Hi all,
Please note: send all correspondence to me only at: terrymosel@aol.com
1. IMPORTANT NOTES RE COMING EVENTS
A. The meeting which would have been on Wed 19th February, has to be brought forward by one day, to TUESDAY 18th, because of room availability.
B. That lecture is a special event for the NI Science Festival, and we are delighted to have none other than Professor Monica Grady of the OU, talking on "Astronomy by Microscope" (What meteorites tell us about the solar system)
C. Because it's a NISF event, everyone, including IAA members, should book through the NISF website, Attendance is free, but you should book to ensure that you get a place, in case it's oversubscribed.
2. IAA Lecture, Wed 22 January, 7.30 p.m., Larmor Lecture Theatre, Physics building, QUB:
"Newts, Cats, Specs and OGs", by Terry Moseley, Irish Astronomical Association.
Synopsis:
This talk will look at the world's most important telescopes, from Galileo's first Optick Tube, to the giant telescopes in use today, and those coming in the near future. Not just the biggest, but the types, the firsts, the best, and the most useful.
Biography:
Terry has spent a lifetime enjoying astronomy as an observer, an armchair astronomer, and a writer on the subject, and has been involved in the IAA in one form or another for nearly 60 years, including serving 10 years as President. He has appeared many times on radio, and several times on TV, including a guest appearance on The Sky At Night. He was awarded the British Empire Medal for services to astronomy outreach. He serves as the amateur astronomy representative on the all-Ireland professional body, The Astronomical Society of Ireland, and on several other related organisations.
Admission free, all are welcome, including Light Refreshments.
3 'Planetary parade' will see six planets align in rare spectacle
As usual, there's a lot of hype here. Saturn is getting low, and you need a clear view to the SW to see it. Venus, Jupiter and Mars are certainly brilliant, but Uranus and Neptune really need optical aid to be seen,
4. Venus – the Evening Star
Venus, the 'Evening Star', is now dominating our evening sky, shining brilliantly in the late SW twilight. It reached its Greatest Eastern Elongation on 10 January, and it was exactly half phase on January 12. It reaches greatest brilliancy on 14 February. The magnitude is now -4.4, and the apparent diameter is 24".
5. ANOTHER SMARTSCOPE, budget price
Review: Dwarf Lab's New Dwarf 3 Smartscope - Universe Today
6. Brilliant Jupiter dominates the dark sky!
The king of the planets is still really bright in E Taurus after its opposition on 7 December. It's mag -2.4, which makes it the second brightest planet, after Venus. It's nicely up in the Eastern sky as soon as twilight ends.
The apparent disc diameter is now gradually decreasing, but is still an impressive 45", which is still a greater visible disc area than ALL the other planets combined! Venus can exceed that, but only when it's almost between us and the Sun, showing only a thin crescent.
Even a 75mm telescope will show the Great Red Spot when it's on or near the meridian. Binoculars will show the 4 big Galilean Moons, Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto, and a moderate telescope will show at least the start and end of their transits across the disc. That's because the edge of the planet is darker than the middle due to 'limb darkening', so the bright satellite shows up against the dark background. But when the satellite is near the middle of the disc, the contrast with the brighter background is much less, and it takes a big telescope and steady seeing to reveal the satellite.
However, the much darker shadows of the satellites are easy to see the whole way across the disc. Also interesting to watch, and easier to see, are the satellites entering and leaving eclipse in Jupiter's shadow, except very near opposition when this happens very close to the disc itself, as now.
At the moment, the outer Moon, Callisto, does not undergo any of these phenomena, because of the orbital tilt at present, so it always passes just above or just below the disc of Jupiter each orbit.
See NASA | Jupiter in 4k Ultra HD
7. DARK SKY NEWS From Prof. Brian Espey
I'm delighted to report that, in a great start to the New Year, Dark Sky Ireland has a mention in the draft Programme for Government, specifically through a commitment to "promote and encourage an expansion of dark sky ... national parks and reserves" (Read it here: https://lnkd.in/er94YBEy see pp57-58). We're ready to assist with this, though what is *badly* needed is legislation to protect the dark sky areas that we have from encroachment by poorly controlled light and to enable the development of new areas. Currently, light pollution is the only form of pollution which does not have legal control. Without such legislation we are in danger of losing a valuable national environmental, cultural and tourism resource. If we're going to include a DS ethos in the policies of individual govt bodies, then this is essential to ensure success.
hashtag#DarkSkyIreland hashtag#darkskies hashtag
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