1. IAA Double Public Lecture, Wednesday January 22, 7.30 p.m. "Return to the Moon", by Dr Andy McCrea, and "The Closest Comet Encounters to Earth" by Terry Moseley.
A. Return to the Moon.
The Apollo 17 NASA astronauts blasted off from the Moon in December 1972, which concluded a curtailed programme of US Moon landings. Andy will review what has been going on in terms of lunar missions since then, and review the current situation, anticipating the NASA-led Artemis missions and proposed landing over the coming period.
B. "The Closest Comet Encounters to Earth
It's widely believed that many comets have impacted Earth during its lifetime, but just how close have comets come to us in recorded history? We've seen a close pass to Mars, impacts on Jupiter, and a possible impact on Earth. We've also seen some very spectacular and bright comets in the sky, but how close did they come? This talk will review the known evidence, look at the mythological and historical background, and consider the effects of a possible future really close pass."
2. NEW IAA WEBSITE:
Everything is being migrated to this new and better link: https://irishastro.org/
Thanks to Paul for this sterling work
3. VENUS brilliant. The lovely 'Evening Star' is getting brighter and higher in the SSW evening sky, and is quite unmistakeable. Watch it slowly approach the Pleaides, which it will pass through on 3-4 April!
4. BETELGEUSE still faint.
There is considerable interest in the fact that Betelgeuse has faded since October by about 1 magnitude. Some conjecture that this is a prelude to a supernova explosion, but that is very unlikely. However, it's certainly worth watching. It's now about midway in brightness between Castor and Pollux.
My latest magnitude estimate, on Jan 06, makes it between +1.4 and +1.5, almost 1 magnitude fainter than its average of +0.5. That's the faintest I've ever seen it – and that's from 1963!
Once the bright Moon is out of the way we'll be able to get better estimates again.
You can compare it with Aldebaran (mag 0.87, but slightly variable itself), Pollux (mag 1.16), Castor (mag 1.58), Bellatrix (mag 1.64) or Al Nath / Beta Tau (mag 1.65). Only do it when Betelgeuse is at least 30 degrees above the horizon, and choose comparison stars at about the same altitude as it.
5. ISS The International Space Station will start a new series of evening passes on Jan 22 . Full details for your location, and lots of other astronomy information, on the excellent free site www.heavens-above.com
6. Galway Astronomy Festival
The Galway Astronomy Festival takes place on Saturday January 25th 2020.
The festival will take place in the Harbour Hotel, overlooking Galway Bay
7. IAA Astronomy Event, St Patrick's Academy, Dungannon, 31 January, 7.00.
More details later.
8. Vesta occults naked eye star, 11 February. More details of this rare event, visible from the N of the island, will be in the January edition of STARDUST, and in later bulletins.
9. The NI Science Festival,10-23 February. The schools events run from 10 – 12 Feb, and the main, public, events from 13 – 23rd.
The IAA will be contributing several events, including an event at Marble Arch Caves VC in Fermanagh on Feb 14, and our public lecture on 19 February.
10. Dark Sky observing event, Cavan Burren Centre, 20 March. I've been asked to run another one of these events, in a very dark sky location, near Blacklion, just across the border from Belcoo. More details later.
11. INTERESTING WEBLINKS (Disclaimer - Use of material herein from various sources does not imply approval or otherwise of the opinions, political or otherwise, of those sources). NB: If the title in the weblink does not indicate the subject matter, I give a brief simple intro before the link. I may also comment about the link afterwards.
ASTROPHYSICS
Galaxies emerging from the fog of the cosmic dawn https://www.livescience.com/galaxies-clear-cosmic-fog-epoch-of-reinoization.html?utm_source=Selligent&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=9160&utm_content=LVS_newsletter+&utm_term=3473357&m_i=Ji6eXUeRk2Je1BRCfMxjFwcqO0x5zIRHC75R9jfLm3Ys6JKxp49K0ckM2MOYySXWNoV_wt5qBNMbCoHsF8S1IMIluToW61ymWMzhPZJJJb
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-7881899/Natural-oscillations-ancient-star-reveal-age-galactic-collision.html If you heard this in the plot of a Star Trek movie, you'd say "That's stupid, how could they do that?" See also https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/01/200115132313.htm
How hot is Dark Matter? https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/01/200115140512.htm
Strange objects near our galaxy's SMBH https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/01/200115132316.htm
Source of High Energy particles discovered https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/01/200114123529.htm
Observing SMBH collisions in X-Rays https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/01/200114101717.htm
Focusing in on Dark Matter https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/01/200113175646.htm
It takes a binary star to produce a GRB https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/01/200113104201.htm
Stripped helium star solves BH mystery https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/01/200110101027.htm
Cosmic bubbles reveal the first stars https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/01/200108074805.htm
FRB traced to nearby galaxy https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/01/200106141612.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily%2Ftop_news%2Ftop_science+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Top+Science+News%29
TESS finds that Alpha Dra is an eclipsing binary! https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/01/200107104938.htm
V Sagittae will explode as bright nova by century's end https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/01/200107092601.htm
EARTH & MOON
'It was the asteroid wot did it'! https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/01/200116141708.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily%2Ftop_news%2Ftop_science+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Top+Science+News%29
Japanese fireball traced back to its NEO source https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/01/200115120609.htm
How Phosphorus got to Earth https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/01/200115075611.htm
Meteorite contains material 7bn years old – older than our SS! https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/01/200113153306.htm
Shocked meteorite provides clues to Earth's lower mantle https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/01/200110155302.htm
EXOPLANETS
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/techandscience/a-cold-neptune-and-two-super-earths-are-among-newly-found-exoplanets-around-nearby-stars/ar-BBYXvfv?ocid=spartandhp and https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/01/200114090950.htm It's going to be really big news if we ever find a star that DOESN'T have at least one planet orbiting it!
Planet WASP 12B is on a death spiral https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/01/200108131723.htm
TESS discovers planet orbiting TWO stars https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/01/200107104907.htm
SOLAR SYSTEM
How the SS got its 'Great Divide', and why it matters https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/01/200113111048.htm
Mars losing water faster than expected https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/01/200109141007.htm
SPACE
12. JOINING the IRISH ASTRONOMICAL ASSOCIATION. This link downloads a Word document to join the IAA. http://documents.irishastro.org.uk/iaamembership.doc
If you are a UK taxpayer, please tick the 'gift-aid' box, as that enables us to reclaim the standard rate of tax on your subscription, at no cost to you. You can also make a donation via Paypal if you wish: just click on the 'Donate' button. See also https://irishastro.org/
The Irish Astronomical Association is registered with The Charity Commission for Northern Ireland NIC 105858
DISCLAIMER: Any views expressed herein are mine, and do not necessarily represent those of the IAA.
Clear skies,
Terry Moseley
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