u3a Group

Exmouth & District u3a Astronomy Group

Relevant resources for the topic of each meeting are listed below, in date order with the most recent meeting being at the top.

Meeting on Tuesday 7 April 2026 - The Moon

Reading

From ‘Universe: The Definitive Visual Guide’, edited by Martin Rees (the Astronomer Royal) and published by DK - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Universe-Definitive-Visual-Guide-DK/dp/0241412749. The relevant section is 'The Moon' (pages 136 -149).
Royal Observatory Greenwich has a great deal of interesting material about the Moon - https://www.rmg.co.uk/discover/explore/the-moon
NASA knows a thing or two about the Moon! There’s an excellent website which will tell you everything you want to know about the Moon, and follow further links from there for much more detail - https://moon.nasa.gov/about/overview/
British Astronomical Association’s lunar section has useful information including a daily position statement and further links for more information - https://britastro.org/section_front/16
Lunar phases from The Sky at Night magazine - https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/advice/moon-phases-moonrise-times

Videos

The BBC Bitesize videos are a good introduction to the Moon – https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/search?q=moon
There is a BBC Bitesize video on ‘Neil Armstrong: First person on the Moon' - https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/class-clips-video/history-ks3-neil-armstrong-first-person-on-the-moon/zd3q47h.
BBC: Do We Really Need the Moon - Maggie Aderin-Pocock (from 2011) - https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00yb5jp/do-we-really-need-the-moon
A 10-minute video on the Moon as part of a crash course in Astronomy (2016) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCzchPx3yF8&ab_channel=CrashCourse
A National Geographic short introductory video on the Moon (2019) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AviDjR9mmo&ab_channel=NationalGeographic,
BBC iPlayer: 8 Days: To the Moon and Back (from 2019) - https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0006p5f/8-days-to-the-moon-and-back
BBC: The Sky at Night: Destination Moon (2022) - https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001cchp
Astrum Extra: An excellent long video ‘Absolutely Everything We Know About the Moon' (2025) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kS4VBhQGU9A&t=434s
Channel 5: Wonders of the Moon with Dara O Briain (2 episodes) (2026)- https://www.channel5.com/show/wonders-of-the-moon-with-dara-o-briain/season-1/episode-1
The BBC’s Sky at Night programme features a wonderful archive video of Patrick Moore talking about the Moon in 1960 - https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0142pvr. And this BBC video is about the formation of the Moon - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iz6aC2Xs9l8&ab_channel=BBCNews

Audio

In Our Time (Radio 4): The Moon (2011) - https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b016lh15
Infinite Monkey Cage (Radio 4): Celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Apollo Moon landings (2019) - https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0006zkr
BBC Science - Why is NASA sending people round the Moon? (2016) - https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3ct8txv
BBC Science - Will there be a city on the moon in 10 years? (2016) - https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3ct8txz

Meeting on Tuesday 3 March 2026 - Telescopes and Asteroids & Comets

Free Open University Course

This free course, Galaxies, stars and planets - Understanding our position in the cosmos, is a general introduction, including scale of the universe from the very large to the very small; orbits and gravity; the Solar System; the Sun and other stars; galaxies and the composition of astronomical objects. It's at https://www.open.edu/openlearn/science-maths-technology/galaxies-stars-and-planets/content-section-0
It's also available as a short ebook from Amazon/Kindle for 99p - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Galaxies-stars-planets-understanding-position-ebook/dp/B0C3W4MB3K

Telescopes

The BBC programme “The Sky at Night – a Beginner’s Guide” is an excellent introduction. It is just 29 minutes long, and the last 9 minutes are about telescopes. Sadly it's no longer on BBC iPlayer, but there is a rather poor-quality copy on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbPO2mJ86HA
The BBC has published a short six-page guide to telescopes. You can read and/or download it from here - https://downloads.bbc.co.uk/tv/stargazinglive/sgl_guide_to_telescopes.pdf
There's also a good guide to telescopes on the Society for Popular Astronomy website - see https://www.popastro.com/help-advice/choosing-a-telescope/

Asteroids & Comets

Reading

From ‘Universe: The Definitive Visual Guide’, edited by Martin Rees (the Astronomer Royal) and published by DK - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Universe-Definitive-Visual-Guide-DK/dp/0241412749. The relevant section is 'Asteroids' (pages 170 -177).
Royal Observatory, Greenwich: Asteroids and comets: https://www.rmg.co.uk/discover/explore/minor-planets-or-asteroids

and https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/space-astronomy/comets-meteors-asteroids

NASA Science – Asteroids, comets and meteors - overview, in depth, exploration - https://science.nasa.gov/asteroids-comets-meteors/
BBC Bitesize: Comets and asteroids - https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/z2kw7hv/revision/2
BBC Future: Asteroids - https://www.bbc.co.uk/future/tags/asteroid
BBC Science Focus: Meteors, asteroids and comets - What's the difference? - https://www.sciencefocus.com/space/space-rocks

Videos

BBC Sky at Night - Asteroid Strike/ (2025) - https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m002b26m/the-sky-at-night-asteroid-strike
BBC Sky at Night – Expedition Asteroid (2018): http://www.documentarymania.com/player.php?title=Expedition%20Asteroid
BBC Sky at Night - How to Catch a Comet [HD] (Rosetta's Mission) - (2014) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Os9QD4FalXE
BBC documentary: The Day the Dinosaurs Died (2017): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Id-M1lerGDQ&ab_channel=AtheistBangladesh

Audio

BBC Sounds: Science in Action: Asteroids, and Comets (2025) - Where to find them - https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3ct6yfv
BBC Sounds: Infinite Monkey Cage: Asteroids (2024) - https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0hbmlgd
BBC Sounds: In Our time : Comets (2013) - https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/b01pw38n

The Sky at Night - Asteroid Strike?The team explore one of the biggest stories in space news, the ‘city killer’ asteroid 2024 YR4. How well did the planet respond to this potential natural disaster?

