Hi all,
1. IAA Public Lecture, Wednesday January 8, 7.30 p.m. (NB, Note New temporary venue). "The Terra Hunting Experiment – finding alien Earthlike worlds" by Dr Chris Watson of QUB .
Chris has given us excellent lectures on this topic before, and with amazing new discoveries almost weekly, this is a talk not to be missed.
SYNOPSIS:
Despite having found more than 4,000 planets around 'normal' stars since the initial Nobel prize-winning discovery in 1995, no true Earth-like planet (or Earth-analog) has yet been found. While Earth-size, Earth-mass, and Earth-density planets have been discovered, these are all in tight orbits around their host stars (e.g. Kepler-78b was, at the time of discovery, the exoplanet most similar to Earth in size and mass, but has a 'year' lasting just over 8 hours!).
Why have we yet to find an Earth-analog? I will review both the technical and astrophysical challenges of finding another 'Earth' with humanity's current level of technical and scientific expertise. This will naturally explain how this spawned the 'Terra Hunting Experiment' - a bold 10-year long intense survey of a select number (~40) solar-type stars to look for the Doppler-wobble signature of an Earth-like planet orbiting in an Earth-like orbit around a solar-type star. Might this reveal, for the first time, some potential homes of E.T.? I'll finish by providing my own personal opinion on the prospects for the discovery of life - the ultimate goal of such work.
SERENDIPITOUS DISCOVERY! TESS has just announced its first discovery of an Earth-sized planet in its star's habitable zone! See
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/01/200106200012.htm
As the Bell Lecture theatre will be closed for an IT upgrade, this talk will be in the Emeleus Lecture Theatre, in the main Lanyon Building. The entrance is just opposite the entrance to the Physics building, and will be signposted.
Details; 7.30 p.m., EMELEUS Lecture Theatre, MAIN Building , QUB. Admission free.
See www.irishastro.org.
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. Partial Penumbral Lunar Eclipse, Jan 10. Many sources, including SkyHigh and even the BAA Handbook! describe this as a Penumbral Eclipse*. It's not, as the whole of the Moon does not enter into the penumbra. So it's a Partial PLE! The Moon will rise just before first Contact, which will be at 17.05. Maximum, when 89.6% of the Moon will be in the penumbral shadow, will be at 19.10.
Penumbral eclipses are not obvious, but around maximum you may note that the Moon's S edge is a bit darker than the N edge. The eclipse will end at 21.14.
This is the first of 4 PPLEs this year, all of which will be at least partly visible from Ireland, but this is the deepest one, and the only one which is entirely visible from here. (The next Total Lunar Eclipse visible from here will be on 2022 May 16)
* For the nerds, yes, the whole of the Moon can enter the penumbral shadow without any of it also entering the umbra. So we can have a 'full' Penumbral Lunar Eclipse, as happened on 2017 Feb 10/11. That was visible from here, and had a penumbral magnitude of 1.014. In other words, the width of the penumbral shadow was greater than the diameter of the Moon.
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 continues its series of morning passes until 9 January A new series of evening passes will start 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.
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
Ancient burst of star formation in MW created 100,000 Supernovae https://earthsky.org/space/milky-way-center-star-formation-burst-100000-supernova?utm_source=EarthSky+News&utm_campaign=2e772ec56a-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_02_02_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c643945d79-2e772ec56a-394571661
FRB source identified https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/techandscience/mysterious-radio-signal-is-coming-from-a-nearby-galaxy-scientists-announce/ar-BBYH2SA?ocid=spartandhp and
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/01/200106141612.htm
Wandering Massive Black Holes in dwarf galaxies https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/01/200106103440.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily%2Ftop_news%2Ftop_science+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Top+Science+News%29
HST surveys 'local' gigantic galaxy. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/01/200106141620.htm BTW, it's not "NASA's HST"! It's a joint collaboration between NASA and ESO!
https://newatlas.com/space/sofia-infrared-panorama-milky-way-center/?utm_source=New+Atlas+Subscribers&utm_campaign=9dc4b836a8-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_01_06_09_23&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_65b67362bd-9dc4b836a8-92786061 BTW, I derive FORCAST as an acronym for Faint Object infraRed CAmera for the Sofia Telescope. Simple, when you think about it.
EARTH & MOON
This is scary for UK/Ireland ! https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/12/191230084804.htm We could get a climate here like Eastern Canada!
EXOPLANETS
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/01/200106121945.htm
EXOLIFE
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/techandscience/aliens-exist-and-could-be-here-on-earth-first-british-astronaut-says/ar-BBYDN8Q?ocid=spartandhp Yes, it's possible that viruses, for example, are 'aliens'.
SOLAR SYSTEM
Evidence for active volcanoes on Venus https://earthsky.org/space/evidence-active-volcanoes-venus-olivine?utm_source=EarthSky+News&utm_campaign=2e772ec56a-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_02_02_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c643945d79-2e772ec56a-394571661
Update on Asteroid Belt https://earthsky.org/space/what-is-the-asteroid-belt?utm_source=EarthSky+News&utm_campaign=2e772ec56a-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_02_02_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c643945d79- 2e772ec56a-394571661
Not trees on Mars! https://www.aol.co.uk/news/2020/01/06/trees-on-the-red-planet-nasa-spacecraft-captures-strange-landsc/?ncid=webmail
TELESCOPES, INSTRUMENTS, TECHNIQUES
Plans for the JWST: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-7857343/Astronomers-develop-new-method-detect-oxygen-exoplanets.html
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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