Trevor has had an interest in astronomy since before the Moon landings in 1969 and has been a regular presenter at public star gazing events for the Mornington Peninsula Astronomical Society (MPAS) in Victoria, Australia, for more than ten years. He has been an invited guest speaker at several other astronomical societies and radio stations. More recently, he has made a number of appearances as an enrichment speaker on cruise ships in the Australia and New Zealand regions. He has a broad knowledge of all things astronomical and is particularly well known for his “hands on” presentations, using his collection of meteorites and space memorabilia to add a touch of “reality” to his talks.

1. The Night Sky
A general introduction to astronomy. The planets, constellations and galaxies. What planets and stars are visible to the naked eye at the moment. A great introduction to the other talks.

2. Meteorites
Where they come from, the different types and some famous impacts. The talk will be illustrated with some real meteorites that can be viewed and handled after the talk. You will be amazed where some meteorites come from and you will definitely want to take a picture holding something “out of this world”.

3. The Moon
The Moon is our closest celestial neighbour and the only body where humans have set foot. Through a telescope it reveals a very turbulent history of impacts and even volcanic activity. Without our moon, we would not have tides or solar eclipses, in fact, our Earth would be a very different place.

4. Mars
Perhaps the planet we know the most about outside of our own. It has been the subject of many conspiracy theories and movies and has had the most detailed exploration by probes and robots. We discuss its structure, geological history and the most recent findings, as well as up-coming exploration.

5. Jupiter
The largest planet in our solar system, by far. From its early history to the most recent findings and probes. We also discuss its four largest moons and some of their most interesting characteristics.

6. Saturn
By far the most wonderful planet to see through a telescope. Its rings never cease to amaze people the first time they are viewed. We talk about planet, its rings and several of its most interesting moons.

7. Pluto
It used to be a planet but has now been demoted to the status of dwarf planet. Initially to small and far away to be any more that a tiny dot in the sky, it was visited by the New Horizons probe in 2015 and returned hundreds of fascinating images of the surface and its moons, rewriting the science books as it progressed. We will look at some of the images and current thinking about this tiny piece of our solar system.

8. Comets
Initially thought to be the predictors of upcoming disasters, comets have a very mixed history. We have had many so bright they have been easily visible to the naked eye, even in the middle of the day, but the majority depart the inner solar system as quietly as they came. At any one time there are usually a handful visible through the right telescope if you know where to look. We will look at some famous ones and the most recent findings.

9. Stars
Our Sun is a star, similar in many ways to every other star we see in the night sky but with some important differences that have allowed it to have at least one inhabited planet. Other stars are much larger or smaller, some have planets, some not. Today we will look at just some of the plethora of different types of stars.

10. Exoplanets
We have literally discovered thousands of planets orbiting stars outside our own solar system. Many of them are much larger than Jupiter and hot enough to melt lead, a “year” on some being less than an Earth day! Recently many have been discovered in systems that parallel our own, with some potentially a “twin” of our own Earth.

11. Star clusters
Our Sun was originally formed as part of a much larger family and has long since wandered from its birthplace and its siblings have been scattered throughout the Milky Way. Many younger stars are still part of the original cluster where they were born, some have remained together for longer than the galaxy they orbit. We look at some of the various types of star clusters.

12. Robots in Space
Not the kind you see on the movies, but we have sent a plethora of probes to the other planets, asteroids and comets. From the first landings in the 1960’s to the missions to Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, our little mechanical explorers have cruised everywhere!

13. The Southern Skies
Visitors from the northern hemisphere may find themselves lost when they look at the southern skies. Where’s the Big Dipper and the Pole Star? Instead, the Southern Cross and its pointers are plainly visible, even in large cities. In darker skies, two neighbouring galaxies (the Magellanic Clouds) are visible to the naked eye most of the year. The other most striking difference is the Moon “goes the other way”!

14. Astronomical phenomena
From lunar and solar eclipses to aurorae and halos, the skies are full of unusual effects that can be viewed with the naked eye, some, like the “green flash”, often visible only from cruise ships. We discuss how they are caused and when you can see them.

15. Astronomical bunk: the internet is full of “astronomical facts” that are far from truthful.
From wayward planets that are destined to crash into the Earth or stars that cause regular mass extinction events to ancient Martian civilisations and flat Earth conspiracies. There are a myriad of facts that are built on nothing more than wishful thinking or a desire to make a quick fortune. We will look at some of the common and not so common ones.

16. Gas giants
Our solar system has 4 giant planets many times larger than the Earth. We will examine each one in detail to discover what little they have in common with each other, they all have rings, and how they differ in size, colour, composition and orbit.

17. My top 12 moons
Not all moons are created equal, many of them could not be believed to exist except for the images our probes have returned to us. From moons that are black on one side and white on the other, to moons with an atmosphere, even moons that look like something from a Star Wars movie, they are all different.

18. Solar system bits
Our solar system consists of 8 planets, a handful of dwarf planets, perhaps millions of asteroids and potentially trillions of comets. We will look at some of the objects that don’t fit into “planet” category and where they fit into our understanding of the solar system.

19. Interstellar visitors
Almost of the objects we have observed inside our solar system have been a part of it since its creation or for the last few millions of years, but recently we have observed a small number of objects that have temporarily entered our solar system from interstellar space, only to depart as quickly as they entered. We will look at what we know so far about these objects.

20. Galaxies
Most people are familiar with The Milky Way, but we are just one of billions and billions of other galaxies. Some are similar to our own with large spiral arms, while others are totally foreign, looking more like a random collection of stars. Others are many times larger with none of the grandeur of enigmatic spiral arms. Most galaxies are part of massive collections with some caught in a massive dance as they swallow each other up!

21. When Stars Die
Eventually every star will exhaust its supply of fuel. Some may take a few million years before they die in a blaze of glory (supernova, neutron star, black hole) whilst stars like our own Sun are destined to burn for tens of billions of years before they run out of fuel and slowly fade into oblivion as a white dwarf. The most spendthrift of stars burn for trillions of years, hundreds of times longer than the current age of the universe! A slowly dying ember whose feeble light may illuminate the last remnants of a dying universe!

Trevor has spoken on Princess (Sea x2, Grand), RC (Voyager, Quantum, Ovation), Celebrity (Solstice), Oceania (Regatta) and have been a guest speaker at several interstate astronomical societies. He regularly presents his talks (more than 150 times) at the Mornington Peninsula Astronomical Society (MPAS), about an hour southeast of Melbourne, for the last ten years and has been a committee member for the last 12 years.