About us

Welcome to the website of Moray's Astronomy Club, Sigma. Sigma was set up in early 2000, and has been growing steadily since then and now has a healthy membership base who regularly attend the monthly meetings at Birnie Village Hall at Thomshill, near Elgin.

Sigma's main aims are to make astronomy accessible to anyone and everyone who is interested, from the highly skilled to the completely "unknowledgeable"! The original members of Sigma have a wealth of experience in various aspects of astronomy and are always keen to share their knowledge with others, as well as being happy to encourage younger people to learn the mysteries of the heavens.

Sigma is lucky enough to have a observing site just outside Birnie and observing sessions are held on Friday and Saturday nights, depending on weather conditions. A Lottery Grant in 2005 has also enabled us to offer talks and observing sessions to outside organisations.

Sigma meets on the first Friday of every month, from 7pm. There have been a host of speakers in the past, including Professor John Brown, Astronomer Royal for Scotland, from Neil Bone from Astronomy Now, Dr Martin Hendry from University of Glasgow, Brian Kelly and Dr Dave Gavine! We continually aim to make our meetings as diverse and interesting as possible and regularly hold public observing sessions, where members of the public are invited to come along to our dark site with Sigma members on hand to guide you through the night sky. Details of these sessions will be posted on the Upcoming Events page.

Sigma has also been heavily involved in local events, including helping host the Going Nova Science Festival in Forres.

If you are interested in learning more about Sigma, or wish to come to the next monthly meeting, please contact us. A warm welcome is always guaranteed!!!