Dave G's 2nd asteroid, Kepler Launch, Lectures, Scholarship

 

Hi all,

1. Dave Grennan has discovered his SECOND asteroid! Hearty congratulations to Dave who has just discovered his second asteroid from his observatory in Raheny, North Dublin !!! It was an amazingly faint magnitude 19.6 at discovery in Northern Leo, and is a main belt asteroid, about 3-4 km diameter.
Details on: http://www.irishastronomy.org/cms/forum?func=view&catid=11&id=77039

2. IAS Star Party, March 7, Wicklow Mountains National Park. See

http://www.wicklowmountainsnationalpark.ie/WMNPEvents.html
   The weather forecast for the IAS Star Party in Wicklow Mountains National Park is not looking too good. However we may get a clear window with a bit of luck, so please ring the park around 3pm to check if it is going ahead.  For further details please contact The Education Centre Tel: 0404 45656 (weekdays); or The Information Office Tel: 0404 45425 (Weekends).

3. IAS PUBLIC LECTURE: Monday March 9th, 8pm John Flannery talks Binary Stars - Double the Fun Dunsink Observatory, Castleknock, Dublin. All welcome Free Fun.

4. Kepler Space Telescope launch, Saturday March 7th

On March 7th at 03:50 the spacecraft Kepler is to be launched into space from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Kepler is designed to search the region of our galaxy near the Sun for Earth-size planets orbiting in the habitable zone of sun-like stars. It will watch the same patch of sky for 3.5 years or more for signs of Earth-sized planets moving around stars similar to the sun.

   A prelaunch webcast is available from NASA at www..nasa.gov/mission_pages/kepler/launch/webcast.html. The launch will stream live on Friday 6th March at www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/ with Launch Control Audio beginning 2 hours before the space launch. 

5. QUB Public Lecture: "The Large Hadron Collider, CERN, Antimatter, Black Holes, 
Angels and Demons".
Wednesday 11 March, Larmor Lecture Theatre, Physics Building, Main Site, QUB, 7:00 pm.
Dr Steve Myers, CERN Director for Accelerators and Technology will describe the LHC, the world's most powerful particle accelerator and will address the media coverage of black hole production in the LHC and how antimatter is created in a very small accelerator at CERN. The possible use of such antimatter as described in Dan Brown's book and forthcoming Tom Hanks movie will also be discussed.

    The lecture is free to all members of the public, but if you are interested in going please contact the following person to confirm your attendance. Wendy Rutherford, School of Mathematics and Physics. Tel: 028 9097 3523, e-mail: w.rutherford@qub.ac.uk,

6. IAA PUBLIC LECTURE, 18 March: Dr Henry Joy McCracken (yes, really): "Going Back 8 Billion Years: Surveying the Largest Structures in the Universe". Although a local man, Dr McCracken is now a leading astrophysicist at the Paris Observatory.

   Wednesday 18 March, at 7.30 p.m. in the Bell Lecture Theatre, Physics Building, main campus, QUB.

Admission is free, including light refreshments, and all are welcome. 

   Free parking is available on the main campus, beside the lecture theatre, in the evenings - entrance via University Square.

   The IAA gratefully acknowledges the support of the Astrophysics and Planetary Science Division of the Department of Physics, QUB, in sponsoring these lectures.

7.  "Lindsay Postgraduate Research Studentship"

School of Cosmic Physics, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies & Armagh Observatory
    Applications are invited for the Lindsay Scholarship, jointly funded by the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (DIAS) and Armagh Observatory, to carry out research leading to a PhD in Astrophysics. The student will be based in DIAS for three years starting 1st October 2009 but registered at Queen's University Belfast.
      Potential candidates are asked to contact Ms A. Grace, School of Cosmic Physics, 31 Fitzwilliam Place, Dublin 2, Ireland Tel: +353-(0) 1-4406656; FAX: +353-(0) 1-678 5209; e-mail: ag@cp.dias.ie for further details and an application pack. See also http://www.cp.dias.ie. Deadline for applications is 30th April 2009.
   The scholarship is named in memory of Dr Eric Mervyn Lindsay, a former Director
of the Armagh Observatory, who had very close ties with DIAS.
   Professor Tom Ray, Astronomy & Astrophysics Section, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 31 Fitzwilliam Place, Dublin 2, Ireland. E-mail: tr@cp.dias.ie; Tel: +353 1 4406656, Ext. 350; Fax: +353 1 5242302
Clear skies,

Terry Moseley