Irish Astronomical Association News

S/L a huge success, Lectures, IAA Live on radio, 27 Jan, ISS, Venus, Aurorae

2012-01-23T08:19:00.001Z

Hi all,

1. BBC / IAA Stargazing Live Whopper Event! The IAA's major BBC Two Stargazing Live event at Lough Neagh Discovery Centre on Tuesday evening was a HUGE success! In spite of cloudy skies, we had an official attendance figure of 1200 people that evening (not estimated - counted by an automatic monitoring device)! Photos are still being put up on the IAA website, www.irishastro.org. Thanks to ALL who helped make the event such a success - if I (or Philip) haven't already thanked you directly, please take this as a sincere expression of our gratitude for all the people who helped, in whatever role.

The BBC were especially pleased with our role as the following quote from Senior Producer Jenny Rea indicates:

To Terry and all at the Irish Astronomical Association, Andy and everyone from Lough Neagh Discovery Centre, Doctors Pedro and Chris from Queen's University, Mary from Armagh Planetarium and to BBC colleagues; many many thanks for making last night's Stargazing event such a huge success!
It was a truly fantastic event and it was such a pleasure to work with you all. The fact that most people ran out of resources and the Star Dome had to put on two extra shows, was an indication of how successful it really was. Thanks to the staff at LNDC for making us all feel
welcome and being so well organised. Thank you to the IAA who brought astronomy to the shores of Lough Neagh and who were available for every media request.
And Jenny also said that we were 'a very professional bunch of amateurs'.

Such praise from a Senior Producer in the world's top broadcasting organisation is praise indeed!

We also had a tremendously successful event at QUB on the Monday evening. The Astrophysics Dept at Queen's asked us to provide telescopes and volunteers for a 'Jupiter Watch' in front of the main building. The sky was totally clear until after 9 p.m., and many hundreds of people queued for ages to see through the telescopes. Even though we had ten 'scopes, ranging in size up to the powerful 16" (400mm) Lightbridge, the queues were like something at Disneyworld! We saw both Io and Europa reappear from eclipse during the event. For many people, it was their first view through a telescope, and everyone was delighted.

We also provided volunteers and telescopes for the Armagh Observatory / NIEA event at Beaghmore Stone Circles / An Creagan centre in the Sperrins in Co Tyrone on Wednesday night. Although we only got a few brief clear spells, everyone was fascinated by the mysterious stone circles, and we also had two great talks in An Creagan afterwards. Two hundred people were recorded at that event.

Prof Mark Bailey, Director of Armagh Observatory, asked me to pass on the following message: Please pass on my thanks to all in the IAA for their help yesterday, and for coming along to swell the numbers, especially considering the difficulty in getting to and from An Creagan! Too bad about the damp weather, though I think everybody had a good time. Best wishes, Mark.

Once again, thanks to all the IAA members who helped out at those two events.

2. IAA LECTURE, 25 January: The Astronomical Association's next public lecture will be given by Paul Evans, IAA: Title: "Manned pace Exploration, the First 50 Years". Paul, the IAA's webmaster, is a life long spaceflight enthusiast, and regularly visits The Kennedy Space Centre in Florida to see launches. Paul is also an expert photographer, so I'm sure we will be treated to some amazing images.

The lecture is on WEDNESDAY 25 January, at 7.30 p.m., in the Bell Lecture Theatre, Physics Building, Queen's University, Belfast. ADMISSION IS FREE, as always, and includes light refreshments. Everyone is welcome! Full details of the rest of the programme are on the website: www.irishastro.org

3. SDAS MEETING January 26: "When Venus crosses the Sun.": (From John Flannery). Venus takes centre-stage this year on June 6^th when at inferior conjunction the planet crosses the Sun's disk during the last transit of Venus we'll see in our lifetime. Venus transits are the subject of our first talk this year on Thursday, January 26^th at 8pm in Gonzaga College, Ranelagh. I'll be looking at the history of Venus transits, why they were so important, and what are the prospects for this year's transit. Do come along on the night to hear about these rare events. All are welcome and admission is free.

4. IAA 2-hour Live Radio Broadcast, 27 January! The Irish Astronomical Association has also been invited by the BBC to present a 2-hour live astronomy programme on Radio Ulster on the evening of Friday 27 January from Delamont Country Park, near Killyleagh! We will have a large selection of powerful telescopes and binoculars for viewing the sky, plus the Stardome mobile planetarium, and all the usual other attractions. This will broadcast from 8 to 10 p.m., live, no matter what the weather! So lots of interesting items will be included, to cope with either clear or cloudy skies. The presenters are the well-known Anne-Marie McAleese and Darryl Grimason.

We will be in action from about 6.30 onwards, setting up the telescopes and exhibition and viewing the sky if clear, so come about then if you want good views of the Moon and Venus through the telescopes.

5. ISS: the International Space Station is now in a series of morning passes. See www.heavens-above.com for details of this, and other bright satellites, Iridium Flares etc, for your own location.

6. Venus, the Evening Star: Is now really prominent in the evening twilight, and will be a brilliant 'evening star' as seen from Ireland through the Spring, and will be very well placed in late March as it approaches the Pleiades. It's visible lowish in the SW after sunset, at magnitude -4.1, and apparent diameter 13" (arcsecs). It is gradually moving out from the Sun, and will become a brilliant and unmistakable object through February and March.

Also note how it is getting closer to Jupiter. Hold out your arm towards Venus, then bend it at the elbow and clench your fist: the apparent distance now between Venus and Jupiter is just about the apparent length of your arm like that. Check the distance between them every week from now on, and see how the separation decreases until they pass each other on 13-14 March.

7. Aurora alerts. A lot of people who are not particularly interested in astronomy have asked me about seeing an aurora from Ireland/UK. I'm therefore going to set up a separate alert bulletin for possible aurora events only. If you know anyone who would like to get alerts of chances when aurorae might be visible from here (but not these more comprehensive bulletins), send me their email address, or ask them to email me directly.

I will of course include such information in these general astronomy bulletins too!

(There were some reports of aurorae this evening (Sun/Mon), but nothing visible from Glengormley from 11.45 - 01.40. However, the light pollution here is getting worse and worse, so I could miss a faint one.)

8. TWITTER: the IAA now has a twitter account. twitter@IaaAstro

9. BBC THINGS TO DO WEBSITE: See the forthcoming IAA events on

http://www.bbc.co.uk/thingstodo

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.

Clear skies,

Terry Moseley

S/gazing Update, Lecture, Galway SP, Spacecraft crash, Space/Astro News, Aurorae

2012-01-16T14:33:00.001Z

Hi all,

1. BBC's STARGAZING LIVE is on 16-18 January, featuring the Irish Astronomical Association with a 2-hour broadcast extravaganza from Lough Neagh Discovery Centre (LNDC) near Lurgan, Co Armagh, on the evening of Tuesday 17th, and other activities on the Monday and Wednesday.

The IAA has been recognised by the BBC as an official 'Partner' in delivering this part of the programme. More on the IAA website: www.irishastro.org.

Look out for the following highlights:

Monday 16th: A public "Jupiter Watch" will be held by members of the IAA in association with the School of Mathematics and Physics in front of the main building at Queen's University, from 6 pm to 9pm. If it's cloudy, Dr Chris Watson will give a public lecture in the Larmor Lecture Theatre, Physics Building, entitled "Jupiters around other stars". See: http://tinyurl.com/qubjupiterwatch
Tuesday 17th: IAA Events at Lough Neagh Discovery Centre:

*Public Observing if clear: Venus, Jupiter, + all the usual Deep Sky wonders with a selection of powerful telescopes and binoculars.

*Stardome presentations: due to the expected demand, these will be ticket only, issued on a first come - first served basis.

*Amazing Photo Exhibition: The fantastic A0 size photos produced for IYA 2009 will again be on show, plus some of the best from other sources.

*Telescope and binocular exhibition: see all the varieties available, the pros and cons of each, and learn how to use them to their best capacity.

*Meteorites: an exhibition of many different sorts of meteorites - hold in your hand a piece of outer space (if you can hold it!), with experts there to talk about them.

*Our first "Ulsternaut" - Derek Heatly from Co Down, who has booked to go into space with Virgin Galactic's Spaceship Two will be there to talk about his training experiences and forthcoming flight, with videos.

*Astrophotography for beginners" - A 'taster session' by our own expert, Paul Evans.

*Q&A session: 'Everything you always wanted to know about astronomy' - a panel of experts will be there to answer questions from the public on everything from the Andromeda Galaxy to the Zeeman Effect.

*Hands-on demos: How to make a comet, etc.

*EU-UNAWE

*3-D Modern Astronomy show, presented by Robert Hill from N.I. Space Office.

*Children's activities, such as making willow stars.

In other words, something for everyone.

See: www.irishastro.org and www.bbc.co.uk/stargazing for updates.

See also: http://www.bbc.co.uk/thingstodo - put "Belfast" in the search box and see all our next events!

Wednesday 18th: Armagh Observatory and NIEA: Stargazing LIVE at An Creagan and Beaghmore: Where the Heavens Meet the Earth
Armagh Observatory and the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) together with An Creagan and the Omagh and Cookstown District Councils are hosting a day of FREE Stargazing LIVE activities at An Creagan and the nearby Beaghmore Stone Circles. This is a unique megalithic site and the best Darksky site in Northern Ireland.
Following a series of Universe Awareness (EU-UNAWE) astronomy and science-based activities for local KS2 school children at An Creagan, in the afternoon there will be an opportunity, weather permitting, to visit the Beaghmore Stone Circles and learn more about the stones from Living History players and a professional archaeologist. This element of the FREE Stargazing LIVE event will take place from approximately 3.30pm to 5.00pm. Participants will watch the Sun going down and observe the bright planets Venus and Jupiter, both visible in the southern sky, as well as the first stars to appear after sunset. See http://star.arm.ac.uk/publicevents/2012/stargazing/
Further information about this Stargazing LIVE event will be available from the Observatory website. Meanwhile, anyone wishing to participate in either the afternoon or evening events is requested to obtain their FREE ticket(s) by telephoning or sending an e-mail to: Mrs Aileen McKee at the Armagh Observatory, College Hill, Armagh; Tel: 028-3752-2928; e-mail: ambn@arm.ac.uk.

Armagh Planetarium will also be presenting a Stargazing Live event on Wednesday 18th January. They will be screening special FREE presentations of their brand new digital theatre show 'Experience the Aurora' at 7pm and 7.45pm. All seats for these shows must be pre-booked in advance. Places are limited so you are advised to book early to avoid disappointment (Tel: 02837 523689). They will also be joined by experts from the Northern Ireland Amateur Astronomical Society who will be bringing along a range of telescopes for public night sky viewing. They will also be on hand to help with any telescope queries you may have. So if you have a telescope and are not sure how to use it, this is your chance to get some expert advice from the NIAAS members.

Planetarium Director Dr Tom Mason has over 40 years experience working with meteorites. He will show you how to identify meteorites and also provide examples of the most commonly misidentified objects which are not meteorites. On display for the first time will be the Planetarium's latest lunar meteorite acquisition, as well as a fragment of Mars and various other specimens. Feel free to bring along any rock samples that you would like Dr Mason to identify.

For younger visitors there will be a special Stargazing arts and crafts room where they can have fun making space objects.

6:30pm Doors open; Public telescope viewing commences; Stargazing arts and crafts commences

7:00pm Experiencing the Aurora show *Remember to pre-book your seats!

7:30pm Meteorite Workshop

7:45pm Experiencing the Aurora show *Remember to pre-book your seats!

8:30pm Meteorite Workshop

9:30 Doors close

2. IAA LECTURE, 25 January: The Astronomical Association's next public lecture will be given by Paul Evans, IAA: Title: "Manned pace Exploration, the First 50 Years". Paul, the IAA's webmaster, is a life long spaceflight enthusiast, and regularly visits The Kennedy Space Centre in Florida to see launches. Paul is also an expert photographer, so I'm sure we will be treated to some amazing images.

3. IAA 2-hour Live Radio Broadcast! The Irish Astronomical Association has also been invited by the BBC to present a 2-hour live astronomy programme on Radio Ulster on the evening of Friday 27 January from Delamont Country Park, near Killyleagh! We will have a large selection of powerful telescopes and binoculars for viewing the sky, plus the Stardome mobile planetarium. This will broadcast from 8 to 10 p.m., and lots of interesting items will be included, to cope with either clear or cloudy skies. The presenters are the well-known Anne-Marie McAleese and Darryl Grimason. More details on this later.

4. Galway Astronomy Festival - January 21st 2012 is on "New Frontiers of the Universe". It will be held as usual in the Westwood Hotel, Newcastle, Galway (just on the outskirts of the city, on the N59 road to Clifden).

PROGRAMME:

9am-10.00 Registration
10.00-10.15 Official Opening
10.15-11.15 Carl O' Beirnes: Irish Astrophotography
11.15-12.15 Brian Harvey M.A.: Future Missions to the Moon and Mars
12.30-14.00 Midday break and Workshop by Jan Kotek on celestial maps
14.00-15.00 Dr. Niall Smith: Refurbishing derelict castles and defunct dishes – frugal innovation with real scientific impact
15.00-15.30 Tea/Coffee
15.30-16.30 Dr. Ronan Mc Nulty: Faster than light Particles and the latest results from CERN
16.30-17.00 Raffle and closing session
19.00 Dinner
21.00 Observing in Brigit's Garden http://www.brigitsgarden.ie/

We look forward to seeing you, hopefully under clear skies. For more details see: http://galwayastronomyclub.ie/

5. PHOBOS GRUNT probe crashes back into Pacific: Russia's Defence Ministry says a failed probe designed to travel to a moon of Mars has crashed, showering debris over the southern Pacific, according to news reports. The ministry said the fragments fell on Sunday 775 miles west of Wellington Island. The Phobos Grunt was one of the heaviest and most toxic space junk ever to crash to Earth, but space officials and experts said the risks posed by its crash were minimal as the probe's toxic rocket fuel and most of the craft's structure were to burn up in the atmosphere anyway.

6. CHINA AND INDIA TO BUILD WORLD's LARGEST TELESCOPE: Hot on the heels of the announcement of the next step towards the building of the 40-meter E-ELT (see previous bulletin), China and India are catapulting to the forefront of astronomy research with their decision to join as partners in a Hawaii telescope that will be the world's largest when it's built later this decade. China and India will pay a share of the construction cost - expected to top $1 billion - for the Thirty Meter Telescope at the summit of Mauna Kea volcano. They will also have a share of the observation time. It's the first advanced telescope in which either nation has been a partner. The Thirty Meter Telescope's segmented primary mirror, which will be nearly 100 feet across, will give it nine times the light-collecting area of the largest optical telescopes in use today. Its images will also be three times sharper.
The telescope, known as TMT, will be able to observe planets that orbit stars other than the sun and enable astronomers to watch new planets and stars being formed. It should also help scientists see some 13 billion light years away for a glimpse into the early years of the universe. If completed on time, it will be by far the world's largest until the E-ELT is completed, planned for a few years later.

