Hi all,
1.Newport Astronomy Club Lecture, Thurs 29th June - 8pm.
From Ged Dowling of NAC:
Terry Moseley - one of Ireland's most knowledgeable astronomers, is kindly giving us a club talk on the
The Attraction of the Moon and the Sun: The astronomy of the tides: their Ins and Outs and Ups and Downs
We all know that the tides are primarily caused by the gravitational pull of the Moon, and most know that the Sun also plays a role. But it's not just as simple as that - not by a long way! In this talk Terry will describe the importance of the tides, and all the various astronomical and other factors which influence the timing and the magnitude of the tides. He'll also talk about the importance of tides in other aspects of astronomy.
This event is FREE to members but will be €5 to non-members (via Eventbrite).
We hope you're able to join us!
Thursday, 29 June 2023 20:00
Terry Moseley Astronomer: "The Attraction of the Moon and the Sun"
2. ISS. The International Space Station will start a new series of morning passes on 29 June. Details on www.heavens-above.com
3. Asteroid Day, 30 June.
https://mail.aol.com/webmail-std/en-gb/DisplayMessage?ws_popup=true&ws_suite=true
4. Aphelion, July 6. Earth will be farthest from the Sun in its elliptical orbit on July 06 at 20.05 UT, at a distance of 1.0167008 AU, or 152,096,275 km. Usually it's on July 4 or 5, but it shifts with the Leap Year cycle, so next year, a Leap Year, it will be back to July 4.
5. VENUS
The Evening Star is still putting on a good show, but it's gradually sinking into the Western twilight each evening. It's now mag -4.2, much brighter than any other night-time object except the Moon. It's currently just below half phase, and this will gradually decrease as it nears conjunction. It's slowly approaching much fainter Mars (mag 1.6). but never quite catches up with it
6. NLCs.
There have been a few sightings of faint displays of these ethereal silvery 'night-shining' clouds recently. They can be seen occasionally into mid – to late July, around local midnight. Look low in the North when the sky has got dark: quite often they will be seen in the region of Capella. They are caused by the Sun shining on very high altitude particles resulting from meteoric dust in the upper atmosphere. They are visible when the Sun is too far below the horizon to shine on ordinary 'tropospheric clouds'. Any smartphone should capture nice images of them, but obviously proper photographic equipment is even better.
8. DIAS Astronomy & Astrophysics Astrophoto Competition (@DIASAstronomy) tweeted Vote now for your favourite image!! https://t.co/si6Nl3xy5L ðŸ”📷 |
9. Heritage Week 12-20th August, at Mayo Dark Sky Park
Wild Nephin National Park events - a selection of events including a night walk in Mayo Dark Sky Park on 13th August, keep an eye on www.wildnephinnationalpark.ie
Launch of Mayo Dark Sky Festival Programme - news to follow, but keep the festival dates marked in your calendar: 3rd to 5th November!
10. STEM at Belfast Maritime Festival. The IAA will be contributing some astronomy themed events at this Festival, on 9-10 September. More details later.]
11. First Announcement: European Society for Astronomy in Culture Conference, 6-9 September
The 30th conference of the European Society for Astronomy in Culture (SEAC) will take place from 6-9 September 2023, in Warsaw, Poland. The theme of this SEAC conference is: Between ancient and modern astronomy. Throughout this conference, the organisers hope to commemorate two significant anniversaries related to Nicolas Copernicus: the 550th anniversary of his birth and the 480th anniversary of his death. For more information about how to contribute to this conference, see this page.
12. Next McCrea Lecture, RIA, Dublin, November 14.
More details later
13. The UK Space Conference 2023 will be hosted in Belfast at the ICC/Waterfront 21-23rd November. See https://brayleino.swoogo.com/ukspaceconference2023
14. NEW EASY TEASER
What well-known large solar system object is almost exactly twice the diameter of another well-known large solar system object? (the difference between A and 2xB is only 2.03%). (Large = at least 1,000km diameter). No answers yet, so here's a clue: One of them is a planet.
There has been one correct answer, but from someone who is not eligible to enter for the easy ones: A reminder: Rules for Easy Teasers: you're barred from entering if you (A) have already submitted a correct answer to any of the previous teasers, and/or (B) if you've been a member of any astronomy clubs or societies for 15 years or more.
15: New Difficult Teaser:
Apart from having a captured rotation, and one dark and one bright side, in what other respect is Iapetus an almost precise twin of our Moon?
A few wrong answers, so here's an additional clue: it's nothing to do with their names, or history; it's an actual physical parameter.
