Monday 21 February 2011

Lecture, Globe@Night, NanoSail, GAF, IAA @ WWT & Marble Arch, DTU, Cosmos, BCO +

Hi all,
 
1. IAA LECTURE MEETING: "Extreme Objects in our Solar System".  23 February, 7.30 p.m., Bell Lecture Theatre, Physics Department, QUB. The next lecture in the Irish Astronomical Association Lecture Programme, will be by Dr Pedro Lacerda, of QUB: (Note, this lecture is a change from that on the Programme Card - it is a swap with the following one.)
   Last year Pedro gave one of the best received lectures we have ever had, so we just had to invite him back! He makes a fascinating subject totally accessible to even the newest of beginners, while still managing to get across all the relevant detail.
   This lecture will cover some of the oddest and most interesting objects in our own solar system, and will be of extra interest in view of the latest news item about possible giant planet 'Tyche'.
  Strongly recommended!
           Admission is free, including light refreshments, and all are welcome. There is free parking on the QUB site after 5.30 p.m.
  For details of all forthcoming IAA lectures and other events, see www.irishastro.org  
 

2. Globe At Night: Less of Our Light for More Star Light: Join the 6th worldwide GLOBE at Night 2011 campaign: Feb. 21 - March 6.

With half of the world's population now living in cities, many urban dwellers have never experienced the wonderment of pristinely dark skies and maybe never will. This loss, caused by light pollution, is a concern on many fronts: safety, energy conservation, cost, health and effects on wildlife, as well as our ability to view the stars. Even though light pollution is a serious and growing global concern, it is one of the easiest environmental problems you can address on local levels.

Participation in the international star-hunting campaign, GLOBE at Night, helps to address the light pollution issue locally as well as globally. This year, 2 sets of campaigns are being offered. For the first campaign from February 21 through March 6, 2011, everyone all over the world is invited to record the brightness of the night sky. The second campaign runs from March 22 through April 4 in the Northern Hemisphere and March 24 through April 6 in the Southern Hemisphere. The campaign is easy and fun to do. First, you match the appearance of the constellation Orion in the first campaign (and Leo or Crux in the second campaign) with simple star maps of progressively fainter stars found. Then you submit your measurements, including the date, time, and location of your comparison. After all the campaign's observations are submitted, the project's organizers release a map of light-pollution levels worldwide. Over the last five annual 2-week campaigns, volunteers from more than 100 nations contributed 52,000 measurements, one third of which came from last year's campaign.

To learn the five easy steps to participate in the GLOBE at Night program, see the GLOBE at Night website. You can listen to last year's 10-minute audio podcast on light pollution and GLOBE at Night. Or download a 45-minute powerpoint and accompanying audio. GLOBE at Night is also on Facebook and Twitter.

The big news is that children and adults can submit their measurements in real time if they have a smart phone or tablet. To do this, you can use the web application. With smart phones and tablets, the location, date and time are put in automatically. And if you do not have a smart phone or tablet, there are user-friendly tools on the GLOBE at Night report page to find latitude and longitude.

For activities that have children explore what light pollution is, what its effects are on wildlife and how to prepare for participating in the GLOBE at Night campaign, see the Dark Skies Rangers activities. Monitoring our environment will allow us as citizen-scientists to identify and preserve the dark sky oases in cities and locate areas where light pollution is increasing. All it takes is a few minutes during the 2011 campaign to measure sky brightness and contribute those observations on-line. Help us exceed the 17,800 observations contributed last year. Your measurements will make a world of difference.

Star Maps:  http://www.globeatnight.org/observe_magnitude.html

Submitting Measurements: http://www.globeatnight.org/report.html

GLOBE at Night: http://www.globeatnight.org/

Audio Podcast: http://365daysofastronomy.org/2010/02/03/february-3rd-the-globe-at-night-campaign-our-light-or-starlight/

Powerpoint: http://www.globeatnight.org/files/NSN_GaN_2011_slides.ppt

Accompanying Audio: http://www.globeatnight.org/files/NSN_GaN_2011_audio.mp3

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/GLOBEatNight

Twitter: http://twitter.com/GLOBEatNight

Web App for Reporting: http://www.globeatnight.org/webapp/

Dark Skies Activities: http://www.darkskiesawareness.org/DarkSkiesRangers/

Constance E. Walker, Ph.D. Director, GLOBE at Night campaign www.globeatnight.org), Chair International Dark-Sky Association Education Committee; chair, IYA2009 Dark Skies Awareness Cornerstone Project; member, Astronomical Society of the Pacific Board of Directors; associate scientist & senior science education specialist, NOAO.