7. SCIENTISTS CREATE THE SURFACE OF A STAR ON EARTH: The 'Z Machine' at the University of Texas, Austin, was built to simulate nuclear weapon detonations, but now devotes around 15 per cent of its time to experiments such as the star simulation, reports Inside Science. The machine produces huge amounts of energy - enough to melt diamonds. The machine can output power equivalent to 80 times Earth's total consumption. It has generated temperatures of 3.7 billion Kelvins, the highest ever created by humankind, including the centre of hydrogen bomb explosions. It also routinely generates electrical power equivalent to 80 times Earth's total power output. In the 'white dwarf' experiment, researchers simulated the 'spectrum' of a white dwarf's surface by firing 26 million amps of electricity through tungsten wires, which vaporises them, releasing X-rays. When the X-rays hit a container of hydrogen gas, it ionises and reaches a temperature of around 10,000 degrees centigrade, to recreate the conditions on the surface of a star.

8. DARK MATTER IN UNIVERSE MAPPED: 'Dark matter' is a theoretical - and controversial - substance which is undetectable by telescopes on earth, but thought by some scientists to account for up to three quarters of the mass of the whole universe. But scientists have mapped it for the first time, detecting dark matter by the 'ripples' it causes in space and time. Scientists studied 10 million galaxies in four regions of the sky using a 340 megapixel camera in Hawaii, looking for dark matter by the distortion of light from galaxies behind it - the gravity from dark matter 'bends' the light on its journey to us.The result is a map of dark matter on a huge scale - a tract of space measuring a billion light years. The international project involved studying images collected over a period of five years by the Canada-France Hawaii Telescope on Mauna Kea mountain in Hawaii.Galaxies included in the survey were typically six billion light years away. They emitted their light when the universe was six billion years old, roughly half the age it is today.

9. ISS: the International Space Station is now in a series of morning passes. See www.heavens-above.com for details of this, and other bright satellites, Iridium Flares etc, for your own location.

10. Venus, the Evening Star: Is now readily visible in the evening twilight, and will be a brilliant 'evening star' as seen from Ireland through the Spring, and will be very well placed in late March as it approaches the Pleiades. It's visible lowish in the SW after sunset, at magnitude -4.1, and apparent diameter 13" (arcsecs). It is gradually moving out from the Sun, and will become a brilliant and unmistakable object through February and March.

11. Billions of Planets in the Milky Way? More than 100 billion planets could populate the Milky Way galaxy, and many of the undiscovered worlds could be the size of Earth, according to a study released last week. Using a statistical analysis of data collected by a world-wide team of astronomers, the study shows smaller planets are more common than massive Jupiter-sized gas giants.

The results, which are published in the journal Nature, were released by the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Md. "This means, statistically, every star in the galaxy should have at least one planet, and probably more," said Kailash Sahu, a member of the international team reporting on the study.

See: http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n1201/11exoplanets/

12. Aurora alerts. A lot of people who are not particularly interested in astronomy have asked me about seeing an aurora from Ireland/UK. I'm therefore going to set up a separate alert bulletin for possible aurora events only. If you know anyone who would like to get alerts of chances when aurorae might be visible from here (but not these more comprehensive bulletins), send me their email address, or ask them to email me directly.

I will of course include such information in these general astronomy bulletins too!

13. TWITTER: the IAA now has a twitter account. twitter@IaaAstro

14. BBC THINGS TO DO WEBSITE: See the forthcoming IAA events on

http://www.bbc.co.uk/thingstodo

15. 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

Lectures, Stargazing Live, IAA/Radio, Galway AF, IFAS award, E-ELT, ISS, Venus

2012-01-09T21:40:00.001Z

Hi all,

1. IAA LECTURE, 11 January: The Astronomical Association's next public lecture will be given by Prof Stephen Smartt of QUB: Title: "Astronomy with the PanSTARRS1 Telescope"

The PanSTARRS1 is a 1.8 meter (60-inch) diameter telescope on Haleakala, Hawaii, and is designed to automatically search the skies for objects that either move or change their brightness from night to night. It contains the world's largest digital camera, with 1,400 megapixels, and can image a patch of sky about 40 times the area of the full moon, much larger than any similar-sized telescope on Earth or in space.

The giant digital camera will take over 500 exposures each night and send about four terabytes of data (equivalent to what 1,000 DVDs can hold) for analysis. Computers will rapidly compare each exposure with corresponding ones taken either a few minutes or a few days earlier to find objects that have moved or whose brightness has changed.

Primarily designed to search for 'killer asteroids', it is expected to discover about 100,000 asteroids and to determine if any of them are on a collision course with Earth. It will catalog five billion stars and 500 million galaxies. It will also be used to compile the most comprehensive digital map of the 75 per cent of the universe visible from Hawaii.

Astronomers will also use the data to find brown dwarfs and distant quasars, to watch supernova explosions in distant galaxies and to test their latest theories concerning dark matter and dark energy. PS1 is the experimental prototype for the larger PS4 telescope, which will have four times the power of PS1 and is planned for Mauna Kea.

Prof Smartt is actively engaged in supernova research, and is recognised as a leading authority on the subject, and leads a very progressive and well-respected team in QUB in this field. Supernovae are not just the most powerful and violent explosions in the universe (if we include the latest evidence for 'hypernovae' in the same genre), they are vital tools in establishing the distance to remote galaxies, and hence the size of the universe. And they provided the first clues that the expansion rate of the universe is speeding up, the so called 'accelerating universe'. On top of that, the heavy elements that make life possible here on Earth are created in supernova explosions - without them, we wouldn't be here! So interest in them is at an all-time high, and the results from PanSTARRS1 will provide much invaluable data.

The lecture is on WEDNESDAY 11 January, at 7.30 p.m., in the Bell Lecture Theatre, Physics Building, Queen's University, Belfast. ADMISSION IS FREE, as always, and includes light refreshments. Everyone is welcome! Full details of the rest of the programme are on the website: www.irishastro.org

2. Major Public Lecture at QUB: "Latest News From the Large Hadron Collider", by Dr. Tara Shears, Thursday 12th January, 6:30 pm
   The School of Mathematics and Physics at Queen's University Belfast presents a lecture on the latest news from the largest science experiment ever built. The talk will be given by Dr. Tara Shears from the University of Liverpool, a renowned expert in particle physics and accomplished public speaker.
   The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the most powerful particle collider ever built. It is capable of creating (fleetingly) the fundamental particles which form everything in the universe. In particle physics we've understood much about these tiny objects, and can describe their behaviour in an incredibly successful theory. However, there are many known unknowns: where and what is the mysterious Higgs particle? Why is there so little antimatter in the universe? What is dark matter? We have built the LHC to try to find answers, and in this talk, Dr. Shears will show you the latest findings.
   The lecture will be at 6:30 pm on Thursday 12th January in the Larmor Lecture Theatre, Physics Building, QUB. Complimentary tea and coffee will be served in the Great Hall in the Lanyon Building (main entrance) from 6:00 pm - 6:20pm.
   If you wish to attend this lecture, please reserve seats by either going to the website http://tinyurl.com/QUBPhysics or by calling 028 9097 3202.
    This talk has been sponsored by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) and the School of Mathematics and Physics at Queen's University Belfast.

3. BBC's STARGAZING LIVE returns on 16-18 January, featuring the Irish Astronomical Association with a 2-hour broadcast extravaganza from Lough Neagh Discovery Centre (LNDC) near Lurgan, Co Armagh, on the evening of Tuesday 17th, and other activities on the Monday and Wednesday.

The IAA has been recognised by the BBC as an official 'Partner' in delivering this part of the programme. More on the IAA website: www.irishastro.org.

Look out for the following highlights:

*Public Observing if clear: Venus, Jupiter, + all the usual Deep Sky wonders with a selection of powerful telescopes and binoculars.

*Stardome presentations: due to the expected demand, these will be ticket only, issued on a first come - first served basis.

*Amazing Photo Exhibition: The fantastic A0 size photos produced for IYA 2009 will again be on show, plus some of the best from other sources.

*Telescope and binocular exhibition: see all the varieties available, the pros and cons of each, and learn how to use them to their best capacity.

*Meteorites: an exhibition of many different sorts of meteorites - hold in your hand a piece of outer space (if you can hold it!), with experts there to talk about them.

*Our first "Ulsternaut" - Derek Heatly from Co Down, who has booked to go into space with Virgin Galactic's Spaceship One will be there to talk about his training experiences and forthcoming flight, with videos.

*Astrophotography for beginners" - A 'taster session' by our own expert, Paul Evans.

*Hands-on demos: How to make a comet, etc.

*EU-UNAWE

*3-D Modern Astronomy show, presented by Robert Hill from N.I. Space Office.

*Children's activities, such as making willow stars.

In other words, something for everyone.

See: www.irishastro.org and www.bbc.co.uk/stargazing for updates.

See also: http://www.bbc.co.uk/thingstodo - put "Belfast" in the search box and see all our next events!

For younger visitors there will be a special Stargazing arts and crafts room where they can have fun making space objects.

6:30pm Doors open; Public telescope viewing commences; Stargazing arts and crafts commences

7:00pm Experiencing the Aurora show *Remember to pre-book your seats!

7:30pm Meteorite Workshop

7:45pm Experiencing the Aurora show *Remember to pre-book your seats!

8:30pm Meteorite Workshop

9:30 Doors close

4. IAA 2-hour Live Radio Broadcast! The Irish Astronomical Association has also been invited by the BBC to present a 2-hour live programme on Radio Ulster on the evening of Friday 27 January from Delamont Country Park, near Killinchy! More details on this later.

5. Galway Astronomy Festival - January 21st 2012 is on "New Frontiers of the Universe". It will be held as usual in the Westwood Hotel, Newcastle, Galway (just on the outskirts of the city, on the N59 road to Clifden).

PROGRAMME:

We look forward to seeing you, hopefully under clear skies. For more details see: http://galwayastronomyclub.ie/

6. IFAS ASTRONOMER OF THE YEAR, 2011: Congratulations to Irish Astronomical Association member Neill McKeown, who has been voted IFAS astronomer of the year. Neill has written the comprehensive monthly Observing Guide for IFAS for the last five years, and also produces a modified version for all the IAA's fortnightly meetings throughout our lecture season. Well done indeed to Neill: a well-deserved award for all the hard work!

7. CHILE APPROVES SITE FOR THE E-ELT: How would you like a 40 meter telescope? Not 40 meters long: 40 meters in diameter! The European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT) is now a step nearer, as Chile has agreed to provide a site and support for this behemoth.

The telescope's 40-metre (some sources say 42 metre, and that was the original proposal) main mirror will make it by far the largest optical/near-infrared telescope in the world and enable it to take images 15 times sharper than the HST.

To try to grasp just how big that is, it's almost the size of 5 doubles tennis courts!

At a ceremony in Santiago, the Chilean Minister of Foreign Affairs, Alfredo Moreno, and ESO's Director General, Tim de Zeeuw, signed an agreement that secures donated Chilean land for the telescope, a protected area around it, and support from the Chilean government for the establishment of the E-ELT.

The new telescope will be completed by early next decade and will be placed at Cerro Armazones, 20kms from the Very Large Telescope (VLT) at the Paranal Observatory.

See for example:

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2011/10/17/european-extremely-large-_n_1015138.html

8. ISS: the International Space Station will commence a series of morning passes on Jan 13. See www.heavens-above.com for details of this, and other bright satellites, Iridium Flares etc, for your own location.

9. Venus, the Evening Star: Is now readily visible in the evening twilight, and will be a brilliant 'evening star' as seen from Ireland through the Spring, and will be very well placed in late March as it approaches the Pleiades. It's visible lowish in the SW after sunset, at magnitude -4.1, and apparent diameter 13" (arcsecs). It is gradually moving out from the Sun, and will become a brilliant and unmistakable object through February and March.

10. Aurora alerts. A lot of people who are not particularly interested in astronomy have asked me about seeing an aurora from Ireland/UK. I'm therefore going to set up a separate alert bulletin for possible aurora events only. If you know anyone who would like to get alerts of chances when aurorae might be visible from here (but not these more comprehensive bulletins), send me their email address, or ask them to email me directly.

I will of course include such information in these general astronomy bulletins too!

11. TWITTER: the IAA now has a twitter account. twitter@IaaAstro

12. BBC THINGS TO DO WEBSITE: See the forthcoming IAA events on
http://www.bbc.co.uk/thingstodo

13. Welcome to all the new members who have joined the IAA over the last few months - far too many to name here!

14. 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

Star Party, Lectures, BBC Stargazing, IAA/Radio, Galway, Comet, Venus, Aurorae

2012-01-05T17:10:00.000Z

Hi all,

1. IAA NEW YEAR PARTY, 7 January: The annual social event of the year will be on Saturday 7 January. The format is the same as before: meet first for buffet eats at 5.30 for 6.0 at McBrides in The Square, Comber, then on to the Tudor Cinema for some hot punch or soft drinks and the film "Cowboys and Aliens", followed by George's renowned quiz, with lots of prizes. We have ordered more food per person this year, so even the late arrivals should get enough!

And of course there will also be my seasonal hot punch on arrival at the Cinema: this will be available in two varieties of alcoholic strength to suit all tastes, and driving options.

We have also arranged for the car park to be treated with salt/grit if necessary, after the very slippy conditions there last year.

Directions: McBrides is in The Square, (NE corner) in Comber, at the junction of the A21 towards Ballygowan and the A22 towards Killinchy. GPS: 54 deg 33' 1" N; 5 deg 44' 44" W. You can park in the Square itself.

Directions to the Tudor Cinema from Comber: Take the A22 towards Killinchy, and about 1 mile beyond the end of the 30 mph speed limit sign, take the FIRST RIGHT into Drumhirk Road. GPS for this junction: 54 deg 31' 59.5", 5 deg 43' 54.6" W. The entrance to the Cinema is about 500 yards along Drumhirk Road, on the left - look out for signs for our event. Follow this laneway to the end, and it will bring you to the car park. GPS: 54 deg 31' 47" N, 5 deg 44' 15" W. Advance Booking is essential: see the IAA website: www.irishastro.org if you haven't already got a booking form.

2. IAA LECTURE, 11 January: The Astronomical Association's next public lecture will be given by Prof Stephen Smartt of QUB: Title: "Astronomy with the PanSTARRS1 Telescope"

3. MAC EVENT: Midlands Astronomy Club presents a Telescope night for Beginners - Tuesday January 10th. Taking place in the Presbyterian Church, High Street, Tullamore at 8pm, MAC members and experienced amateur astronomers will be on hand to provide demonstrations and tips on how to get the most out of your telescope or binoculars. The latest version of SkyMaps for January will be available free and copies of our 2012 Calendar will also be on sale (€5 each). Admission is €2.00 and all are welcome (children and adults alike).

