The Moon is a shy body, it only ever shows one sides of itself to the Earth. Before the space age, we had no idea what was on the far side of the Moon. This has led to a number of conspiracy theories that it is a haven for aliens.  

In this talk, we'll chart the progress of how we got to see what was on the far side of the Moon, and what we found there. Tin foil hats are optional!

Our speaker tonight is Dr Julian Onions, who is an Astrophysicist from the University of Nottingham.  Julian works with computer simulations of large fractions of the universe to understand trends in galaxy formation and evolution, investigating the tools that help us form and analyse such simulations such as halo finders, tree builders and semi-analytic models.  He also does a number of outreach activities, giving talks to astronomy societies and other interested groups such as rotary and U3A, as well as working with schools and scouts/guide groups.  He last spoke to the CAA in 2019 when his topic of Cold Dark Matter received a very warm response, so we are very pleased that he has agreed to come back to speak to us again.