Lecture: correction, Astronomy Evening, Blackrock C.O. Award, NAM

 

Hi all,

1. I forgot to mention that the IAA lecture on Wed 19 March, and indeed all IAA lectures, are held in  association with the School of Mathematics and Physics at Queen's University Belfast. "

2. Apologies for the implication, in some versions of the EM alert sent yesterday about the next Shuttle launch, that the launch would be from 'Houston' - that was the result of an odd word creeping in from a 'cut & paste'! The launches are of course from Cape Kennedy/Canaveral in Florida.

3.  The next IAA public lecture will be at 7.30 p.m. on Wed 19 March, by the renowned Prof Ian Robson. Title: "Active Galactic Nuclei and Supermassive Black Holes", which promises to be a fascinating talk on some of the most amazing and energetic objects in the universe. Venue: Bell Lecture Theatre, Queen's University, Belfast. Admission Free, including light refreshments, and all are welcome. IAA lectures are held in association with the School of Mathematics and Physics at Queen's University Belfast

4. PUBLIC OBSERVING EVENING + STARDOME, CARNFUNNOCK COUNTRY PARK, 14 MARCH:

The Irish Astronomical Association (IAA) will be holding another public astronomy evening on Friday 14 March at 7.30 for 8 p.m. at Carnfunnock Country Park, Drains Bay, near Larne, Co Antrim. It's on the main coast road going north from Larne, about 4 miles from the town. As usual we will have a good selection of telescopes and binoculars for viewing the sky, including a spectacular moon, and Saturn. We will also have the Stardome mobile planetarium, courtesy of Armagh Planetarium, and talks and displays of astronomy items, and Derek Heatly's presentation of space memorabilia and his forthcoming spaceflight. So there will be something for everyone, even if the sky is cloudy. IAA members bringing telescopes or binoculars get in free, so come along with whatever portable equipment you have for a good night's observing and/or outreach.

5. Blackrock Castle Observatory in Cork has won a prestigious science award at a ceremony in Los Angeles. It was one of 17 winners of a 'Thea award', which recognises excellence in the creation of outstanding visitor experiences and exhibits. More than 120 nominees were considered for the awards.

   Blackrock Castle Observatory won its award for a science centre on a limited budget. It was given for the interactive experience "Cosmos at the Castle" which allowed visitors explore cosmology, astronomy and the evolution of life. They also access the on-site radio telescope and send multimedia impressions of life on Earth to the planet of their choice. The finale is an interactive cinema experience in which guests monitor a deadly comet rushing towards Earth and decide how to save the planet.

Other award winners were Sea World in San Diego and the Shuttle launch experience at the Kennedy Space Centre.

   Congratulations to Niall Smith and all the team at Blackrock Castle Observatory!

6. RAS NATIONAL ASTRONOMY MEETING, 31 March – 4 April 2008, Queen’s University, Belfast.

The 2008 Royal Astronomical Society National Astronomy Meeting (NAM 2008) will be held in Queen’s University, Belfast and run from 31 March to 4 April 2008.

At NAM 2008 scientists will present new research in many aspects of astronomy and space science, including the early history of the Universe, planets around other stars, the vision for space exploration, black holes and the impact of ‘space weather’ on the Earth.  

For the general public, three keynote speakers will give lectures on the risk of asteroid impact, the Hubble Space Telescope and the way in which science influences popular science fiction. The Irish Astronomical Association has secured 50 tickets for the Lectures on Tuesday 1st and Thursday 3rd April, and 100 tickets for the lecture on the HST on 2 April, as that is one of our own IAA lectures. These tickets will be available at our meetings before then, or by application via our website www.irishastro.org: details of how to get them will be posted shortly.

  N.B. These lectures will be held in the LARMOUR LECTURE THEATRE, not the usual IAA venue of the Bell Lecture theatre. The Larmour LT is at the opposite end of the Physics Building (the side nearest the Whitla Hall), and has its own separate entrance there.

These lectures are:

A. "Tunguska 2008: 100 Years of the NEO Impact Hazard"

Professor Mark Bailey - Armagh Observatory
Larmour Lecture Theatre, Physics Building, Tuesday 1^st April, 19:00.

2008 is the one-hundredth anniversary of the most recent significant extraterrestrial body known to have run into the Earth: the famous 30 June 1908 Tunguska Event, which devastated some 2000 square kilometres of forest in a remote part of Siberia. Since then, advances in astronomy have confirmed that the phenomenon of impacts is a key driver of planetary evolution, ranging from the cause of the largest craters and mare (or "seas") on the Moon, to the evolution of life on Earth. This has led to our modern understanding that impacts by relatively small astronomical bodies (comets, asteroids and fragments thereof) have the potential to produce occasionally catastrophic environmental changes on Earth. The objects, which range in size from typically a few tens of metres across to many kilometres in diameter, orbit the Sun in elliptical orbits that cross those of the planets and are sometimes the closest extraterrestrial objects accessible to direct observations or to visits by spacecraft. Those that cross or come close to the Earth's orbit are called Near-Earth Objects (NEOs), and it is these that have the potential to collide with our Earth. This talk will review our growing understanding of the resulting extraterrestrial impact hazard and especially its implications for various aspects of civilization and for our wider understanding of mankind's and Earth's place in the Universe.

B. "Adventures with the Hubble Space Telescope".

Lars Lindberg Christensen of the Space Telescope European Co-ordinating Facility
Larmour Lecture Theatre, Physics Building, Wednesday 2^nd April, 19:30.

The Hubble Space Telescope is one of the most successful scientific projects of all time, both in terms of its scientific output and in terms of its almost iconic public appeal. Hubble's enormous impact derives from its ability to exploit a unique scientific niche where no other instruments can really compete at the moment - consistently delivering super-sharp images and clean, uncontaminated spectra, also in the elusive infrared and ultraviolet. This has opened up new scientific territory and resulted in many paradigm-breaking discoveries. Hubble's exquisite image quality has enabled astronomers to gain entirely new insights into the workings of a huge range of different astronomical objects and provided the visual overview of underlying astrophysical processes taking place planets, stars and galaxies.

    On top of all this astronomers are lucky scientists. Their telescopes do not only produce results of great scientific value, but also of eye-catching beauty and artistic potential. This talk aims to also show how Hubble has built a bridge between science and art.

This lecture is presented in association with the Irish Astronomical Association.

C. "The Science of Science Fiction in TV and Films".

Professor Francis Keenan - Queen's University Belfast Astrophysics Research Centre
Larmour Lecture Theatre, Physics Building, Thursday 3^rd April, 19:00.

Science-fiction films and TV shows are extremely popular, with many of the top-grossing movies of all-time being science-fiction, while Star Trek (and its various spinoffs) is one of the most-watched TV series. As a result, for many people their main exposure to scientific ideas and concepts is via the medium of science-fiction films and TV. In this presentation, the accuracy (or otherwise!) of the science in science-fiction films and television programmes is discussed, and illustrated using clips from films and TV shows including Star Trek, Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica and Aliens.

A full and up to date schedule of these and other events can be found on the official website at http://nam2008.qub.ac.uk

    The conference is principally sponsored by the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS), the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) and Queen’s University, Belfast.

FURTHER INFORMATION: NAM 2008: http://nam2008.qub.ac.uk.

Astronomy at Queen’s University Belfast: http://star.pst.qub.ac.uk

RAS: http://www.ras.org.uk

STFC: http://www.stfc.ac.uk

UKSP: http://www.uksolphys.org

MIST: http://www.mist.ac.uk

Clear Skies,