4. Major Public Lecture at QUB: "Latest News From the Large Hadron Collider", by Dr. Tara Shears, Thursday 12th January, 6:30 pm
   The School of Mathematics and Physics at Queen's University Belfast presents a lecture on the latest news from the largest science experiment ever built. The talk will be given by Dr. Tara Shears from the University of Liverpool, a renowned expert in particle physics and accomplished public speaker.
   The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the most powerful particle collider ever built. It is capable of creating (fleetingly) the fundamental particles which form everything in the universe. In particle physics we've understood much about these tiny objects, and can describe their behaviour in an incredibly successful theory. However, there are many known unknowns: where and what is the mysterious Higgs particle? Why is there so little antimatter in the universe? What is dark matter? We have built the LHC to try to find answers, and in this talk, Dr. Shears will show you the latest findings.
   The lecture will be at 6:30 pm on Thursday 12th January in the Larmor Lecture Theatre, Physics Building, QUB. Complimentary tea and coffee will be served in the Great Hall in the Lanyon Building (main entrance) from 6:00 pm - 6:20pm.
   If you wish to attend this lecture, please reserve seats by either going to the website http://tinyurl.com/QUBPhysics or by calling 028 9097 3202.
    This talk has been sponsored by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) and the School of Mathematics and Physics at Queen's University Belfast.

5. BBC's STARGAZING LIVE returns on 16-18 January, featuring the Irish Astronomical Association with a 2-hour broadcast extravaganza from Lough Neagh Discovery Centre (LNDC) near Lurgan, Co Armagh, on the evening of Tuesday 17th, and other activities on the Monday and Wednesday.

The IAA has been recognised by the BBC as an official 'Partner' in delivering this part of the programme. More on the IAA website: www.irishastro.org.

Final details are still being fine-tuned, but look out for the following highlights:

*Public Observing if clear: Venus, Jupiter, + all the usual Deep Sky wonders with a selection of powerful telescopes and binoculars.

*Stardome presentations: due to the expected demand, these will be ticket only, issued on a first come - first served basis.

*Amazing Photo Exhibition: The fantastic A0 size photos produced for IYA 2009 will again be on show, plus some of the best from other sources.

*Telescope and binocular exhibition: see all the varieties available, the pros and cons of each, and learn how to use them to their best capacity.

*Meteorites: an exhibition of many different sorts of meteorites - hold in your hand a piece of outer space (if you can hold it!), with experts there to talk about them.

*Astrophotography for beginners" - A 'taster session' by our own expert, Paul Evans.

*Hands-On demos: How to make a comet, etc.

*3-D Modern Astronomy show, presented by Robert Hill from N.I. Space Office.

*Children's activities, such as making willow stars.

In other words, something for everyone.

See: www.irishastro.org and www.bbc.co.uk/stargazing for updates.

See also: http://www.bbc.co.uk/thingstodo - put "Belfast" in the search box and see all our next events!

Wednesday 18th: Armagh Observatory and NIEA: Stargazing LIVE at An Creagan and Beaghmore: Where the Heavens Meet the Earth
Armagh Observatory and the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) together with An Creagan and the Omagh and Cookstown District Councils are hosting a day of FREE Stargazing LIVE activities at An Creagan and the nearby Beaghmore Stone Circles. This is a unique megalithic site and the best Dark-Sky site in Northern Ireland.
Following a series of Universe Awareness (EU-UNAWE) astronomy and science-based activities for local KS2 school children at An Creagan, in the afternoon there will be an opportunity, weather permitting, to visit the Beaghmore Stone Circles and learn more about the stones from Living History players and a professional archaeologist. This element of the FREE Stargazing LIVE event will take place from approximately 3.30pm to 5.00pm. Participants will watch the Sun going down and observe the bright planets Venus and Jupiter, both visible in the southern sky, as well as the first stars to appear after sunset. See http://star.arm.ac.uk/publicevents/2012/stargazing/
Further information about this Stargazing LIVE event will be available from the Observatory website. Meanwhile, anyone wishing to participate in either the afternoon or evening events is requested to obtain their FREE ticket(s) by telephoning or sending an e-mail to: Mrs Aileen McKee at the Armagh Observatory, College Hill, Armagh; Tel: 028-3752-2928; e-mail: ambn@arm.ac.uk.

For younger visitors there will be a special Stargazing arts and crafts room where they can have fun making space objects.

6:30pm Doors open; Public telescope viewing commences; Stargazing arts and crafts commences

7:00pm Experiencing the Aurora show *Remember to pre-book your seats!

7:30pm Meteorite Workshop

7:45pm Experiencing the Aurora show *Remember to pre-book your seats!

8:30pm Meteorite Workshop

9:30 Doors close

6. IAA 2-hour Live Radio Broadcast! The Irish Astronomical Association has also been invited by the BBC to present a 2-hour live programme on Radio Ulster on the evening of Friday 27 January from Delamont Country Park, near Killinchy! More details on this later.

7. Galway Astronomy Festival - January 21st 2012 is on "New Frontiers of the Universe". Oscar Wilde reminds us that although we are all in the gutter, some of us are looking at the stars. This years Galway Astronomy Festival addresses the theme "New Frontiers of the Universe" from a professional as well as an amateur astronomer's perspective. The event, now in its 9th year, has become one of the most popular events in Ireland, where amateurs and professionals meet in friendship. This is essential for exchanging information, successful stargazing and mutual progress. We look forward to seeing you, hopefully under clear skies. For more details see: http://galwayastronomyclub.ie/

8. ISS: the International Space Station is just ending a series of evening passes over Ireland, and will commence a series of morning passes on Jan 13. See www.heavens-above.com for details of this, and other bright satellites, Iridium Flares etc, for your own location.

9. UNBELIEVABLE COMET PICTURES FROM THE SPACE STATION
The International Space Station's commander has again seen the grandeur of comet Lovejoy in new pictures taken from the orbiting outpost, this time also capturing the Earth's horizon and background stars in exquisite detail. see
http://spaceflightnow.com/station/exp30/111225comet/

10. Venus, the Evening Star: Is visible as a brilliant 'evening star' from Ireland through the end of March, and will be very well placed in late March as it approaches the Pleiades. It's already visible low in the SSW after sunset. It is already as bright as magnitude -4.0, and apparent diameter 13" (arcsecs). It is gradually moving out from the Sun, and will become a brilliant and unmistakable object through February and March.

11. Aurora alerts. A lot of people who are not particularly interested in astronomy have asked me about seeing an aurora from Ireland/UK. I'm therefore going to set up a separate alert bulletin for possible aurora events only. If you know anyone who would like to get alerts of chances when aurorae might be visible from here (but not these more comprehensive bulletins), send me their email address, or ask them to email me directly.

I will of course include such information in these general astronomy bulletins too!

12. TWITTER: the IAA now has a twitter account. twitter@IaaAstro

13. BBC THINGS TO DO WEBSITE: See the forthcoming IAA events on
http://www.bbc.co.uk/thingstodo

14. 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.

Finally, I hope you all have a very healthy and happy New Year. And just for the record, it won't end on 21 December 2012!

Clear skies,

Terry Moseley

2nd Earth, Solstice, Meteors, IAA Party, 2 Lectures, Venus, S/gazing Live, More

2011-12-20T23:15:00.001Z

Hi all,

(Xmas Bonus Issue - the biggest yet!)

1. A 'Second Earth' is found: NASA's Kepler space telescope has found the first confirmed Earth-size planets orbiting another star, astronomers announced today, a major milestone in an ongoing project aimed at finding out how commonplace -- or rare -- Earth-like worlds may be across the cosmos.

In a solar system 1,000 light years away with at least five planets, the newly confirmed Earth-size worlds orbit too close to their star to support life. But proving the Kepler observatory can, in fact, spot worlds as small as Earth across the vast reaches of interstellar space gives astronomers confidence that many more such planets are awaiting discovery in the 2,326 planet candidates found by the telescope to date.

"The first of these two planets has a diameter just 3 per cent larger than the Earth, which makes it the closest object to the Earth in terms of size in the known universe," Francois Fressin of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, told reporters in a teleconference. "The second planet is 13 per cent smaller than the Earth, with a diameter of around 7,000 miles. It is also smaller than Venus, and this is, in fact, the smallest planetary body ever discovered in orbit around an Earth-like star.

"Most importantly, it is the first time we've crossed the Earth-size threshold. In other words, December 2011 could be remembered as the first time humanity has been able to detect a planet of Earth-size or smaller around another star."

On Dec. 5, the Kepler team announced the discovery of a world twice the size of Earth orbiting in its star's habitable zone, where liquid water can exist, the first time a relatively Earth-size world had been found at the right distance to possibly support life.

See http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n1112/20kepler/

2. Winter Solstice: The solstice will be at 05.30 on Dec 22, when the Sun reaches its most southerly point on the ecliptic, and hence its half-yearly southerly journey through the sky comes to an end, and it thus appears to 'stand still' (the literal meaning of solstice). Of course, it's only the Southward motion that ends - its daily circuit around our sky continues as normal!

It then starts to move North again, giving longer days and shorter nights.

3. METEORS. The Geminid meteors were somewhat spoiled by a nearly full moon, but in spite of that our webmaster Paul Evans managed to get some reasonable photos: see www.irishastro.org

The Ursid meteors peak on December 22, with no moonlight, so if you have all your presents already wrapped, it's your chance for some good observing of a rather under-observed shower. The ZHR might be 10 – 20; on some occasions it has been much higher. The radiant is close to Kocab, or Beta Ursa Minoris, the second brightest star in the Little Bear.

The Quadrantids One of the best annual showers peaks on January 3-4, but the waxing gibbous moon won't set until about 03.40, and so will somewhat spoil the display. However, if you are REALLY keen, observe from then until dawn on the 4th, and you should get a really good show, as the ZHR can reach about 100, and the radiant is then at its highest, reaching an altitude of over 50 degrees just before dawn.

Alternatively, observe from Moonset (about 02.40) on the morning of the 3rd until dawn to catch the rise towards maximum.

The Zenithal Hourly Rate (ZHR) is the rate which would be seen by an experienced observer, in a VERY dark sky, and with the radiant in the zenith: actual observed rates very rarely reach the nominal ZHR for various reasons. The radiant is about halfway between the end star in the tail of the Great Bear (or the end of the handle of The Plough) and the head of Draco.

4. Earth at Perihelion: The Earth will be closest to the Sun on Jan 05 at 00h 31m. It will then lie 0.9832841 AU, or 147m km, away. The apparent diameter will be 32' 31.89" (arcsecs), and its light will take 8m 10.7s to reach us.

5. IAA NEW YEAR PARTY, 7 January: The annual social event of the year will be on Saturday 7 January. The format is the same as before: meet first for buffet eats at 5.30 for 6.0 at McBrides in The Square, Comber, then on to the Tudor Cinema for some hot punch or soft drinks and the film "Cowboys and Aliens", followed by George's renowned quiz, with lots of prizes. We have ordered more food per person this year, so even the late arrivals should get enough!

And of course there will also be my seasonal hot punch on arrival at the Cinema: this will be available in two varieties of alcoholic strength to suit all tastes, and driving options.

We have also arranged for the car park to be treated with salt/grit if necessary, after the very slippy conditions there last year.

6. IAA LECTURE, 11 January: The Astronomical Association's next public lecture will be given by Prof Stephen Smartt of QUB: Title: "Astronomy with the PanSTARRS1 Telescope"

7. Major Public Lecture at QUB: "Latest News From the Large Hadron Collider", by Dr. Tara Shears, Thursday 12th January, 6:30 pm
   The School of Mathematics and Physics at Queen's University Belfast presents a lecture on the latest news from the largest science experiment ever built. The talk will be given by Dr. Tara Shears from the University of Liverpool, a renowned expert in particle physics and accomplished public speaker.
   The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the most powerful particle collider ever built. It is capable of creating (fleetingly) the fundamental particles which form everything in the universe. In particle physics we've understood much about these tiny objects, and can describe their behaviour in an incredibly successful theory. However, there are many known unknowns: where and what is the mysterious Higgs particle? Why is there so little antimatter in the universe? What is dark matter? We have built the LHC to try to find answers, and in this talk, Dr. Shears will show you the latest findings.
   The lecture will be at 6:30 pm on Thursday 12th January in the Larmor Lecture Theatre, Physics Building, QUB. Complimentary tea and coffee will be served in the Great Hall in the Lanyon Building (main entrance) from 6:00 pm - 6:20pm.
   If you wish to attend this lecture, please reserve seats by either going to the website http://tinyurl.com/QUBPhysics or by calling 028 9097 3202.
    This talk has been sponsored by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) and the School of Mathematics and Physics at Queen's University Belfast.

8. COMET survives a graze with the Sun! Comet Lovejoy was expected to be destroyed in a spectacular light show on Dec. 15/16 as it plunged to a very close encounter with the Sun. But to everyone's surprise, it survived the encounter, and reappeared from behind the Sun, indicating that its nucleus was either much bigger, or much more robust, than had been thought. Check http://spaceweather.com for full coverage.

9. ISS: the International Space Station has started a new series of evening passes over Ireland. See www.heavens-above.com for details of this, and other bright satellites, Iridium Flares etc, for your own location.

10. Venus, the Evening Star: Is visible as a brilliant 'evening star' from Ireland from late December through the end of March, and will be very well placed in late March as it approaches the Pleiades. It's already visible low in the SSW after sunset. On Jan 1 it will be magnitude -4.0, with a phase of 82.6%, and apparent diameter 12.9" (arcsecs). It then gradually moves out from the Sun, and will become a brilliant and unmistakable object through February and March.

11. BBC's STARGAZING LIVE returns on 16-18 January, starring the Irish Astronomical Association with a 2-hour live broadcast extravaganza from Lough Neagh Discovery Centre (LNDC) on the evening of Tuesday 17th, and other activities on the Monday and Wednesday. Final details are still being fine-tuned, but look out for the following highlights:

*Public Observing if clear: Venus, Jupiter, + all the usual Deep Sky wonders with a selection of powerful telescopes and binoculars.

*Stardome presentations: due to the expected demand, these will be ticket only, issued on a first come - first served basis.

*Amazing Photo Exhibition: The fantastic A0 size photos produced for IYA 2009 will again be on show, plus some of the best from other sources.

*Telescope and binocular exhibition: see all the varieties available, the pros and cons of each, and learn how to use them to their best capacity.

*Meteorites: an exhibition of many different sorts of meteorites - hold in your hand a piece of outer space (if you can hold it!), with experts there to talk about them.

*Astrophotography for beginners" - A 'taster session' by our own expert, Paul Evans.

*Hands-On demos: How to make a comet, etc.

*3-D Modern Astronomy show, presented by Robert Hill from N.I. Space Office.

*Children's activities, such as making willow stars.