National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO), 950 N. Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85719 USA, 520-318-8535; cwalker@noao.edu

3. NANOSAIL-D: NASA's first Earth-orbiting solar sail, NanoSail-D, is circling our planet and attracting the attention of sky watchers. Occasionally, sunlight glinting from the sail's reflective fabric produces a flash of light in the night sky. These "solar sail flares" are expected to grow brighter as NanoSail-D descends in the weeks ahead. The current passes over Ireland are now quite favourable. Details of passes for your own location are on www.heavens-above.com.
   NANOSAIL-D AMATEUR ASTRONOMY IMAGE CONTEST
NASA has formed a partnership with Spaceweather.com to engage the amateur astronomy community to submit the best images of the orbiting NanoSail-D solar sail. NanoSail-D unfurled the first ever 100-square-foot solar sail in low-Earth orbit on Jan. 20.
   To encourage observations of NanoSail-D, Spaceweather.com is offering prizes for the best images of this historic, pioneering spacecraft in the amounts of $500 (grand prize), $300 (first prize) and $100 (second prize).
   The contest is open to all types of images, including, but not limited to, telescopic captures of the sail to simple widefield camera shots of solar sail flares. If NanoSail-D is in the field of view, the image is eligible for judging.
   The solar sail is about the size of a large tent. It will be observable for approximately 70 to 120 days before it enters the atmosphere and disintegrates. The contest continues until NanoSail-D re-enters Earth's atmosphere.
   NanoSail-D will be a target of interest to both novice and veteran sky watchers. Experienced astrophotographers will want to take the first-ever telescopic pictures of a solar sail unfurled in space.  Backyard stargazers, meanwhile, will marvel at the solar sail flares
-- brief but intense flashes of light caused by sunlight glinting harmlessly from the surface of the sail.
   NanoSail-D could be five to 10 times as bright as the planet Venus, especially later in the mission when the sail descends to lower orbits.
 See http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2011/01feb_solarsailflares/
 
4.  GALWAY ASTRONOMY FESTIVAL: 4-6 March.  The theme this year is 'Life and Death in the Universe'. Venue: Westwood House Hotel, Galway. It will open with a free public lecture in NUIG about meteorite falls in Ireland on the Friday evening. See www.galwayastronomyclub.ie  for full details of what looks like an excellent programme.
 
5. IAA ASTRONOMY EVENING AT WWT, CASTLE ESPIE.
The Irish Astronomical Association will be holding another of their very popular astronomy evenings at the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust, Castle Espie, near Comber, Co Down, on Friday evening, 11 March. Once again we'll have a selection of powerful telescopes and binoculars for viewing the night sky, an exhibition, and of course the mobile planetarium just in case of bad weather.
  The highlight will be a spectacular waxing crescent Moon high in the sky, providing jaw-dropping views in the telescopes. If you are there early, it might be your last chance for a look at Jupiter before it disappears into the evening twilight. And for anyone staying on late, we should get a view of Saturn when it comes above the trees.
 
6. ASTRONOMY WEEKEND AT MARBLE ARCH GEOPARK:
ADVANCE NOTICE: Plans are well advanced for a special astronomy event on the weekend of 12 & 13 March, at the famous International Geopark at the amazing Marble Arch Caves in Co. Fermanagh. This will be a joint event with Armagh Planetarium, in conjunction with the Geopark. This area has possibly the darkest skies anywhere in Northern Ireland, and if we get a clear night on the Saturday evening the view should be amazing, although there will be a first quarter moon. But for anyone keen enough to stay up until moonset in the wee small hours, the sky should be amazingly dark - a good opportunity to measure star visibility, even if it does fall outside the times for Globe At Night. 
   MORE DETAILS on this event as soon as they are finalised.
 
