Speaker profile
Mr Sheridan Williams
FRAS
Available for booking
Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire, England
100 miles travel distance
Professional Astronomer
Summary
Sheridan is a seasoned eclipse-chaser, published author and Astronomy Expert for various tour companies.
Full biography
Sheridan was the Director of the Computing Section of the British Astronomical Association (http://britastro.org) and is a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society. A seasoned eclipse-chaser he has seen 16 total solar eclipses and has written several eclipse books and publications on eclipses. As the Astronomy Expert for various tour companies he has taken groups to places as diverse as Siberia, the Sahara, Atacama and Gobi Deserts, Madagascar, Antigua, Tahiti, China, India, Morocco, Libya, Sulawesi and the US to witness astronomical events such as eclipses, aurorae (Northern Lights) and meteor showers. He has also led tours to observatories and other astronomical locations. His most recent excursion was to the total solar eclipse in August to see the Great American Eclipse.
Sheridan has probably seen more total solar eclipses than anyone in Britain and can claim to be Britains leading eclipse expert.
In the 1970s he worked as a Rocket Scientist with the Ministry of Defence using early valve-based digital computers and analogue computers; later he ran his own computer company for 20 years before he retired. He now spends his time travelling and compiling the astronomy pages for Whitaker's Almanac. He is also the education tour guide at the National Museum of Computing with Colossus (the world's first programmable electronic computer) located at Bletchley Park (http://tnmoc.org). He is also the secretary of the Open University Astronomy Club and gives talks to clubs and societies. Lecture Topics: The mechanics of eclipses A travelogue of eclipse tours
Affiliations
Lectures
The mechanics of eclipses
Topics are interspersed with several videos. Types of Solar Eclipse Corona, Baily's Beads, photosphere Frequency of solar eclispses Table of solar eclipses in the UK Long duration eclipses Periodicity - Saros, Inex, Exegilmos, Macdonal Magnitude, Gamma Future eclipses
A travelogue of eclipse tours
Covering nature and the local environment surrounding eclipses from: Sumatra, Finland, Mexico, Chile, Argentina, Peru, India, Siberia, Antigua, Madagascar, Western and Eastern Australia, Tahiti, Libya, Egypt, Morocco, China, Faroe Islands, Sulewesi, Wyoming and Montana USA.
Fascinating astronomical facts
Orbital resonances Simultaneous transits Seeing - finding your naked eye magnitude limit When will Sirius not be the brightest star Frequency of solar eclipses Brightest full Moons (Super-Moons) Mars closest to Earth When is Easter Sunday Solstices, Equinoxes, Perihelion and Aphelion Is Alpha always the brightest star in a constellation?