In other words, something for everyone.

See: www.irishastro.org and www.bbc.co.uk/stargazing for updates.

See also: http://www.bbc.co.uk/thingstodo - put "Belfast" in the search box and see all our next events!

Wednesday 18th: Armagh Planetarium events - see their website for details.

The IAA has been recognised by the BBC as an official 'Partner' in delivering this part of the programme. Final details are still being worked out with the BBC and LNDC - more on this next time. Oh, and there's some chap called Prof Brian Cox who might be on the programme too.....

12. Galway Astronomy Festival - January 21st 2012 is on "New Frontiers of the Universe". Oscar Wilde reminds us that although we are all in the gutter, some of us are looking at the stars. This years Galway Astronomy Festival addresses the theme "New Frontiers of the Universe" from a professional as well as an amateur astronomer's perspective. The event, now in its 9th year, has become one of the most popular events in Ireland, where amateurs and professionals meet in friendship. This is essential for exchanging information, successful stargazing and mutual progress. We look forward to seeing you, hopefully under clear skies. For more details see: http://galwayastronomyclub.ie/

13. TWITTER: the IAA now has a twitter account. twitter@IaaAstro

14. 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.

Finally, whatever your faith, or none, I hope you all have a very happy 'Festive' / 'Holiday' Season, and a healthy and happy New Year. And just for the record, it won't end on 21 December 2012!

Clear skies,

Terry Moseley

Lecture, Gem's, Comet, Lidl 'scope, Radio, Solstice, Party, Stargazing Live, GAF

2011-12-13T17:01:00.002Z

Hi all,

1. IAA LECTURE, 14 December: The Astronomical Association's next public lecture will be given by Dr Ryan Milligan of QUB: Title: "Exploring the Current Rise in Solar Activity"

Dr Milligan is actively engaged in solar research, at a very interesting time in the current solar cycle. After one of the longest and deepest solar minima on record, there was speculation that the 11-year solar cycle was about to 'switch off' or at least undergo a drastic change, leading to another 'Maunder Minimum'. And there is some evidence that the last Maunder Minimum was associated with a 'mini-ice age' in western Europe.

On the other side of the coin, there is also increasing concern that another 'Carrington Superflare' could cause widespread damage and disruption to our modern electrical and electronic life, putting out of action everything from our power supplies to computers, mobile phones, and almost all form of travel apart from the bicycle! So interest in the Sun's activity is at an all-time high.

The lecture is on WEDNESDAY 14 December, at 7.30 p.m., in the Bell Lecture Theatre, Physics Building, Queen's University, Belfast. ADMISSION IS FREE, as always, and includes light refreshments. Everyone is welcome! Full details of the rest of the programme are on the website: www.irishastro.org

2. GEMINID and URSID METEORS. The Geminids are active from about 10 to 17 December, with maximum on the 14^th at about 14h. That's obviously daylight here, so the best options for observing are the nights of 13-14, and 14-15 December.

The ZHR at maximum is about 100, but unfortunately there will be interference from moonlight! On the night of Dec 13-14 it will be just past full, and in Gemini, just about 16˚ away from the radiant! Next night it will be a bit fainter, but still only about 20˚ below the radiant, which lies just above Castor.

The best trick is to try to hide the Moon behind some object such as a building, so that it doesn't shine directly into your eyes, and then look away about 50 degrees on the other side of the radiant.

On the 15^th-16^th it will have moved on into Cancer, giving an hour or two's viewing before it rises, but with the radiant still quite low.

A small compensation is that the Ursid meteors peak on December 22, with no moonlight, so if you have all your prezzies already wrapped, it's your chance for some good observing of a rather under-observed shower. The ZHR might be 10 – 20; on some occasions it has been much higher. The radiant is not far from Kocab, the second brightest star in Ursa Minor, the Little Bear

3. COMET to Hit Sun: A comet with a nucleus about 200 metres across is plunging toward the Sun where it will most likely be destroyed in a spectacular light show on Dec. 15/16. Solar glare will prevent any observations from Earth, but NASA and ESA spacecraft should have a grand view. Check http://spaceweather.com for full coverage.

4. BARGAIN TELESCOPE AT LIDL:

Lidl has once again come up with a telescope offer for the Xmas market. It's back to the old favourite, the 70mm refractor on aluminium tripod and equatorial mount, for £79.99. It will be on sale from Thursday 15 Dec.

Details:

* Bresser 70mm achromatic refractor, 900mm FL, adjustable aluminium tripod, equatorial mount with slow motions on both axes.

* 3 eyepieces (standard 31.5mm diameter), 20mm, 12mm and 4mm, plus 1.5x erecting terrestrial converter (if this is the usual design, it will bring the image the right way up, and increase the power of each eyepiece you use with it by 1.5x, but with a much narrower field of view).

* Software for PC

* 6x25mm finder

* star diagonal

(My view: This is not a telescope for faint deep sky objects, nor detailed views of the planets, but is fine for a beginner on a budget, and will give good views of brighter objects like the Pleiades, M42 etc, double stars, the Moon, or the Sun by projection or using a proper 'Mylar' - type solar filter (not supplied). T.M.)

5. Interview on YPAM, Radio Ulster, Sat 17/12. Early risers on Saturday morning can hear me being interviewed on Your Place And Mine about the forthcoming Winter Solstice (it's the Saturday just before it). Weather permitting, I'll be on the roof of Broadcasting House on Belfast talking about the solstice sunrise. The Sun will rise from there at about 08.40, so the interview might start at about 08.40 or so. But I'm not asking you to set the alarm early just for me!

6. Winter Solstice: The solstice will actually be at 05.30 on Dec 22, when the Sun reaches its most southerly point on the ecliptic, and hence its half-yearly southerly journey through the sky comes to an end, and it thus appears to 'stand still' (the literal meaning of solstice). Of course, it's only the Southward motion that ends - its daily circuit around our sky continues as normal!

It then starts to move North again, giving longer days and shorter nights.

7. Astronomy at UCLAN? An IAA member has asked me - "Do you know of anyone who has tackled a part of (or all of) the BSc in Astronomy by distance learning at the University of Central Lancashire?" He is keen to start this course, and is wondering if anyone has already done it, and has any comments or advice. If you can help, let me know & I'll pass on your email to him. Thanks.

8. IAA NEW YEAR PARTY: The annual social event of the year will be on Saturday 7 January. The format is the same as before: meet first for eats at 5.30 for 6.0 at McBrides in Comber, then on to the Tudor Cinema for some hot punch or soft drinks and the film "Cowboys and Aliens", followed by George's diabolical quiz. More details next time, but mark the date in your diary now.

9. BBC's STARGAZING LIVE returns on 16-18 January, starring the Irish Astronomical Association with a 2-hour live broadcast extravaganza from Lough Neagh Discovery Centre on the evening of Tuesday 17th, and other activities on the Monday and Wednesday in the Craigavon area. Final details are still being worked out with the BBC - more on this after a further planning meeting with the BBC tomorrow. Oh, and there's some chap called Prof Brian Cox who might be on the programme too.....

10. Galway Astronomy Festival - January 21st 2012 is on "New Frontiers of the Universe".
Oscar Wilde reminds us that although we are all in the gutter, some of us are looking at the stars. This years Galway Astronomy Festival addresses the theme "New Frontiers of the Universe" from a professional as well as an amateur astronomer's perspective. The event, now in its 9th year, has become one of the most popular events in Ireland, where amateurs and professionals meet in friendship. This is essential for exchanging information, successful stargazing and mutual progress. We look forward to seeing you, hopefully under clear skies. For more details see: http://galwayastronomyclub.ie/

11: ISS: the International Space Station will start a new series of evening passes over Ireland on Dec 18. See www.heavens-above.com for details of this, and other bright satellites, Iridium Flares etc, for your own location.

12. TWITTER: the IAA now has a twitter account. twitter@IaaAstro

13. 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

Lectures, Lunar Eclipse, Meteors, NY Party, Stargazing Live, GAF, ISS

2011-12-08T18:16:00.001Z

Hi all,

1. IAA LECTURE, 14 December: The Astronomical Association's next public lecture will be given by Dr Ryan Milligan of QUB: Title: "Exploring the Current Rise in Solar Activity"

On the other side of the coin, there is also increasing concern that another 'Carrington Superflare' could cause widespread damage and disruption to our modern electrical and electronic life, putting out of action everything from our power supplies to computers. mobile phones, and almost all form of travel apart from the bicycle! So interest in the Sun's activity is at an all-time high.

2. Biennial Royal Irish Academy McCrea Lecture: "The 100-year mystery of the Cosmic Ray", by Prof Luke Drury. Schroedinger Lecture Theatre, School of Physics, TCD, 6 p.m., Friday 9 December 2011. Hosted by the School of Physics, Trinity College.

Professor Drury, who has honoured the IAA with a lecture in the past, is Director of the School of Cosmic Physics in the Dublin Institute of Advanced Studies, and is currently President of the Royal Irish Academy.
Synopsis: "The strange discovery of Viktor Hess - one hundred years of cosmic ray studies. It will very soon be the centenary of the discovery of cosmic rays by Viktor Hess which is conventionally dated to 1912. It is hard to think of another topic in physics which has remained an active field of research for so long, and which still awaits a definitive solution. Recent progress has been dramatic however and there is good reason to hope that the end is in sight even if there remains much to be done. In this talk I will outline the history of the field and then focus on recent developments as well as the future projects that are being discussed at the moment."

Admission is free, but seats MUST be reserved by booking at: http://www.ria.ie/events/events-listing/royal-irish-academy-biennial-mccrea-lecture-2011.aspx

3. Rising Lunar Eclipse.

The rising Full Moon on Saturday night will look a bit odd! That's because it will still be in eclipse, and so we will see part of it still covered by the shadow of the Earth.

This will be a Total Eclipse, but by the time the Moon rises from Ireland, the totality part will be over, and we will just see the emerging partial phases.

When the Moon rises about 3.57 p.m. (from Belfast/Dublin - it will be a bit later the further West you are), the Earth's shadow will still be covering the upper right edge of the Moon. As it rises further, the shadowed area will gradually decrease, and at 5.18 p.m., when the Moon is still low near the North-Eastern horizon, it will move out of the main part of the Earth's shadow altogether.

From then until 6.31 p.m. it will be in the much fainter 'penumbra' or outer shadow, but this won't be quite so noticeable: it will just look as if the Full Moon is a bit fainter than usual. From 6.31 onwards it will appear as a normal bright full Moon.

The brilliant 'star' to the upper right of the Moon will of course be the giant planet Jupiter.

4. GEMINID and URSID METEORS. The Geminids are active from about 10 to 17 December, with maximum on the 14^th at about 14h. That's obviously daylight here, so the best options for observing are the nights of 13-14, and 14-15 December.

On the 15^th-16^th it will have moved on into Cancer, giving an hour or two's viewing before it rises, but with the radiant still quite low.

5. IAA NEW YEAR PARTY: The annual social event of the year will be on Saturday 7 September. The format is the same as before: meet first for eats at 5.30 for 6.0 at McBrides in Comber, then on to the Tudor Cinema for some hot punch or soft drinks and the film "Cowboys and Aliens", followed by George's diabolical quiz. More details next time, but mark the date in your diary now.

6. BBC's STARGAZING LIVE returns on 16-18 January, starring the Irish Astronomical Association with a 2-hour live broadcast extravaganza from Lough Neagh Discovery Centre on the evening of Tuesday 17th, and other activities on the Monday and Wednesday. Final details are still being worked out with the BBC - more on this next time. Oh, and there's some chap called Prof Brian Cox who might be on the programme too.....

7. Galway Astronomy Festival - January 21st 2012 is on "New Frontiers of the Universe".
Oscar Wilde reminds us that although we are all in the gutter, some of us are looking at the stars. This years Galway Astronomy Festival addresses the theme "New Frontiers of the Universe" from a professional as well as an amateur astronomer's perspective. The event, now in its 9th year, has become one of the most popular events in Ireland, where amateurs and professionals meet in friendship. This is essential for exchanging information, successful stargazing and mutual progress. We look forward to seeing you, hopefully under clear skies. For more details see: http://galwayastronomyclub.ie/

8: ISS: the International Space Station is currently making morning passes over Ireland. See www.heavens-above.com for details for your own location.

9. TWITTER: the IAA now has a twitter account. twitter@IaaAstro

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.

Clear skies,

Terry Moseley

IAA Lecture, Events at WWT and Dungannon, RIA lecture, Galway A.F., ISS

2011-11-29T21:49:00.001Z

Hi all,

1. IAA LECTURE, 30 November: The Astronomical Association's next public lecture will be given by Tom Boles, founder and owner of Coddenham Observatory in Suffolk.

Tom is the world's greatest supernova discoverer, with about 140 discoveries to his credit. Supernovae come in various forms, with different causes, but in general terms they represent either the explosive death of a giant star, or a very violent episode in the life of a binary star pair. Visually, they are the greatest explosions we see in the universe, with the exploding star sometimes becoming as bright as the combined light of all the other hundreds of millions of stars in its parent galaxy!

And they are an extremely important tool in our efforts to measure accurately the distances to the remotest and oldest objects in the universe.

And it's through the latest observations of distant supernovae that astronomers have concluded that the expansion of the universe is speeding up - the so-called 'Accelerating Universe'.

Come along and learn all about these amazing phenomena, how one man has beaten the rest of the world in making these discoveries at his own observatory, and how you might even be able to discover one yourself!

Tom's talk is entitled "Discovering Supernova: Motivation and rewards".

(This lecture is being arranged with assistance from the Astrophysics Department at QUB, for which we are very grateful.)

The lecture is on WEDNESDAY 30 November, at 7.30 p.m., in the Bell Lecture Theatre, Physics Building, Queen's University, Belfast. ADMISSION IS FREE, as always, and includes light refreshments. Everyone is welcome! Full details of the rest of the programme are on the website: www.irishastro.org

NB: Because of the public servants' strike, public transport will not be available that day. If anyone needs a lift to and/or from QUB that evening, let me know your address, or general area, and I'll see if any members can offer a lift. T.M.

2. IAA Public Astronomy Evening, at WWT, Castle Espie, Friday 2 December, 7.30 p.m.

Everyone is invited to another of the very successful and popular public astronomy evenings run by the Irish Astronomical Association at WWT, Castle Espie, near Comber, Co Down.

Using powerful telescopes and binoculars, if it's clear we will be able to see a spectacular First Quarter Moon with giant craters and huge mountain ranges, and Jupiter, the Giant planet of the Solar System with its four large Galilean Moons. Looking beyond the Solar System we'll have on view the Pleiades or Seven Sisters, which is the brightest and most spectacular star cluster in the whole sky, the magnificent constellation of Orion the Hunter, with its famous trio of stars forming the belt, and the amazing Orion Nebula, where dozens of stars are currently being born. Later we'll be able to see brilliant Sirius, the brightest star in the sky.