7. DISCOVERING THE UNIVERSE, ARMAGH, 17 March.
To mark St Patrick's Day in Armagh City, Armagh Observatory is hosting "Discovering The Universe", with two lectures in St Patrick's Trian, and a tour of the Human Orrery and Astropark in the Observatory grounds. More details on www.arm.ac.uk. Admission is free, but by ticket only. Contact Aileen at ambn@arm.ac.uk
 
8. COSMOS 2010:  Cosmos is Ireland's second-longest running star party, since 1992 in fact, when it was first called the Irish Astrofest. This year it takes place over the weekend of April 1st to 3rd at Annaharvey, Tullamore. See www.midlandsastronomy.com  for more details.
 
9. BCO EVENTS, CORK: Sat 26 Feb: 8pm Movies by Moonlight
We are bringing an alien invasion to our theatre but we need your help….
Should we show H. G. Wells' classic adaption of War of the Worlds (1953) or Steven Spielberg's remake (2005)? www.bco.ie/moviesbymoonlight
   For more information on these and future events at Blackrock Castle Observatory
Call 021-4357917 / email info@bco.ie / visit www.bco.ie/upcomingevents
http://www.facebook.com/BlackrockCastleObservatory
http://twitter.com/blackrockcastle

10. JOINING the IRISH ASTRONOMICAL ASSOCIATION is now even easier: This link downloads a Word document to join the IAA. http://irishastro.org.uk/iaamembership.doc.  See also www.irishastro.org
 
11. FINALLY: For any of you who occasionally use my office email address, PLEASE NOTE that from 25 February, that address will close, as I'll no longer be there!  :-)  From then on, just use this address. Thanks.

Clear skies,
 
Terry Moseley
 
 IF YOU HAVE RECEIVED THIS EMAIL IN ERROR, OR WISH TO BE REMOVED FROM THE MAILING LIST, PLEASE REPLY SAYING "UNSUBSCRIBE".

Wednesday 16 February 2011

Aurora? IAA Talk, NanoSail-D, New Giant planet? GAF, Astro - St Pat, Cosmos, BCO

Hi all,
 
1. POSSIBLE AURORA TONIGHT?
MAJOR FLARE: Earth-orbiting satellites have detected the strongest solar flare in more than four years.  At 0156 UT on Feb. 15th, giant sunspot 1158 unleashed an X2-class eruption.  X-flares are the strongest type of x-ray flare, and this is the first such eruption of new Solar Cycle 24.  The explosion that produced the flare also sent a solar tsunami rippling through the sun's atmosphere and, more importantly, hurled a coronal mass ejection toward Earth. This raises the possibility of geomagnetic storms in the days ahead.
   The local BBC radio news has already given an alert for a possible aurora tonight, which may be a bit optimistic, especially in view of the bright gibbous moon. Nevertheless, if you have a clear sky, do have a look, and let me know by text to 07979 300842 if you see anything.
 Visit
http://spaceweather.com for images and updates on the X-Flare.

2. IAA LECTURE MEETING: "Extreme Objects in our Solar System".  9 February, 7.30 p.m., Bell Lecture Theatre, Physics Department, QUB. The next lecture in the Irish Astronomical Association Lecture Programme, will be by Dr Pedro Lacerda, of QUB: (Note, this lecture is a change from that on the Programme Card - it is a swap with the following one.)
   Last year Pedro gave one of the best received lectures we have ever had, so we just had to invite him back! He makes a fascinating subject totally accessible to even the newest of beginners, while still managing to get across all the relevant detail.
   This lecture will cover some of the oddest and most interesting objects in our own solar system, and will be of extra interest in view of the latest news item about 'Tyche' - see Item 4 below.
  Strongly recommended!
           Admission is free, including light refreshments, and all are welcome. There is free parking on the QUB site after 5.30 p.m.
  For details of all forthcoming IAA lectures and other events, see
www.irishastro.org 
 
