Club Night – Aurora Talk with Alistair Hamill

Around this time last year we were honoured to have Northern Ireland’s very own aurora chaser Alistair Hamill along to the club to give a very enjoyable talk on his aurora exploits. So when we were putting the calendar together for this year it was no surprise that he was put forward for inclusion.

Fast forward to last Thursday and Alistair arrived to give his very knowledgeable and entertaining talk. Being a teacher by trade Alistair wasn’t long before he was quizzing us on what we had learnt. To be honest I reckon he had a lesson plan prepared 🙂 We even ended the session with a homework.

Alistair’s talk and presentation centres around everything he has taught himself about auroras and it’s refreshing to meet someone who has no problem passing on this knowledge. So anyone in the club who didn’t know their Bt from their Bz now does. Alistair also presented amusing stories from his travels, from joggers in freezing weather to uninterested cyclists to colleagues who let the cold beat them.

The only disappointment on the night was the weather. Readings were high for a possible display and the plan was that if they showed any promise during the evening we would head out and try to put our new found knowledge to the test. Unfortunately it was to happen as the weather was very foggy.

All-in-all a very enjoyable evening and many thanks to Alistair for taking the time out of his busy schedule to come along to the club.