And looking way beyond our own Milky Way Galaxy, you can spot the most distant object visible to the naked eye: our 'big sister' galaxy, the Andromeda Galaxy, which contains 200,000,000,000 stars, and lies an incredible 25 million million miles away.

We will also be giving the ever popular star shows in the portable planetarium, and we'll have an exhibition of fantastic photos taken by the Hubble Space Telescope and other powerful telescopes from all around the world, meteorites from space, and many other interesting items.

So it will be an astronomical treat, even if it's cloudy.

For more information see. www.irishastro.org and www.wwt.org.uk

3. IAA Public Astronomy Evening, at St Patrick's Academy, Dungannon, Saturday 3 December, 7.30 p.m.

Then we'll be doing it all again the next night at St Patrick's Academy, Killymeal Rd, Dungannon! They have one of the best school observatories in these islands, with a Celestron 14-inch reflector in a lovely big purpose-built dome. This event is planned to coincide with a 're-launch' of the refurbished telescope and dome.

As well as that telescope, we will be providing all the same options as at WWT above, including the shows in the Stardome, and we'll be able to see all the same objects in the sky too, if it's clear.

This will be our first event in the Dungannon area, so all members and friends in that area, and indeed from anywhere, will be very welcome.

For more details, and to book a starshow, see: http://www.stpatricksacademy.org.uk/

4. Biennial Royal Irish Academy McCrea Lecture: "The 100-year mystery of the Cosmic Ray", by Prof Luke Drury. Schroedinger Lecture Theatre, School of Physics, TCD, 6 p.m., Friday 9 December 2011. Hosted by the School of Physics, Trinity College.

Admission is free, but seats MUST be reserved by booking at: http://www.ria.ie/events/events-listing/royal-irish-academy-biennial-mccrea-lecture-2011.aspx

5. Galway Astronomy Festival - January 21st 2012 is on "New Frontiers of the Universe".
Oscar Wilde reminds us that although we are all in the gutter, some of us are looking at the stars. This years Galway Astronomy Festival addresses the theme "New Frontiers of the Universe" from a professional as well as an amateur astronomer's perspective. The event, now in its 9th year, has become one of the most popular events in Ireland, where amateurs and professionals meet in friendship. This is essential for exchanging information, successful stargazing and mutual progress. We look forward to seeing you, hopefully under clear skies. For more details see: http://galwayastronomyclub.ie/

6: ISS: the International Space Station is currently making morning passes over Ireland. See www.heavens-above.com for details for your own location.

7. TWITTER: the IAA now has a twitter account. twitter@IaaAstro

8. 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

IAA Events at WWT and at St Patrick's Academy, Dungannon

2011-11-26T09:36:00.001Z

Hi all,

Unfortunately two items got omitted from my last bulletin due to a cutting & pasting error. I include them here, together with a reminder about the other main item which occurs in the meantime, and a note about transport that evening.

1. IAA Public Astronomy Evening, at WWT, Castle Espie, Friday 2 December, 7.30 p.m.

Everyone is invited to another of the very successful and popular public astronomy evenings run by the Irish Astronomical Association at WWT, Castle Espie, near Comber, Co Down.

So it will be an astronomical treat, even if it's cloudy.

For more information see. www.irishastro.org and www.wwt.org.uk

2. IAA Public Astronomy Evening, at St Patrick's Academy, Dungannon, Saturday 3 December, 7.30 p.m.

As well as that telescope, we will be providing all the same options as at WWT above, including the shows in the Stardome, and we'll be able to see all the same objects in the sky too, if it's clear.

This will be our first event in the Dungannon area, so all members and friends in that area, and indeed from anywhere, will be very welcome.

For more details, and to book a starshow, see: http://www.stpatricksacademy.org.uk/

3. IAA LECTURE, 30 November: The Astronomical Association's next public lecture will be given by Tom Boles, founder and owner of Coddenham Observatory in Suffolk.

And they are an extremely important tool in our efforts to measure accurately the distances to the remotest and oldest objects in the universe.

And it's through the latest observations of distant supernovae that astronomers have concluded that the expansion of the universe is speeding up - the so-called 'Accelerating Universe'.

Tom's talk is entitled "Discovering Supernova: Motivation and rewards".

(This lecture is being arranged with assistance from the Astrophysics Department at QUB, for which we are very grateful.)

4. TWITTER: the IAA now has a twitter account. twitter@IaaAstro

5. 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

Lectures, Close miss, Astronaut, BCO, Spacelab, Galileo, MSL, Meteors, ISS, Jup.

2011-10-29T21:57:00.001Z

Hi all,

1. IAA LECTURE, 2 November: The Astronomical Association's next public lecture will be given by Dr Phil Marshall of the Department of Astrophysics, Oxford University. He is a Royal Society Research Fellow, specialising in public outreach, especially on gravitational lensing and observational cosmology.

His talk is entitled "Cosmic Telescopes: Focussing and observing with gravitational lenses".

Gravitational Lenses are a very powerful tool for studying the most distant objects in the universe, and best of all, they are provided by Mother Nature, free of charge! But first you have to find them, and know how to interpret the images. This promises to be a fascinating lecture, revealing the latest findings on the early and most distant parts of our universe.

(This lecture is being arranged with assistance from the Astrophysics Department at QUB, for which we are very grateful.)

The lecture is on WEDNESDAY 02 November, at 7.30 p.m., in the Bell Lecture Theatre, Physics Building, Queen's University, Belfast. ADMISSION IS FREE, as always, and includes light refreshments. Everyone is welcome! Full details of the rest of the programme are on the website: www.irishastro.org

2. The following IAA lecture on Nov 16 will be by well-known space expert and author Brian Harvey: Title "Future Missions to the Moon and Mars". Brian's lectures are an absolute mine of the latest very authoritative information, and very well presented, so don't miss this.

The lecture is on WEDNESDAY 16 November, at 7.30 p.m., in the Bell Lecture Theatre, Physics Building, Queen's University, Belfast. ADMISSION IS FREE, as always, and includes light refreshments. Everyone is welcome! Full details of the rest of the programme are on the website: www.irishastro.org

3: CLOSE ASTEROID FLYBY. Near Earth Object (NEO) 2005 YU55 will make a relatively close flyby of Earth on Nov 8, passing closer to us than the Moon. At closest approach it will be at 85% of the average distance to the Moon, about 203,000 miles, or 327,000km. At a relatively large 400m diameter, this is one of the biggest asteroids to come this close for quite a while. Observation of 2005 YU55 will not be an easy task in Ireland, because of the relatively low object brightness, the very fast movement (>500arcsecs/min) and the low altitude.
   On the following evening the situation is much better. But the +12mag asteroid will still be moving at about 50 arcsecs/min. Astrometry with a video camera and GPS time insertion would be an option. Video evaluation could be done with Tangra software. For the following nights 2005 YU55 remains as a good object for CCD imaging.
   A page with video animation of 2011 fly by, orbit diagram and data is available here:
http://www.dangl.at/2011/2005yu55/2005yu55_e.htm
   You can see in the orbit diagram and in the video animation why the asteroid is not observable during approach to Earth but remains observable long after the fly by. A link to an image sequence from the last Earth fly by in April 2010 can be found also there.

4. NASA ASTRONAUT GREG JOHNSON to visit LIMERICK. Greg will be on Campus in the University of Limerick on Tuesday 15^th November.  Anyone interested in attending his show at 2pm in the Jean Monnet Lecture should let organiser Bernie Quilligan know asap as seats need to be booked: Bernie.Quilligan@ul.ie. They normally advertise such events in the papers but given the high demand they will not be doing that this year.

5. EVENTS at Blackrock Castle Observatory, Cork: see www.bco.ie for more details

Mid-term Workshops: Mission to Mars

First Fridays at the Castle: The Beauty of Chemistry: Free Event

Cork Film Festival School Screenings

Science Week 2011 – The Chemistry of Life in the Universe

Cosmic Careers Day at CIT

Movies by Moonlight: "Contact"

Cosmic Christmas at the Castle

6. Spacelab: It is with great pleasure that we invite you to participate in YouTube Space Lab. (from Robert Hill, of NISO at Armagh)

YouTube Space Lab combines an exciting platform for informative space-related videos with a competition for 14 - 18 year olds from around the world to send a science experiment to space. The winning experiment will be carried out on the International Space Station and live streamed on YouTube. Winning teams will have the chance to win some other amazing prizes too. Through the wonder of space, and the power of YouTube, we hope to inspire and educate kids around the world about science. Globally recognised partners who share our vision, such as Lenovo and Space Adventures in cooperation with NASA, JAXA, and ESA, are helping us make YouTube Space Lab a reality.

A global panel of distinguished experts and scientists, including Professor Stephen Hawking, will help choose the winning experiments. Find out more about the competition on the YouTube Space Lab channel.
We want to ensure that students all over the world have the opportunity to compete in this exciting competition, and we want your help in letting them know about it. Please help us in communicating the announcement of YouTube Space Lab to your educational networks as widely as possible. There's much more information about the competition online on the channel and there is also a site especially for teachers to help on how to approach getting students involved in YouTube Space Lab. Thank you for your help in making the world's largest, most global and inclusive space competition a huge success!
The YouTube Space Lab Team
P.S. Please feel free to forward this to educators or educator networks you know!

7. GALILEO COMPETITION FOR CHILDREN: The Galileo Drawing Competition is an amazing chance to have a Galileo Programme Satellite named after you and launched into Space!

The Galileo Project is Europe's own dedicated GPS system, and will consist of a network of satellites, each costing about a billion euro! Belgium and Bulgaria have already held their competitions, and two satellites have already been named 'Thijs' and 'Natalia', after children in those counties.

To enter the competition you will need to create a picture that represents 'Space and Aeronautics'. This includes things like stars, rockets, planets and satellites. What else can you think of that is in Space?

You can create your picture using any drawing, painting, or colouring technique that you like. You can use all sorts of materials like paints, felt tips, pencils, glue, glitter. The main thing is that you use a big dollop of imagination!

You then upload your picture at the website below. You can do this by scanning your picture or by taking a digital photo. Your parents, teachers, or local library may be able to help you do this. You can only enter one picture so make sure you chose your favourite one.

You must upload your picture before 15th November 2011. A National Jury Panel will then select a winning picture. The winner will be invited to an Award Ceremony where they will be presented with a certificate and a trophy, to keep, that represents the satellite that will be named after them.

If you live in the United Kingdom or Ireland and were born in either 2000, 2001 or 2002, then you can enter the competition. There are separate competitions for each country, so select the appropriate one from the website, which has all the information you need: www.galileocontest.eu Good luck!

8. MARS SCIENCE LABORATORY TALKS: Kevin Nolan, very well-known in Irish astronomy circles, will be giving a new talk titled "Mars Science Laboratory: In search of Origins" to celebrate the Science Week Theme of "The chemistry of life" and the launch of MSL-Curiosity the week after (On November 25th). Kevin is the Irish Representative of The Planetary Society, and is the author of an excellent book on Mars; "Mars, A Cosmic Stepping Stone", published by Springer. (See the great reviews at http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mars-Cosmic-Stepping-Stone-ebook/dp/B001VNCFBC)

   He will be giving the same talk three times - in Dublin (Mansion House on Monday Nov 14th), Galway (NUI Galway on Nov 16th) and Blackrock Castle Observatory (Friday November 18th).
   Kevin adds: "On a related note, I have just launched the new Planetary Society Ireland web site at www.planetary.ie.
   It's quite basic now but is being used to promote the talk at www.planetary.ie/msl. I've also created a new twitter account @planetarie and will be tweeting in selected areas of TPS News, Space News and Policy issues, Mars Exploration and Irish Astronomy matters. While I have few followers just now, Forfas-DSE, BCO and nightsky.ie are retweeting my tweets and these, along with other mechanisms such as the talks in November and an intended blog (planetarie.wordpress.com for 2012) I hope to build a following. I will always be delighted to tweet any IAA news that you need further circulation on (as and when I develop a following!!)."

9. METEORS: A. The annual Taurid Meteor shower will peak on 5 November. These meteors appear to come from near Aldebaran, and while rates are not high, the meteors are slow and graceful, and there is usually a fair proportion of brighter meteors.

B: The annual Leonid Meteor shower will peak on 17 November. Rates are not expected to be high this year.

10: ISS: the International Space Station is currently making evening passes over Ireland. See www.heavens-above.com for details for your own location.

11. JUPITER at OPPOSITION: Giant planet Jupiter will be at opposition (closest to Earth for the year) on 29 October. This is the best time to view it with a telescope. And even good binoculars will show the four large Galilean Moons orbiting the planet in their stately dance. Even a moderate telescope will also show the main dark belts and bright zones, and the famous Great Red Spot, a giant storm, larger than planet Earth, which has been raging in Jupiter's atmosphere for hundreds of years.

12. TWITTER: the IAA now has a twitter account. twitter@IaaAstro

13. 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

Lecture, Orionids, ROSAT, Spacelab, Galileo, M31's asteroid, Mars talks

2011-10-22T09:24:00.001Z

Hi all,

His talk is entitled "Cosmic Telescopes: Focussing and observing with gravitational lenses".

(This lecture is being arranged with assistance from the Astrophysics Department at QUB, for which we are very grateful.)

2. ORIONID METEOR SHOWER: Today Earth is entering a stream of debris from Halley's comet, source of the annual Orionid meteor shower. Forecasters expect the shower to peak on Saturday morning, Oct. 22nd, with more than 15 meteors per hour. Some Orionids will still be visible until the 23rd. The radiant is in N E Orion, not far from the 'feet' of Gemini. Check http://spaceweather.com for links to a live meteor radar, sky maps and observing tips.

3. ROSAT TO CRASH BACK TO EARTH: UPDATE: The massive ROSAT X-ray space telescope is nearing a fiery burn-up in Earth's atmosphere. Most experts agree that re-entry will occur during the early hours of Oct. 23rd, but cannot predict the likely re-entry point yet. Observers report that the satellite, which of course is getting ever lower and closer, can be as bright as a first magnitude star and it occasionally "flares" to even greater brightness. For last-chance sightings of ROSAT in your area, check www.heavens-above.com, or SpaceWeather's online satellite tracker (http://spaceweather.com/flybys) or turn your smartphone into a ROSAT tracker: http://simpleflybys.com .
In case you missed the last alert, here are the relevant points from that one:

Readers in the S half of Ireland have another (VERY slight!) chance to see a satellite crashing back to Earth later this month. Since it never passes further North than 53 degrees, only those living South of the latitude of Birr (approximately) could be in the fall zone.

The ROSAT X-ray astronomy observatory is smaller and less massive than NASA's Upper Atmospheric Research Satellite, or UARS, which fell back to Earth on Sept. 24. But officials predict it will spread three times more debris and pose a greater threat to people than UARS. That's because ROSAT is made of heat-resistant components, especially its primary mirror, which officials say will probably be the largest single fragment that will reach Earth. The satellite will streak into the atmosphere at 17,000 mph, and temperatures up to 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit will burn up much of the spacecraft.