3. NANOSAIL-D: NASA's first Earth-orbiting solar sail, NanoSail-D, is circling our planet and attracting the attention of sky watchers. Occasionally, sunlight glinting from the sail's reflective fabric produces a flash of light in the night sky. These "solar sail flares" are expected to grow brighter as NanoSail-D descends in the weeks ahead. The current passes over Ireland are not very favourable, but will improve towards the second half of the month. Details of passes for your own location are on
www.heavens-above.com.
   NANOSAIL-D AMATEUR ASTRONOMY IMAGE CONTEST
NASA has formed a partnership with Spaceweather.com to engage the amateur astronomy community to submit the best images of the orbiting NanoSail-D solar sail. NanoSail-D unfurled the first ever 100-square-foot solar sail in low-Earth orbit on Jan. 20.
   To encourage observations of NanoSail-D, Spaceweather.com is offering prizes for the best images of this historic, pioneering spacecraft in the amounts of $500 (grand prize), $300 (first prize) and $100 (second prize).
   The contest is open to all types of images, including, but not limited to, telescopic captures of the sail to simple widefield camera shots of solar sail flares. If NanoSail-D is in the field of view, the image is eligible for judging.
   The solar sail is about the size of a large tent. It will be observable for approximately 70 to 120 days before it enters the atmosphere and disintegrates. The contest continues until NanoSail-D re-enters Earth's atmosphere.
   NanoSail-D will be a target of interest to both novice and veteran sky watchers. Experienced astrophotographers will want to take the first-ever telescopic pictures of a solar sail unfurled in space.  Backyard stargazers, meanwhile, will marvel at the solar sail flares
-- brief but intense flashes of light caused by sunlight glinting harmlessly from the surface of the sail.
   NanoSail-D could be five to 10 times as bright as the planet Venus, especially later in the mission when the sail descends to lower orbits.
 See
http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2011/01feb_solarsailflares/
 
4. NEW GIANT PLANET?

If you grew up thinking there were nine planets and were shocked when Pluto was demoted five years ago, get ready for another surprise. There may be nine after all, and Jupiter may not be the largest. The hunt is on for a gas giant up to four times the mass of Jupiter thought to be lurking in the outer Oort Cloud, the most remote region of the solar system. The orbit of Tyche (pronounced ty-kee), would be 15,000 times farther from the Sun than the Earth's, and 375 times farther than Pluto's, which is why it hasn't been seen so far.

But scientists now believe the proof of its existence has already been gathered by a Nasa space telescope, Wise, and is just waiting to be analysed. See

download pdf of position diagram:
 
The first tranche of data is to be released in April, and astrophysicists John Matese and Daniel Whitmire from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette think it will reveal Tyche within two years. "If it does, John and I will be doing cartwheels," Professor Whitmire said. "And that's not easy at our age."

Once Tyche has been located, other telescopes could be pointed at it to confirm the discovery. Whether it would become the new ninth planet would be decided by the International Astronomical Union (IAU). The main argument against is that Tyche probably formed around another star and was later captured by the Sun's gravitational field. The IAU may choose to create a whole new category for Tyche, Professor Matese said.

The IAU would also have the final say about the gas giant's name. To the Greeks, Tyche was the goddess responsible for the destiny of cities. Her name was provisionally chosen in reference to an earlier hypothesis, now largely abandoned, that the Sun might be part of a binary star system with a dim companion, tentatively called Nemesis, that was thought responsible for mass extinctions on Earth. In myth, Tyche was the good sister of Nemesis.

Tyche will almost certainly be made up mostly of hydrogen and helium and will probably have an atmosphere much like Jupiter's, with colourful spots and bands and clouds, Professor Whitmire said. "You'd also expect it to have moons. All the outer planets have them," he added. What will make it stand out in the Wise data is its temperature, predicted to be around -73C, four or five times warmer than Pluto. "The heat is left over from its formation," Professor Whitmire said. "It takes an object this size a long time to cool off."

Most of the billions of objects in the Oort Cloud – a sphere one light year in radius stretching a quarter of the distance to Alpha Centauri, the brightest star in the southern constellation – are lumps of dirty ice at temperatures much closer to absolute zero (-273C). A few of these are dislodged from their orbits by the galactic tide – the combined gravitational pull from the billions of stars towards the centre of the Milky Way – and start the long fall into the inner solar system. As these long-period comets get closer to the Sun, some of the ice boils off, forming the characteristic tails that make them visible.

Professors Matese and Whitmire first proposed the existence of Tyche to explain why many of these long-period comets were coming from the wrong direction. In their latest paper, published in the February issue of Icarus, the international journal of solar system studies, they report that more than 20 per cent too many of the long-period comets observed since 1898 arrive from a band circling the sky at a higher angle than predicted by the galactic-tide theory. No other proposal has been put forward to explain this anomaly since it was first suggested 12 years ago.

(Caution: Don't get too carried away just yet - there's a lot of analysis still to be done, and there is no actual direct evidence of Tyche yet! T.M.)


