology. Since 2022 Martin has been acting vice principle at the University of Glasgow and was formerly head of the school of Physics and Astronomy.

Martin’s packed talk was broadly about the age of the universe, but touched on the age of stars, stellar classification, cepheid variables, rates of cosmic expansion, and the important work undertaken by female astronomers like Henrietta Leavitt, Annie Jump Cannon and Williamina Fleming, who were instrumental in helping us calculate the distances to star clusters and galaxies. A special tribute was also paid to Lord Kelvin on the 2024 bicentenary of his birth.

Alas, we were not graced with clear skies for open air stargazing, so following Martin’s talk we both hosted a virtual planetarium tour instead, referencing many of the clusters, galaxies and some stars mentioned in the main talk.

Thanks to Suzann for the Kelvin and Constellation witches fingers which captivated some of the younger audience members, and my wife Judith for the excellent home bakes. I look forward to announcing our new new 2024/2025 program in October. Stay tuned for details.

Calculations of the age of the universe using a variety of datasets and methodologies, including galactic red shifts and globular clusters have broadly placed the age of the universe at about 14 billion years old.