All these forces exerted on the satellite cause it to disintegrate, which in turn means that it eventually lands in the form of a long debris trail. The really heavy objects land later, because they ultimately have to drill their way through the atmosphere."

The bulk of ROSAT is expected to survive re-entry, littering its impact point with up to 30 pieces of debris. There is a 1-in-2,000 chance someone will be struck by fragments of ROSAT on its way down, according to German scientists. That's odds of about 1-in-14 trillion that any individual person will be hit. However, ROSAT will likely end up in the sea, like UARS last month.

Even one day before re-entry, the time of ROSAT's demise will only be known with a precision of plus-or-minus five hours, putting entire oceans and continents in the satellite's flight path. It will not be possible to make any kind of reliable forecast about where the satellite will actually come down until about one or two hours before the fact. It will, however, be possible to predict, about one day in advance, which geographical regions will definitely not be affected.

The slow descent is due to the friction encountered by the satellite as it enters the outer fringes of Earth atmosphere, which increases the more ROSAT penetrates into our atmosphere. Fluctuations in solar activity affect the upper atmosphere and thus can quicken or slow a satellite's re-entry.

4. Spacelab: It is with great pleasure that we invite you to participate in YouTube Space Lab. (from Robert Hill, of NISO at Armagh)

5. GALILEO COMPETITION FOR CHILDREN: The Galileo Drawing Competition is an amazing chance to have a Galileo Programme Satellite named after you and launched into Space!

6. Asteroid passing 'through' M31. (This has been adapted from a BAA email. T.M.) The bright (magnitude 11) asteroid (372) Palma will pass less than 15' north of the nucleus of the Andromeda Galaxy (Messier 31) on the evening of October 21/22. It will take the asteroid about 5 days to cross the galaxy between roughly the dates of October 18-23. The large majority of asteroids do not stray too far from the Ecliptic and so cannot reach M31. Although Palma occupies the asteroid Main Belt, it has an unusually high orbital inclination, and on this occasion it will be about 34 degrees north of the Ecliptic such that it crosses in front of the Andromeda Galaxy.
The best photo opportunity will probably occur on the evening of Oct 22/23 when Palma will lie between the core of M 31 and M 110 (NGC 205). The following evening (Oct 23/24) it will pass some 13' south of Messier 110.
A finder chart (courtesy of Graham Relf of the BAA Computing Section) showing the general path of Palma is available at: http://britastro.org/computing/ch/372Palma2011Oct21(J2000).png. N.B. It will be necessary to take a time-series of images and stack these
to show the trail of the moving asteroid as its apparent speed is only 34" per hour.

7. MARS SCIENCE LABORATORY TALKS: Kevin Nolan, very well-known in Irish astronomy circles, will be giving a new talk titled "Mars Science Laboratory: In search of Origins" to celebrate the Science Week Theme of "The chemistry of life" and the launch of MSL-Curiosity the week after (On November 25th). Kevin is the Irish Representative of The Planetary Society, and is the author of an excellent book on Mars; "Mars, A Cosmic Stepping Stone", published by Springer. (See the great reviews at http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mars-Cosmic-Stepping-Stone-ebook/dp/B001VNCFBC)

   He will be giving the same talk three times - in Dublin (Mansion House on Monday 14th), Galway (NUI Galway on Nov 16th) and Blackrock Castle Observatory (Friday November 18th).
   Kevin adds: "On a related note, I have just launched the new Planetary Society Ireland web site at www.planetary.ie.
   It's quite basic now but is being used to promote the talk at www.planetary.ie/msl. I've also created a new twitter account @planetarie and will be tweeting in selected areas of TPS News, Space News and Policy issues, Mars Exploration and Irish Astronomy matters. While I have few followers just now, Forfas-DSE, BCO and nightsky.ie are retweeting my tweets and these, along with other mechanisms such as the talks in November and an intended blog (planetarie.wordpress.com for 2012) I hope to build a following. I will always be delighted to tweet any IAA news that you need further circulation on (as and when I develop a following!!)."

8. TWITTER: the IAA now has a twitter account. twitter@IaaAstro

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

Lecture, Dracs, Rosat to crash, Competition, M31, Mars talks, Meteorite, Moseley

2011-10-14T01:05:00.001Z

Hi all,

1. IAA LECTURE, 19 October: The next public lecture by the Irish Astronomical Association will be given by Seanie Morris of Midlands Astronomy Club.

His talk is entitled "What was it really like on Apollo 11?". Seanie is very well known in amateur astronomy circles in Ireland, and this talk is one of his specialities. If you remember Apollo 11 this will bring back all the excitement of that mission, and tell you a few things you probably didn't know. If you are too young to remember it you'll get a chance to hear all about what is probably the most famous space mission ever,

The lecture is on WEDNESDAY 19 October, at 7.30 p.m., in the Bell Lecture Theatre, Physics Building, Queen's University, Belfast. ADMISSION IS FREE, as always, and includes light refreshments. Everyone is welcome! Full details of the rest of the programme are on the website: www.irishastro.org

2. DRACONIDS OUTBURST - Preliminary results. The Draconid Meteors are not normally a major shower, but experts forecast that there would be a significant brief outburst on 8 October. The following is from the BAA Meteor Section:

   Draconid Meteor Outburst: Observations by BAA members and non-members indicate that a short-lived outburst of Draconid meteors occurred on 2011 October 8. Draconid rates were generally low until around 1900 UT on October 8 when a rapid increase in activity occurred, peaking between 2005 and 2015 UT.
   Thereafter there was a rapid decline, with Draconid meteor rates returning to a low level by 2130 UT. A very preliminary analysis of visual observations made by a group of observers led by the Director (Dr John Mason), observing from near Goreme in central Turkey, indicates that the peak equivalent ZHR was about 350 m/h between 2005 and 2015 UT, although correction factors are high due to the effect of bright moonlight. It is possible that lesser,
short-lived secondary bursts in Draconid activity were also noted around 1915 and 1938 UT.
    Observers in the UK & Ireland had to contend with cloud and rain on the evening of October 8, but it is extremely encouraging that so many individuals and local society groups battled the elements in the hope of getting a view of the shower.
   More observations of the Draconid outburst, using photographic, visual, and radio techniques, from individuals and groups in the UK and overseas, are urgently required to build up a full picture of the shower's rapidly changing activity. Even if you have only glimpsed a
few meteors during a short-lived break in the clouds, the BAA Meteor Section would like to receive your report.
   So if you did manage any sort of observations, please submit them to the BAA Meteor Section via email to: meteor@britastro.org.

Alternatively, submit them to the International Meteor Organisation: www.imo.net.

3. ROSAT TO CRASH BACK TO EARTH: Readers in the S half of Ireland have another (VERY slight!) chance to get hit by a satellite crashing back to Earth later this month. Since it never passes further North than 53 degrees, only those living South of the latitude of Birr (approximately) could be in the fall zone.

"All these forces exerted on the satellite cause it to disintegrate, which in turn means that it eventually lands in the form of a long debris trail," said Heiner Klinkrad, head of the European Space Agency's space debris office. "The lightweight objects fall to Earth first, similar to leaves from a tree. The really heavy objects land later, because they ultimately have to drill their way through the atmosphere."

But engineers expect the bulk of ROSAT to survive re-entry, littering its impact point with up to 30 pieces of debris. ROSAT does not have an engine or propulsion system because it used reaction wheels to point its telescope toward scientific targets in the cosmos. Up to 3,750 pounds of the satellite could reach Earth's surface. By contrast, NASA said they expected 1,200 pounds of UARS to survive re-entry.

There is a 1-in-2,000 chance someone will be struck by fragments of ROSAT on its way down, according to Germany. That's odds of about 1-in-14 trillion that any individual person will be hit. The threat from UARS wasn't as high. An analysis from NASA showed there was a 1-in-3,200 chance of a collision between a human and a piece of UARS. The remnants of UARS fell in the remote Pacific Ocean, and ROSAT will likely also end up in the sea.

ROSAT, which stands for Roentgen Satellite, was turned off in 1999, and its altitude has gradually dropped since then from an operational orbit more than 350 miles high. The German Aerospace Center, also known as DLR by its German acronym, says the spacecraft should re-enter the atmosphere between Oct. 20 and Oct. 25. But the margin of error in the re-entry forecast is three days, and officials likely won't know where the satellite will come down until after it falls. Even one day before re-entry, the time of ROSAT's demise will only be known with a precision of plus-or-minus five hours, putting entire oceans and continents in the satellite's flight path.

"All areas under the orbit of ROSAT, which extends to 53 degrees N and S, could be affected by its re-entry," said a posting on DLR's website. "The bulk of the debris will impact near the ground track of the satellite." "It will not be possible to make any kind of reliable forecast about where the satellite will actually come down until about one or two hours before the fact," Klinkrad said. "It will, however, be possible to predict, about one day in advance, which geographical regions will definitely not be affected."

"This slow descent is due to the friction encountered by the satellite as it enters the outer fringes of Earth atmosphere, which increases the more ROSAT penetrates into our atmosphere. The major factor affecting a satellite's fall from orbit is solar activity. Energy unleashed from the Sun causes Earth's atmosphere to heat up and expand, generating more drag for satellites in low orbits", Klinkrad said.

Fluctuations in solar activity can quicken or slow a satellite's re-entry. Experts initially expected ROSAT's plunge to occur last year, but solar activity turned out to be less than predicted, delaying the re-entry until this month.

4. GALILEO COMPETITION FOR CHILDREN: The Galileo Drawing Competition is an amazing chance to have a Galileo Programme Satellite named after you and launched into Space!

5. Asteroid to pass 'through' M31. (This has been adapted from a BAA email. T.M.) The bright (magnitude 11) asteroid (372) Palma will pass less than 15' north of the nucleus of the Andromeda Galaxy (Messier 31) on the evening of October 21/22. It will take the asteroid about 5 days to cross the galaxy between roughly the dates of October 18-23. The large majority of asteroids do not stray too far from the Ecliptic and so cannot reach M31. Although Palma occupies the asteroid Main Belt, it has an unusually high orbital inclination, and on this occasion it will be about 34 degrees north of the Ecliptic such that it crosses in front of the Andromeda Galaxy.
The best photo opportunity will probably occur on the evening of Oct 22/23 when Palma will lie between the core of M 31 and M 110 (NGC 205). The following evening (Oct 23/24) it will pass some 13' south of Messier 110.
A finder chart (courtesy of Graham Relf of the BAA Computing Section) showing the general path of Palma is available at: http://britastro.org/computing/ch/372Palma2011Oct21(J2000).png. N.B. It will be necessary to take a time-series of images and stack these
to show the trail of the moving asteroid as its apparent speed is only 34" per hour.

6. MARS SCIENCE LABORATORY TALKS: Kevin Nolan, very well-known in Irish astronomy circles, will be giving a new talk titled "Mars Science Laboratory: In search of Origins" to celebrate the Science Week Theme of "The chemistry of life" and the launch of MSL-Curiosity the week after (On November 25th). Kevin is the Irish Representative of The Planetary Society, and is the author of an excellent book on Mars; "Mars, A Cosmic Stepping Stone", published by Springer. (See the great reviews at http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mars-Cosmic-Stepping-Stone-ebook/dp/B001VNCFBC)

7. Paris house hit by meteorite: (Thanks to Barry Pickup for the alert to this item.) A meteorite crashed through the roof of a Paris house some time in September. Scientists said it was the closest such a space rock ever found to Paris and one of only about 60 meteorites to have landed in France in the past 400 years. In a further twist of fate, the family who received the object in Draveil, about 12 miles south of Paris, are called the Comettes.

It is thought the meteorite struck the house a few weeks ago when the Comettes were on holiday, which explains why they did not hear it crash landing. They only found out when the roof started leaking. "We got the roof tiler round and he was astounded," said Martine Comette, 32. "He said: 'You need to be Superman to break a tile like that! It must be a meteorite.'" The rock had gone through the roof and was wedged in glass wool insulation.

Alain Carion, a mineral scientist and meteor hunter, said the iron-rich celestial rock known as a "chondrite" was easily identifiable thanks to a "black fusion crust that characterises the crossing of the Earth's atmosphere". With an age of around 4.57 billion years, the 3oz egg-sized object came from an asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, he said.

Mrs Commette was still getting to grips with the improbability of such an event. "A météorite landing in your garden is magical and more unlikely than winning the Lottery," she told Le Parisien. While rocks from Mars are estimated at almost £1,000 a gram, the Draveil meteor would only fetch a few hundred euros, according to Mr Carion. In any case, the family has no wish to part with it. "It's the history of life on Earth has landed in my garden, the history of space of which we known nothing and which is fascinating," said Mrs Comette. See: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/space/8818456/4.5-billion-year-old-meteorite-crashes-into-Paris-family-home.html

8. Moseley imaged by WISE spacecraft! OK, please forgive the journalistic license - actually, it imaged 'my' asteroid / minor planet, "16693 Moseley". I got this alert from Prof Alan Fitzsimmons at QUB: "Hi Terry, Don't know if you already know this, but your asteroid was seen by the WISE mission. You have a diameter of 5.5+/-0.7 km and an optical albedo of 0.25+/-0.06. See: http://arxiv.org/abs/1109.4096. All the best! Alan" (Small, maybe, but beautifully formed, I'm sure!)

9. TWITTER: the IAA now has a twitter account. twitter@IaaAstro

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.

Clear skies,

Terry Moseley

2 Lectures, BCO, Draconid outburst + Armagh, Weird EKBO, Cork trip great success

2011-10-03T12:39:00.001Z

Hi all,

1. GALWAY PUBLIC LECTURE:

"Extraterrestrials - where are they?" Your humble scribe (that's me) will be giving a public lecture, hosted by the Galway Astronomy Club, at the Westwood House Hotel, Newcastle, Galway, at 7.30 p.m. on 3 October. Entitled "Is there Intelligent Life out there??" it will look at the latest findings on extrasolar planets, extraterrestrial biochemistry, and the implications for the existence of alien life. And if they are there, will we ever meet them (and if so, at 'your place or mine'?), or will we even be able to communicate with them?

2. IAA LECTURE, 5 October: The next public lecture in the new season by the Irish Astronomical Association will be given by Dr Geert Barentsen of Armagh Observatory.

His talk is entitled "Amateur Meteor Observing and a Possible Draconid Outburst on 8 October". Geert is a very keen meteor observer, and very active in the International Meteor Organisation. His talk will be aimed at the amateur astronomer, covering all aspects of meteors and meteor observing, and the outlining the prospects for a possible outburst of the Draconid meteors on the evening of 8 October - see below for more on this. The lecture will be set at a very simple and accessible level.