5.  GALWAY ASTRONOMY FESTIVAL: 4-6 March.  The theme this year is 'Life and Death in the Universe. Venue: Westwood House Hotel, Galway. It will open with a free public lecture in NUIG about meteorite falls in Ireland on the Friday evening. See www.galwayastronomyclub.ie for full details of what looks like an excellent programme.
 
6. DISCOVERING THE UNIVERSE, ARMAGH, 17 March.
To mark St Patrick's Day in Armagh City, Armagh Observatory is hosting "Discovering the Universe", with two lectures in St Patrick's Trian, and a tour of the Human Orrery and Astropark in the Observatory grounds. More details on www.arm.ac.uk. Admission is free, but by ticket only. Contact Aileen at ambn@arm.ac.uk
 
7. COSMOS 2010: The MAC Committee are working on the speaker list for this year's Cosmos Star Party. Cosmos is Ireland's second-longest running star party, since 1992 in fact, when it was first called the Irish Astrofest. This year it takes place over the weekend of April 1st to 3rd at Annaharvey, Tullamore. See the club website at www.midlandsastronomy.com for more details.
 
8. BCO EVENTS, CORK: Sat 26 Feb: 8pm Movies by Moonlight
We are bringing an alien invasion to our theatre but we need your help….
Should we show H. G. Wells' classic adaption of War of the Worlds (1953) or Steven Spielberg's remake (2005)?
www.bco.ie/moviesbymoonlight
   For more information on these and future events at Blackrock Castle Observatory
Call 021-4357917 / email
info@bco.ie / visit www.bco.ie/upcomingevents
http://www.facebook.com/BlackrockCastleObservatory
http://twitter.com/blackrockcastle

9. JOINING the IRISH ASTRONOMICAL ASSOCIATION is now even easier: This link downloads a Word document to join the IAA. http://irishastro.org.uk/iaamembership.doc.  See also www.irishastro.org.
 
Clear skies,
 
Terry Moseley
 

Friday 4 February 2011

IAA Lecture, ISS, VENUS, NANOSAIL-D, Moonwalker, GAF, COSMOS, BCO Events

Hi all,
1. IAA LECTURE MEETING: "Modern Telescopes at Armagh Observatory". 9 February, 7.30 p.m., Bell Lecture Theatre, Physics Department, QUB. The next lecture in the Irish Astronomical Association Lecture Programme, will be by Dr Simon Jeffery, of Armagh Observatory:
Armagh Observatory is the oldest observatory in the UK and Ireland which is still operating on its original site. While small in global terms, it has achieved immortality through the ubiquitous and still constantly used NGC Catalogue which was compiled there by a former director, JLE Dreyer.
It is now recognised as a leading astronomical research institution, with many high quality refereed papers being produced each year. The original telescopes are all still there, having been recently restored to a superb standard. Much of the Observatory's research is of course carried out using large telescopes on top quality sites around the world, and space based instruments.
But recent developments in instrumentation mean that even smallish telescopes can give results which would have been unheard of a generation ago. Thus, a new state of the art telescope with top of the range instrumentation has recently been installed there in a new purpose-built dome.
Leading research astronomer Dr Simon Jeffery who oversaw that project, will describe the latest research there using telescopes such as this one.
Admission is free, including light refreshments, and all are welcome. There is free parking on the QUB site after 5.30 p.m.
For details of all forthcoming IAA lectures and other events, see www.irishastro.org
2. ISS: The International Space Station continues its series of morning passes for about another week. Check www.heavens-above.com for accurate pass times according to your location.
3. NANOSAIL-D: NASA's first Earth-orbiting solar sail, NanoSail-D, is circling our planet and attracting the attention of sky watchers. Occasionally, sunlight glinting from the sail's reflective fabric produces a flash of light in the night sky. These "solar sail flares" are expected to grow brighter as NanoSail-D descends in the weeks ahead. The current passes over Ireland are not very favourable, but will improve towards the second half of the month. Details of passes for your own location are on www.heavens-above.com.
NANOSAIL-D AMATEUR ASTRONOMY IMAGE CONTEST
NASA has formed a partnership with Spaceweather.com to engage the amateur astronomy community to submit the best images of the orbiting NanoSail-D solar sail. NanoSail-D unfurled the first ever 100-square-foot solar sail in low-Earth orbit on Jan. 20.
To encourage observations of NanoSail-D, Spaceweather.com is offering prizes for the best images of this historic, pioneering spacecraft in the amounts of $500 (grand prize), $300 (first prize) and $100 (second prize).
The contest is open to all types of images, including, but not limited to, telescopic captures of the sail to simple widefield camera shots of solar sail flares. If NanoSail-D is in the field of view, the image is eligible for judging.
The solar sail is about the size of a large tent. It will be observable for approximately 70 to 120 days before it enters the atmosphere and disintegrates. The contest continues until NanoSail-D re-enters Earth's atmosphere.
NanoSail-D will be a target of interest to both novice and veteran sky watchers. Experienced astrophotographers will want to take the first-ever telescopic pictures of a solar sail unfurled in space. Backyard stargazers, meanwhile, will marvel at the solar sail flares
-- brief but intense flashes of light caused by sunlight glinting harmlessly from the surface of the sail.
NanoSail-D could be five to 10 times as bright as the planet Venus, especially later in the mission when the sail descends to lower orbits.
See http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2011/01feb_solarsailflares/
4. VENUS: is still just visible in the SE pre-dawn sky but is sinking gradually into the morning twilight.
5. Al Worden to visit Scotland: Colonel Alfred Merrill Worden, Command Module Pilot of Apollo 15, will be visiting Scotland in May 2011, the 40th Anniversary of Apollo 15. Aileen Malone, Director of 'Walk with Destiny', who brought Charlie Duke to Scotland in September, will be running the event. Al Worden's visit will be Friday 20th May for the public lecture in Glasgow Caledonian University and Saturday 21st May for the Gala dinner in Glasgow Marriott Hotel at 7pm.
Places are limited so advanced booking is recommended. please visit this website for details