Please send all Teaser answers to me at my aol address terrymosel@aol.com
16. INTERESTING WEBLINKS (Disclaimer – leading its nameUse 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:
Music of the spheres: astronomers detect 'cosmic bass note' of gravitational waves (msn.com)
Scientists baffled as planet mysteriously avoids being engulfed by host star (msn.com)
Listen to the eerie sounds of distant galaxies in NASA video | Space
Bizarre gamma ray burst hints at unseen "stellar demolition derby" (newatlas.com)
X-ray echoes reveal recent bright flash from Milky Way's black hole (newatlas.com)
Webb makes first detection of crucial carbon molecule (spacedaily.com)
Monster black hole at galaxy's centre not as dormant as previously thought, study finds (msn.com)
Astronomers discover a totally new way that stars can die (msn.com)
Bizarre object hotter than the sun is orbiting a distant star at breakneck speed (msn.com)
The loneliest monster black holes may also be the hungriest (msn.com)
COSMOLOGY
Scientists have solved a great mystery at the dawn of time itself (msn.com)
The expansion of the universe could be a mirage, new theoretical study suggests | Live Science But if the universe is not expanding, it must be contracting under its own gravity and there's no evidence of that. Further if there was a Big Bang, it had to expand initially, otherwise how did it get to its present size (whatever that is)? And if there was no Big Bang, how did it get to be as it is today? So are we left with an 'Oscillating Universe', as described by Ernst Opik of Armagh Observatory in the 1950s? - An initial expansion, followed by a contraction as gravity exerts its influence, followed by another Big Bang, repeating. So if it's neither expanding nor contracting at the moment, it must be at or very near the stationary point in between.
Cosmic hum: Scientists discover that universe is awash in gravitational waves | Watch (msn.com)
EARTH & MOON
New Earth Space Sustainability Initiative: The Royal Astronomical Society welcomes the launch of the Earth Space Sustainability Initiative (ESSI), announced in London today at the Global Leaders on Space Sustainability Symposium.
SOLAR MAX IS BOOSTING AIRGLOW: A dramatic display of green lights over Colorado last week tricked observers into thinking they were witnessing auroras. In fact, it was something completely different. The approach of Solar Maximum is boosting a phenomenon called "airglow" that can appear anywhere on Earth at any time. Full story @ Spaceweather.com.
'It's absolutely guaranteed': the best and worst case scenarios for sea level rise (msn.com) b
Why did the last ice age end? | Live Science
NASA preparing for 'internet apocalypse' as probe delivers new intelligence (msn.com)
Humans are pumping out so much groundwater that it's changing Earth's tilt | Space
Protecting the scientific resource heritage on the Moon: https://www.facebook.com/551070831/posts/10161646652610832/?sfnsn=scwspmo
EXOLIFE
Webb makes first detection of crucial carbon molecule (spacedaily.com)
Scientists have come up with a new meaning of life – and it's pretty mind-blowing (msn.com)
IMAGES, Film, Video
Perseverance rover spots donut-shaped rock on Mars (photo) | Space That's an old Martian grindstone! 😉
Astronomy Photographer of the Year offers vibrant look at universe (msn.com) SETIAliens might be using a nearby supernova to get our attention, new study suggests (msn.com) That is a very 'terracentric' view; it assumes that they would be sending signals specifically in our direction. But why would they do that? - They would have no evidence that we are here, as the first signs of intelligent life, or indeed any advanced life, on Earth would not have reached M101 yet! The first pre-hominids were only starting to walk upright about that time! All they would know, if they could detect the existence of Earth at all, would be that it had water, an atmosphere, and was in the potentially habitable zone of the Sun. But there would be many such planets within their own galaxy, and tens of thousands more in other nearby (to them) galaxies, so why would they target us?
SOLAR SYSTEM Strange Uranus-size alien planet could be trapped in the edge of Solar System (msn.com) andA 'captured' alien planet may be hiding at the edge of our solar system — and it's not 'Planet X | Live Science NASA detects life's rarest building block in water ice of Saturn's moon (newatlas.com)
SPACE
Meet the crew of Virgin Galactic 1st commercial spaceflight | Space
What happens to the human body during space travel? (msn.com)
SpaceX fires up Starship spacecraft ahead of 2nd test flight (video) | Space
Private space tug spins out of control after recent SpaceX launch | Space
NASA converts pee to drinkable water on International Space Station (newatlas.com) and
NASA just recycled 98% of all astronaut pee and sweat on the ISS (engineers are thrilled) | Space
https://www.space.com/chapea-yearlong-mars-analog-mission-begins?utm_source=notification
SUN
NASA preparing for 'internet apocalypse' as probe delivers new intelligence (msn.com)
TELESCOPES, EQUIPMENT, TECHNIQUES Etc.
Scientists hope Euclid telescope will reveal mysteries of dark matter (msn.com)
17. JOINING the IRISH ASTRONOMICAL ASSOCIATION. This link gives options to join the IAA.
https://irishastro.org/join-the-iaa/ If you are a UK taxpayer, please select 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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