Meeting on Tuesday 3 February 2026 - Mars

Book

A comprehensive astronomy text book is currently available free from Amazon. It's simply called 'Astronomy' and it's by Andrew Fraknoi and others. You can look at it or download it from this link - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Astronomy-Andrew-Fraknoi-ebook/dp/B075FG4KTK/. You can read it on a Kindle ebook reader if you have one, or alternatively read it via the free Kindle app which you can download to a tablet or smart phone, or sign into Amazon on your computer. It's an academic text book which is over 1,100 pages long, but it is several years old so parts of it may no longer be fully up-to-date given the pace of scientific advances in astronomy in recent times! The relevant section on telescopes is from page 189 and the main section on Mars is from page 349.

Mars

Reading

'Going to Mars?' is a very interesting paper written by Martin Whillock, the national u3a Astronomy Subject Adviser, who has very kindly allowed us to share this here. You can read or download it from this link - Going to Mars?

Videos

Sky at Night: Secrets of the Red Planet (2025) - BBC iPlayer - https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m002c5dz/the-sky-at-night-secrets-of-the-red-planet
Voyage to Mars: The Longest Goodbye (2023) - BBC iPlayer - https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p0g5bpg2/voyage-to-mars-the-longest-goodbye
Brian Cox: Seven Days on Mars (2022) - BBC iPlayer - https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0018cd1/brian-cox-seven-days-on-mars
The Planets, episode 2 : The Two Sisters: Earth and Mars (2019) - BBC iPlayer- https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p06qj2qg/the-planets-series-1-2-the-two-sisters-earth-and-mars?seriesId=unsliced
Race to Mars: Tomorrow's World (1987) - https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02861k4
Patrick Moore on the Sky At Night: Mariner to Mars (1969) - BBC iPlayer - https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p02vkcb0/the-sky-at-night-the-sky-at-night-special-mariner-to-mars
Netflix: The Mars Generation (2017)

Audio

In Our Time - Mars (2007) - BBC Sounds - https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00772rr

From the BBC Mars series in 2017 (all still available on BBC Sounds):

Hunting the Martians (2017 - BBC Sounds - https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p04vz9h4
We Are the Martians: Seeing is Believing (2017) - BBC Sounds - https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p04w3y4s
We Are the Martians : A New Red World (2017) - BBC Sounds - https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p04w40g5
We Are the Martians: Start-up Planet (2017) - BBCSounds - https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p04w60rx
Moving to the Red Planet - Mars (2017) - BBC Sounds - https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p04w09l4
A Trip Around Mars with Kevin Fong (2017) - BBC Sounds - https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p04wfyyk

More resources are at Week 8 (Mars) of our online astronomy section - https://sites.google.com/view/connectandlearn/astronomy/astronomy-online-group#h.5n5m6hdk0fbv

The Sky at Night - Secrets of the Red PlanetThe team explore what the latest research is revealing about Mars. Could life have once thrived there? And will a return trip to our neighbouring planet ever be possible?

The Planets - Series 1: 2. The Two Sisters - Earth and MarsProfessor Brian Cox continues his tour of the solar system, revealing that it was once home to not one, but two blue planets.

Meeting on 2 December 2025 - Black Holes

Videos

BBC iPlayer: Universe, episode 4, Black Holes - Heart of Darkness - Professor Brian Cox continues his epic exploration of the universe with a journey into darkness - https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p09ybycz/universe-series-1-4-black-holes-heart-of-darkness
Brian Cox on how black holes could unlock the mysteries of our universe - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGsbEd6w7PI
Brian Cox: Why black holes could hold the secret to time and space - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZX_c6zfJ2w (this is a much longer and more detailed version)
BBC Bitesize: link here https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/class-clips-video/physics-ks3--gcse-what-are-black-holes/z4pyrj6 and here https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/znvhjhv/revision/3
BBC Horizon programme (from 2010): ‘Whose Afraid of a Big Black Hole?’: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x621wmg
Night Sky News November 2024: The Crisis in Cosmology solved with black holes as dark energy?! - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IE4jD1WhG4 (from 15.52 minutes in)
Black Holes - The Edge of What We Know - Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/title/81343342

Audio

BBC In our Time: ‘Black Holes’: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00547f4
BBC Infinite Monkey Cage: ‘Black Holes’: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p08fq7t3 and https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m00199dg
The Guardian: ‘Journey into a Black Hole’: Part 1 at https://www.theguardian.com/science/audio/2020/oct/27/journey-into-a-black-hole-part-1-podcast and Part 2 at https://www.theguardian.com/science/audio/2020/oct/29/journey-into-a-black-hole-part-2-podcast

More resources are at Week 12 (Black Holes) of the online astronomy section - https://sites.google.com/view/connectandlearn/astronomy/astronomy-online-group#h.ubnfsgci60n3

Universe - Series 1: 4. Black Holes: Heart of DarknessProfessor Brian Cox journeys into a supermassive black hole - a monster that can destroy worlds and stop time, and which is forcing us to reassess our understanding of reality.

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