The lecture is on WEDNESDAY 5 October, at 7.30 p.m., in the Bell Lecture Theatre, Physics Building, Queen's University, Belfast. ADMISSION IS FREE, as always, and includes light refreshments. Everyone is welcome! Full details of the rest of the programme are on the website: www.irishastro.org

3. EVENTS AT BCO: October has another packed programme of events at Blackrock Castle Observatory, Cork:

Meet a NASA Astronaut & watch a Big Fat Missile launch at World Space Week:

Free Events

First Fridays at the Castle: 50 Years of Human Spaceflight with Leo Enright

Name the Big Dish - Schools Competition

Mid-term Workshops: Mission to Mars

Movies by Moonlight: The Rocky Horror Picture Show

Maths week: book a workshop for your school.

See: www.bco.ie for full details.

4. DRACONIDS OUTBURST FORECAST FOR OCTOBER 8.

There is a fairly reliable forecast for a significant outburst of the Draconid Meteors on the evening of 8 October, just as the sky gets dark.

They are not normally a major shower, but experts forecast a significant brief outburst on 8 October, centred on a time of 19h 57m (20h 57m BST). Estimates of the rate vary from about 200 per hour to almost 1,000 per hour, with the best guess about 400 per hour, or about 6 or 7 per minute.

Unfortunately there will still be a trace of evening twilight, and a bright gibbous Moon will lie about 20 degrees above the SE horizon, and the meteors are predicted to be fairly faint, so we may not see most of them. However the radiant will be almost overhead at the time of the predicted maximum, so try to find a spot where the Moon is hidden behind some object, and get out a lounger so that you can look up almost overhead.

The radiant will lie just below and left of the head of Draco as you look high in the NW sky. If you don't know Draco, the radiant will be about ¼ of the way from Vega towards the handle of the 'Plough' or tail of the Great Bear, if you prefer. The meteors can of course appear anywhere in the sky, but any Draconids will appear to have come from the area of the radiant: if you trace their paths backwards they should pass close to that part of the sky.

The outburst may last only for ¼ to ½ an hour, but if it's clear I suggest you observe from as soon as the sky gets dark enough to see Vega, until about 20.30 (21.30 BST), just in case! Let me know what you see, if anything.

5. Armagh Observatory Draconids Watch:

Astronomers are predicting a sharp maximum of shooting stars to occur during the period from dusk until late evening on Saturday 8th October in the normally weak annual Draconid meteor shower. Between 20 and 100 meteors per hour are expected, with some experts predicting a peak ranging upwards of 500 to 1,000 meteors per hour. Countries of Europe, northern Africa and the Middle East are best placed to see the event. With this in mind the Armagh Observatory is opening for a public meteor watch between 6.30pm and 9.30pm that night. The night of the meteor shower coincides with "International Observe the Moon Night", and assuming the skies are clear there will be an opportunity to see both the planet Jupiter and the Moon.

There will be an introduction to the sky, meteors and the Moon, given by the students of astronomy at the Observatory, and an opportunity, if it's clear, to observe meteors and see telescopic views of the Moon and Jupiter.

The source of the meteors is dust shed by the periodic comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner, discovered in December 1900 by Michel Giacobini of Nice, France, and in 1913 by Ernst Zinner of Bamberg, Germany. The meteors are called "Draconids" because they radiate from the constellation Draco the dragon.

Normally, a maximum of between five and twenty Draconids per hour are seen, but occasionally several thousand per hour may occur, as in 1933 and 1946. The meteor storm that occurred in 1933 was observed from the roof of the Observatory by the Revd W.F.A. Ellison, then Director of the Observatory, who described the meteors as "becoming as thick as the flakes of a snowstorm. The sky was thick with them, wherever one looked" over a period of an hour or so during the evening of 9th October.

Some enhanced displays also occurred in the 1920s, 1950s and 1970s, when the parent comet passed close to the Earth's orbit. This year, on 8th October, there is again the possibility of a significant shower when the Earth passes through a complex of dust trails emitted from the comet in the early and late nineteenth century and in 1900 and 1913. The peaks of any enhanced activity are predicted to occur between approximately 6.00pm and 10.00pm that evening. Unfortunately, it will be daylight when the brightest meteors are expected, and the Moon is in a waxing gibbous phase about three days before Full. Moonlight significantly reduces the number of meteors that might otherwise be seen.

Observations of this rare meteoric phenomenon are keenly sought, and are being encouraged world-wide to determine their numbers versus brightness and time. This will enable astronomers to determine the orbit and activity of the parent comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner during the nineteenth century, before it was discovered. Mark Bailey, Director of the Observatory, said: "A meteor outburst is an extremely rare phenomenon, and the chance to see one should not be missed — even if moonlight seems likely to reduce the number of visible meteors to a drizzle rather than a sharp shower."

For the best chance to see these relatively slow-moving meteors, face towards the north-west away from the Moon and look about 40degrees away from the meteor radiant, which lies fairly high in the sky to the west of the North Star, Polaris.

The Observatory will be open to the public from 6.30pm to 9.30pm to view this event. Members of the Irish Astronomical Association will also be in attendance. As with all astronomy observing events it will be necessary to have clear skies. In the event of rain or thick cloud the event will be cancelled. Those who may wish to attend the event should telephone or send an e-mail to Mrs Aileen McKee at the Armagh Observatory, College Hill, Armagh; Tel: 028-3752-2928; E-mail: ambn@arm.ac.uk, and meet outside the main Observatory building at 6.30pm. It will be interesting to see if there will be an exceptional display of shooting stars this year, or just an average number. Other observers should find a dark site, as far as possible from light pollution or the interfering light of the Moon, and should wrap up warm against the cold, and as comfortable as possible, ready to catch the meteors when they appear.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT: John McFarland at the Armagh Observatory, College Hill, Armagh, BT61 9DG. Tel. 028-3752-2928; FAX: 028-3752-7174; jmf@arm.ac.uk; URL: http://star.arm.ac.uk/.

6. Weird Object Beyond Neptune: (Edited from an RAS Press Release):

A spinning hourglass object may be the first of many to be discovered in the Edgeworth-Kuiper Belt. [NASA & USA astronomers generally refer to the 'Kuiper Belt', but as it was first proposed by Irish astronomer Kenneth Edgeworth, we prefer 'Edgeworth-Kuiper Belt'! T.M.]

The bizarre, hourglass-shaped Edgeworth-Kuiper Belt Object (EKBO) 2001QG298 spins round like a propeller as it orbits the Sun, according to Dr Pedro Lacerdo from Queens University Belfast. [Pedro has given excellent lectures to the IAA] The discovery that the spinning object is tilted at nearly 90 degrees to the ecliptic plane is surprising, and suggests that this type of object could be very common in the Kuiper Belt. The finding will be presented by Pedro at the Joint Meeting of the European Planetary Science Congress and the Division for Planetary Sciences (EPSC-DPS 2011) in Nantes, France, on 3 October.

EKBOs orbit the Sun beyond Neptune and are the best preserved leftovers of the formation of the planets. 2001QG298 is a remarkable EKBO made up from two components that orbit each other very closely, possibly touching. "Imagine that you glue two eggs together tip to tip – that's approximately the shape of 2001QG298. It looks a bit like an hourglass," says Pedro.

U.S. astronomers Sheppard and Jewitt saw that 2001QG298's apparent brightness periodically tripled every 7 hours or so. "The object is so distant that we cannot resolve its shape. But this brightness oscillation, called a lightcurve, reveals the strange shape of 2001QG298 as it spins round. The object appears faint at times because one lobe is hidden behind the other, so less area is reflecting sunlight. As the hidden component rotates back into view, we can see the full hourglass shape. The reflecting area increases and the whole thing looks brighter," explains Pedro.

However, his new study shows that 2001QG298's rotation is almost perpendicular to the plane of its orbit around the Sun. He re-measured the object's lightcurve in late 2010 and noticed that it had changed from Sheppard and Jewitt's observations. The lightcurve variation has become visibly shallower.

"It was impossible to tell from the original observations if the rotation and the orbital plane of 2001QG298 were aligned or perpendicular i.e. whether the object spun round horizontally like the blades on a helicopter or rotated vertically like the propeller of an aeroplane. The changes to the lightcurve variation show that it must be approximately vertical. As 2001QG298 moves round in its orbit of the Sun, our viewing geometry of the 'propeller' is gradually opening out from edge-on to seeing the whirling 'blades' full-face. This means that more of the reflecting surface is becoming visible at all times so the variation in the object's brightness gradually disappears," says Pedro.

The most important consequence of this finding is that it suggests that this type of double EKBO could be very common. When in 2004 Sheppard and Jewitt found 2001QG298 in a sample of 34 EKBOs they realised that they were fortunate to spot its binary nature – if it had not happened to be edge-on at the time of their observations, they would not have seen the extreme lightcurve variation. They estimated that approximately 10% of all EKBOs are contact binaries, assuming that their tilts are random.

However, Pedro believes that the tilts of contact binaries may not actually be random and that objects similar to 2001QG298 could be even more common. "It was a surprise to find that 2001QG298 is inclined by 90 degrees, but that's not the first time we've seen this in a contact binary," he speculates. "There is another famous doublet object, a large Trojan asteroid called 624 Hektor. That object is also tilted almost 90 degrees."

If contact binaries tend to be highly tilted then the chance of spotting their characteristic variable lightcurve is even smaller – only about twice per orbit. The identification of one in a small sample implies that contact binaries may be even more abundant than Sheppard and Jewitt first thought. Lacerda estimates that as many as 25% of EKBOs are contact binaries.
"If contact binaries do tend to be very inclined that may be telling us something about how these objects formed," he concludes.
Images can be found at: http://tinyurl.com/ExtremeAndExtremelyTiltedKBO

[Well done to Pedro for this interesting finding. T.M.]

6. IAA TRIP TO CORK A GREAT SUCCESS: The trip to Cork last W/E was very successful and enjoyable, in spite of the weather!

After an initial meeting with some members of Cork Astronomy Club (CAC) on the Friday evening after we checked in, we met with them on Saturday morning to see their original self-built Club Observatory near the airport (largely the work of Austin Hastings), featuring an impressive and beautifully crafted classical 13-inch diameter Newtonian in a rotating dome.…

On Saturday afternoon Dr Paul Callanan from UCC gave us a fascinating tour of the historic Crawford Observatory on the UCC campus. This features an interesting siderostat telescope, a beautiful brass transit telescope, and the very impressive 13-inch and 8-inch refractors by Grubb of Dublin, co-mounted on a massive equatorial and pier. This instrument was built for the 'Carte du Ciel' project in the late 19th century. All the instruments have been beautifully restored by Belfast man Bertie McClure.

We then met up with a good selection of members of CAC for a great dinner at the restaurant at Blackrock Castle Observatory (BCO), in the Castle grounds.

On Sunday morning we visited the 32-metre dish (with several other smaller satellite dishes) at Elfordstown near Midleton. Formerly operated by Eircom for satellite communications, it is now being converted by the National Space Centre (NSC), in co-operation with Dr Niall Smith of CIT, for radio astronomy research. Rory Fitzpatrick's conducted tour was extremely entertaining and informative.

Then back to BCO on Sunday afternoon for a full conducted tour of the observatory and science centre by Dr Niall Smith. It's amazing to see an observatory dome containing a 14" Ritchey Chretien research telescope on top of one of the 'Disney-like' castle turrets! And there's a great interactive science centre in the main part of the castle. Well worth a visit.

Thanks to all concerned, but specially Clair McSweeney of BCO, Linda & Rory Fitzpatrick of NSC, Paul Callanan of UCC, Niall Smith of CIT/BCO, and all at CAC and Lynda O'Mahony in particular. We'll be back!

7. TWITTER: the IAA now has a twitter account. twitter@IaaAstro

8. 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

Mob: (+44) (0) 7979300842

2 Lectures, Meteor outburst, Armagh Obs Meteors watch, UARS crash

2011-09-29T15:37:00.000Z

Hi all,

1. IAA LECTURE, 5 October: The next public lecture in the new season by the Irish Astronomical Association will be given by Dr Geert Barentsen of Armagh Observatory.

His talk is entitled "Amateur Meteor Observing and a Possible Draconid Outburst on 8 October". Geert is a very keen meteor observer, and very active in the International Meteor Organisation. His talk will be aimed at the amateur astronomer, covering all aspects of meteors and meteor observing, and the outlining the prospects for a possible outburst of the Draconid meteors on the evening of 8 October - see below for more on this. The lecture will be set at a very simple and accessible level.

2. "Extraterrestrials - where are they?" Your humble scribe (that's me) will be giving a public lecture, hosted by the Galway Astronomy Club, at the Westwood House Hotel, Newcastle, Galway, at 7.30 p.m. on 3 October. Entitled "Is there Intelligent Life out there??" it will look at the latest findings on extrasolar planets, extraterrestrial biochemistry, and the implications for the existence of alien life. And if they are there, will we ever meet them (and if so, at 'your place or mine'?), or will we even be able to communicate with them?

3. DRACONIDS OUTBURST FORECAST FOR OCTOBER 8.

There is a fairly reliable forecast for a significant outburst of the Draconid Meteors on the evening of 8 October, just as the sky gets dark.

4. Armagh Observatory Draconids Watch:

5. UARS CRASH UPDATE: NASA has now officially stated that the UARS satellite came down in the (Eastern?) Pacific Ocean. Since their last prediction, only hours before re-entry, indicated a spot in the eastern Atlantic Ocean, it just shows how hard it is to predict these things! Still, as the satellite was moving at over 17,000 mph, if it came down only 10 minutes later or earlier than expected, that's a distance of almost 3,000 miles! In fact, it seems as if the satellite completed almost one more complete orbit than had been predicted, before it re-entered.

6. TWITTER: the IAA now has a twitter account. twitter@IaaAstro

7. 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

Mob: (+44) (0) 7979300842

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

4 Lectures, Cork trip, UARS crash, Draconid outburst, Comets, ISS, Mars events

2011-09-21T07:10:00.001Z

Hi all,

1. OPENING IAA LECTURE, 21 September: The first public lecture in the new season by the Irish Astronomical Association will be given by Professor Mark Bailey, MBE, Director of Armagh Observatory.

His talk is entitled "The Origin of Comets". Prof Bailey is a renowned expert on comets, particularly their orbits and evolution, with many papers published in the world's leading astronomy and astrophysics journals.

Comets may well hold the clues to conditions in the very early Solar System, and may even have been responsible for bringing life to planet Earth! This is sure to be a fascinating talk.