6. Galway Astronomy Festival: 4-6 March. The theme this year is 'Life and Death in the Universe. Venue: Westwood House Hotel, Galway. It will open with a free public lecture in NUIG about meteorite falls in Ireland on the Friday evening. See www.galwayastronomyclub.ie for full details of what looks like an excellent programme.
7. Cosmos 2010: The MAC Committee are working on the speaker list for this year's Cosmos Star Party. Cosmos is Ireland's second-longest running star party, since 1992 in fact, when it was first called the Irish Astrofest. This year it takes place on the weekend of April 1st to 3rd at Annaharvey, Tullamore. See the club website at www.midlandsastronomy.com for more details.
8. BCO EVENTS, CORK: What is the Stars? Frances McCarthy, astronomer and education officer at CIT Blackrock Castle Observatory in Cork guides our eyes skywards to explore the myths, stories and science of the constellations.
Broadcast Mondays and Fridays at 11.45pm on The Blue of the Night on RTE Lyric fm. http://www.rte.ie/lyricfm/blue/1348350.html
Fri 4 Feb
First Fridays at the Castle

FREE Monthly Event -
Blackrock Castle Observatory hosts open nights on the first Friday of every month with activities for visitors of all ages. Join us to see why science is fun!
  • 6-8pm: Family friendly workshops. Send a message to space via our radio telescope! What would YOU say to a distant civilization?
  • 8-9pm: Dr. Denise Gabuzda, UCC, Physics. Radio Astronomy: Past, Present & Future
  • 7-9pm: Weather dependant stargazing with the Cork Astronomy Club and BCO astronomers
    Introduction to Astronomy module
    Life long and accredited learning is one click away! Register today for this CIT/BCOLabs module. http://www.bco.ie/intro-to-astronomy
  • Sat 26 Feb: 8pm Movies by Moonlight
    We are bringing an alien invasion to our theatre but we need your help….
    Should we show H. G. Wells' classic adaption of War of the Worlds (1953) or Steven Spielberg's remake (2005)? www.bco.ie/moviesbymoonlight
    For more information on these and future events at Blackrock Castle Observatory
    Call 021-4357917 / email info@bco.ie / visit www.bco.ie/upcomingevents
    http://www.facebook.com/BlackrockCastleObservatory
    http://twitter.com/blackrockcastle

    9. JOINING the IRISH ASTRONOMICAL ASSOCIATION is now even easier: This link downloads a Word document to join the IAA. http://irishastro.org.uk/iaamembership.doc. See also www.irishastro.org.
    Clear skies,
    Terry Moseley