OASI is a society for people interested in astronomy. We are based at Orwell Park Observatory and Newbourne Village Hall, both situated near Ipswich, Suffolk. Members enjoy a wide range of interests in astronomy and include armchair astronomers, casual observers, and dedicated amateurs with specialist skills in visual and photographic observing, constructing telescopes, public education in astronomy and the history of astronomy.
Events
Mon 15 Dec 2025, 20:00, Zoom, Pre-recorded talk: The Search for Earth 2.0: Why we Think it Exists and How we're Going to Find it by Jessie Christiansen. (Zoom login details are provided in an email to members.)
Wed 17 Dec 2025, 19:30, The Fox, Newbourne, Xmas meal. Open to members of OASI and their guests. Places must be booked. Menu.
NB: Orwell Park Observatory will be closed this evening.
Mon 22 Dec 2025, 19:30, Newbourne Village Hall, Newbourne meeting - beginners and new members welcome!
Observing targets for the month: Saturn and Uranus.
19:30 Doors open for quiz night!
Mon 05 Jan 2026, 20:00, Orwell Park Observatory, Taster evening. Places must be booked in advance by email: tour@oasi.org.uk.
Full events list, with contact details for further information.
[1/10] A meteor camera imaged a propellant dump by a Chinese Zhuque-3 rocket, some one and a half hours after its launch. 03 December 2025. Nigel Evans.
More.
[2/10] Comet 240P/NEAT fractured into two components during late-September/early-October 2025. 25 November 2025. Nigel Evans.
More.
[3/10] Two images of spiral galaxy M33 in the constellation Triangulum. Both captured with a Seestar S50 telescope. LHS: Martin Cook, 21 November 2025. RHS: Andy Gibbs, 23 November 2025.
More.
[4/10] Star cluster NGC457 in the constellation Cassiopeia contains approximately 60 stars. 21 November 2025. Martin Cook.
More.
[5/10] A spectacular aurora seen from Kvaløya, west of Tromsøya, Norway. 18 November 2025. Mike Whybray.
More.
[6/10] Comet C/2025 R2 (SWAN) imaged from Orwell Park Observatory on 25 October 2025, during the second OASI open evening of 2025. Paul Whiting, FRAS.
More.
[7/10] Our 2025 open evenings (held 24-25 October) were a great success! Approximately two hundred and fifty visitors attended on the first evening, and a further 200 on the second and enjoyed views of Saturn, Comet Lemmon (C/2025A6), Comet Swan (C/2025R2), the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) and star clusters (M11 and others) through a variety of telescopes.
More. Our next open evenings are in 2026 TBC.
[8/10] OASI observers along with many members of the public gathered on Cliff Road, Felixstowe, hoping to observe the Moon, in total eclipse, rising above the eastern horizon, on 07 september 2025. Unfortunately, cloud prevented visibility of total phase of the eclipse, but breaks in the cloud enabled observation of the subsequent partial phase.
More.
[9/10] The Sun in H
α light. 10 August 2025. Steve McElvanney.
More.
[10/10] OASI attended the Latitude Festival on 25-26 July to run sessions on solar observing and night-time observing. On 25 July, there were breaks in the cloud enabling some lucky festival-goers to use the telescopes to advantage. By 11.00pm, the sky was clouded out apart from quick glimpses of the brighter stars. Photos, L->R, T->B: observing the night sky while Sting's pyrotechnics illuminate the background, setting up the OASI stand, some lucky individuals observing the Sun through solar telescopes, Professors Lintot and Fong holding forth.
More.