It's on WEDNESDAY 21 September, at 7.30 p.m., in the Bell Lecture Theatre, Physics Building, Queen's University, Belfast. ADMISSION IS FREE, as always, and includes light refreshments. Everyone is welcome! Full details of the rest of the programme are on the website: www.irishastro.org

2. UPDATE ON IAA VISIT TO ASTRONOMY CENTRES IN CORK: 30 September - 2 October.

Due to a cancellation, there are still a few places left. Reply by email asap if you are interested.
UPDATES: New visit; On the Saturday morning we now intend to visit the new 32 meter radio telescope facility at Elfordstown, near Midleton, Co Cork. This is a former communications dish, now being converted for radio astronomy under the guidance and initiative of Dr Niall Smith of CIT. this will be by far the largest radio telescope in Ireland. See:

Release - IBC - National Space Centre Elfordstown Earthstation

Accommodation update: We may also now all stay together in one hotel, if we can negotiate a good group discount.

Booking Update: Because STARDUST with the hard copy booking form did not issue as early as we had hoped, the booking deadline has been extended to 18 September. But you can also return the booking to me by email, as the quickest and easiest way.

The original notice, updated, follows below.

We have arranged a visit to see some of the very interesting astronomical places of interest in Cork. These include the new state of the art Blackrock Castle Observatory and Science Centre, the historic and now beautifully restored Crawford Observatory in UCC, and the 32 meter radio telescope just outside Midleton. We will also meet up with our friends in the Cork Astronomy Club (CAC).
Access there is now quite easy, with Motorway or M-standard dual carriageway the whole way from Belfast. Plans are that we will car-share, with ideally no more than 4 per car (unless someone can offer a people carrier or similar), sharing travel costs. Accommodation will be in a good but reasonably priced hotel, or several B&Bs / Guest Houses all in the same vicinity, in Cork.
We aim to depart about lunchtime on Friday 30 Sep, returning on the Sunday evening.
The provisional programme is as follows:
Friday lunchtime: depart Belfast.
Friday evening: Arrive, check in to accommodation. Dark sky observing with CAC, if clear. If not, socialising in local hostelry (optional).
Saturday morning. Visit Radio Telescope

Sat Afternoon: visit Crawford Observatory in UCC.
Sat evening: dinner with CAC, and, if they wish, the Directors of the observatories & Science Centre
Sat night: dark sky observing with CAC, if clear. If not, stay on after meal or move to pub/hotel etc. (optional)
Sunday morning: Visit CAC Observatory near airport just south of the city.
Sun afternoon: tour of Blackrock Castle Observatory
Sun evening: return journey.
COSTS: The basic costs are estimated at about £150, including dinner (excluding your other meals) as follows:
2 nights B&8, singles, about £80 (maybe less if sharing)
Petrol, tolls, etc, @ 4 to a car, sharing: £25 each
Dinner on Sat night about £30 (optional)
Incidentals: £5 per head
Total about £140. Say £150 to be safe
Other meals to be paid for as taken.
For details on -

BCO: see www.bco.ie and in particular http://www.bco.ie/whats-here/bco-labs/

Crawford Observatory: see http://astro.ucc.ie/obs/ and http://astro.ucc.ie/obs/butler/index.html

CAC: http://www.corkastronomyclub.com/

Radio Telescope: http://www.nationalspacecentre.eu/release-deep-space-radio-tel/3845815

The trip is conditional on sufficient numbers booking. A deposit will be requested once we know how many will be going. This will only be refunded in the event of the trip being cancelled.

See the IAA website www.irishastro.org for a downloadable booking form.

Members should also have got a hard copy of this notice, with the booking form, with the latest edition of STARDUST.

DEADLINE FOR BOOKING: 18 SEPTEMBER

3 . Galway astro event, 23 September. Dr Andy Shearer is organising an event as part of the EU Researchers Night Programme - see www.sea2sky.ie. This event has a strong astronomy element, and the Galway Astronomy Club are taking a key role in this. Dr Andy Shearer, Director, Centre for Astronomy, School of Physics, NUI Galway. Phone +353 91 493114, andrew.shearer@nuigalway.ie

4. LECTURE IN WEXFORD: The public library in Wexford Town is hosting a particle physics lecture and discussion on THE GOD PARTICLE AND THE PARTICLE ZOO with Brendan Wallace, consultant engineer, on Wed 28 September 2011; 7 - 8.30pm. It also covers the LHC at CERN. Booking essential.

5. UARS

debris over Ireland? - UPDATE The Upper Atmospheric Research Satellite, or UARS, is expected to crash back to Earth late on Friday 23 September. As the orbit has an inclination of 57 degrees, it could in theory come down in Ireland (latitude approx. 52 - 55 degrees N.). In fact the satellite is due to pass over the Southern half of Ireland early on Friday morning, between about 03.00 and 03.30, depending on just how quickly it is slowed down by atmospheric drag, and again on Saturday morning, unless it has come down by then. The satellite will be in the earth's shadow for both those passes, so will not be visible, unless it has actually entered the atmosphere and is burning up, like a brilliant fireball. The fireballs (there will probably be more than one piece) will be visible (if it's clear) over a radius of about 70-100 miles from the actual orbital track, so you won't have to be directly under it to see them. If you are directly under the track (very unlikely!) observe at your own risk! Remember that the pieces causing the fireballs will only be visible when they are high up and still travelling at hypersonic speed and thus 'burning up'. Once the surviving pieces are slowed down by atmospheric resistance, they will cease to glow, so they will become invisible as they fall the last 10 or 20 miles or so. So, it's at your own risk! But in practice, the chance of YOU being hit is comparable to that of you winning the lottery.

I'll give any further updates as and when they become available, but it might be worth planning to have a late night observing session that night if it's clear!

26 components from the satellite, with a total mass of more than 1,100 pounds, are expected to survive re-entry and reach Earth's surface. The UARS was built before NASA and international standards were employed to limit human casualty risks from re-entering spacecraft to less than 1-in-10,000.

For updates on times of passes over Ireland you can check: http://spaceweather.com/flybys. You can also turn your smartphone into a UARS tracker by downloading their Simple Flybys app: http://simpleflybys.com
See previous email for more details on UARS.

6. Extraterrestrials - where are they? Your humble scribe (that's me) will be giving a public lecture, hosted by the Galway Astronomy Club, at the Westwood House Hotel, Newcastle, Galway, at 7.30 p.m. on 3 October. Entitled "Is there Intelligent Life out there??" it will look at the latest findings on extrasolar planets, extraterrestrial biochemistry, and the implications for the existence of alien life. And if they are there, will we ever meet them (and if so, at 'your place or mine'?), or even be able to communicate with them?

7. DRACONIDS OUTBURST FORECAST FOR OCTOBER 8.

There is a fairly reliable forecast for a significant outburst of the Draconid Meteors on the evening of 8 October, just as the sky gets dark. IAA members can find more details in the latest STARDUST, and I will be giving an update with observing hints in the next bulletin.

In the meantime, Prof Mark Bailey, Director of Armagh Observatory, has been asked to circulate information about the BAA Draconid Meteor Project. For simplicity, the documents are on his public directory: http://star.arm.ac.uk/~meb/baa_draconid_project_2011sep20.pdf

8. COMETS: Comet Garradd is now fading gradually, but is still visible in the average amateur's telescope: it is now in SE Hercules. Comet Elenin has passed behind the Sun, and is now very low in the W sky after sunset, between Venus and Saturn. In fact it is so low, in a bright twilight sky, that in practice it is not observable from Ireland at the moment, though the aspect will slowly improve as it moves out from the Sun. But the nucleus seems to have broken up, and the comet may be too faint to be seen at all, though it may show up in CCD images. We'll just have to wait and see how it develops.

9. ISS: The ISS is just about to start another series of morning passes over Ireland, details for your location are available on www.heavens-above.com.

10. Mars Science Laboratory – In Search of Origins.
On November 25th, NASA will launch one of the most ambitious missions ever sent into space – the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL). Recent named "Curiosity", the Mars Science Laboratory rover will land on the surface of Mars in July 2012 and drive many kilometres across the surface in search of evidence of an origin to life there. Building on decades of exploration of the Red Planet, Curiosity will tell us more about the planetary context for life on Mars – and on Earth – than any other probe ever sent there. Whatever its findings, Curiosity will contribute to a deeper understanding of the chemical and planetary context for life as we know it.
   In celebration of the launch of Curiosity, and of Science Week 2011 theme "The Chemistry of Life", Kevin Nolan of The Planetary Society will present a Science Week media-rich talk titled "Mars Science Laboratory – In Search of Origins", in Dublin, Galway and Cork. The
talk, aimed at the general public, will present an engaging overview of the great questions regarding the origin of life, the groundbreaking research being carried out both on Earth and Mars in search of answers, how MSL-Curiosity will contribute, and what plans are afoot for the near and medium-term future for the exploration of Mars.
   Themes
1. The search for the origin and cosmic abundance of life
2. What Mars will tell us about the chemical origin and cosmic abundance of life
3. The chequered road to Mars and the recently implemented optimum 'phased' strategy for present and future exploration of Mars
4. Results to date regarding Mars' past and the possibility of life there
5. Mars Science Laboratory – what it is, what exploration it will carry out and the value of that exploration
6. The near term future – the outcomes of MSL, a sample return mission, human mission
7. The value and relevance of Mars exploration
8. The value of Space exploration in general
9. The value and relevance of knowing answers to the origin and cosmic abundance of life

Event Details: The talk, including the latest "of-the-press" images sent back from Mars; delivered over three nights during Science Week 2011; in Galway, Dublin and Cork. The aim is to celebrate both Science Week 2011 and the imminent launch of the Mars Science Laboratory "Curiosity" (among the most sophisticated and far-reaching space probes ever to be launched in the search for life elsewhere in the universe).
   Admission: Free. Reservation advised – seats allocated on a first come first served basis.
   Suitability: All ages, general public
Venue and Times:
Dublin: Mansion House, Dawson Street; 8.00pm on Monday 14th November. Reservation: info@planetary.ie
Galway: NUI-Galway (Theatre TBA), Galway, 8.00pm on Wednesday 16th November
Reservations: info@planetary.ie
Cork: Blackrock Castle Observatory, Blackrock, Co. Cork, 8.00pm on Friday, 18th November
Reservations: info@bco.ie
   Event Website: www.planetary.ie (Launch on September 30th)

11. TWITTER: the IAA now has a twitter account. twitter@IaaAstro

12. 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

IAA Lecture, update re Cork, lectures, space news, circumbinary exoplanet, MAC

2011-09-16T07:55:00.001Z

Hi all,

Comets may well hold the clues to conditions in the very early Solar System, and may even have been responsible for bringing life to planet Earth! This is sure to be a fascinating talk.

It's on WEDNESDAY 21 September, at 7.30 p.m., in the Bell Lecture Theatre, Physics Building, Queen's University, Belfast. ADMISSION IS FREE, as always, and includes light refreshments. Everyone is welcome! Full details of the rest of the programme are on the website: www.irishastro.org

2. UPDATE ON IAA VISIT TO ASTRONOMY CENTRES IN CORK: 30 Sep - 2 Oct.
UPDATES: New visit; On the Saturday morning we now intend to visit the new 32 meter radio telescope facility at Elfordstown, near Midleton, Co Cork. This is a former communications dish, now being converted for radio astronomy under the guidance and initiative of Dr Niall Smith of CIT. this will be by far the largest radio telescope in Ireland. See:

Release - IBC - National Space Centre Elfordstown Earthstation

Accommodation update: We may also now all stay together in one hotel, if we can negotiate a good group discount.

The original notice, updated, follows below.

BCO: see www.bco.ie and in particular http://www.bco.ie/whats-here/bco-labs/

Crawford Observatory: see http://astro.ucc.ie/obs/ and http://astro.ucc.ie/obs/butler/index.html

Drombeg Stone Circle: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drombeg_stone_circle and http://www.stonepages.com/ireland/drombeg.html

CAC: http://www.corkastronomyclub.com/

Radio Telescope: http://www.nationalspacecentre.eu/release-deep-space-radio-tel/3845815

The trip is conditional on sufficient numbers booking. A deposit will be requested once we know how many will be going. This will only be refunded in the event of the trip being cancelled.

See the IAA website www.irishastro.org for a downloadable booking form.

Members should also have got a hard copy of this notice, with the booking form, with the latest edition of STARDUST.

DEADLINE FOR BOOKING: 18 SEPTEMBER

5. NEW GIANT ROCKET FOR NASA: Nasa has revealed plans for a new giant rocket to spearhead its space programme. It will outclass even the giant Saturn V rockets that propelled men to the moon. This time the destinations will be much farther and the rocket even more powerful.

The 'Space Launch System' is a multibillion-dollar programme which will carry astronauts in a capsule on top and start test launching from Cape Canaveral, Florida, in six years. The cost of the programme is estimated at about 18 billion dollars over the next five years.

The size, shape and heavier reliance on liquid fuel as opposed to solid rocket boosters is much closer to the moon rockets than the recently retired space shuttles, which were winged, reusable ships that sat on top of a giant liquid fuel tank, with twin solid boosters providing most of the power. It is also a shift in emphasis from the moon-based, solid-rocket-oriented plans proposed by the George Bush administration.

The idea is to launch its first unmanned test flight in 2017 with the first crew flying in 2021 and astronauts heading to a nearby asteroid in 2025. From there, Nasa hopes to send the rocket and astronauts to Mars - at first just to circle, but then later landing on the Red Planet - in the 2030s.

At first the rockets will be able to carry into space 77 tons to 110 tons of payload, which would include the six-person Orion Multipurpose Crew Vehicle capsule and more. Eventually it will be able to carry 143 tons, maybe even 165 tons. By comparison, the Apollo Saturn V booster was able to lift 130 tons.

The plans dwarf the lift-off power of the space shuttle, which could haul just 27 tons. The biggest current unmanned rocket can carry about 25 tons.

6. Exoplanet discovered in the 'Goldilocks Zone'. Astronomers believe they have found a second planet outside our solar system that seems to be in the right zone for life - just. But it would feel like a steam bath - hot, sticky and beyond uncomfortable. European astronomers announced the discovery along with about 50 other planets outside our solar system at a US conference.

The most exciting of those planets is the second to be confirmed as lying in what astronomers call the habitable zone, or the "Goldilocks zone". That means it is not too hot and not too cold for liquid water to be present. Water is the key to a planet being able to support Earth-like life, scientists say.

Only one of the past discoveries of such Goldilocks planets has held up - found in 2007. And even this new one comes with an asterisk: the planet would need to have water and be a rocky, solid planet like Earth, not one that is primarily gas like Jupiter.

The new planet is about 3.6 times the mass of Earth. Temperatures there may range from 30C to 50C with plenty of humidity. "It's going to be really muggy. We're not saying it's habitable for you and me."

But other types of life - probably shorter and squatter life - could conceivably take root there. They would probably be closer to the ground than humans because gravity on this larger-than-Earth planet is about 1.4 times what we experience. A year there is only 60 days.

For it to be considered liveable by astronomers, at least 60% of it would have to be covered in clouds. Earth has about 50% cloud cover, so 60% seems reasonable.

The new planet, called HD85512b, closely circles a star about 35 light years from Earth in the constellation Vela.

7. "Tatooine" Planet discovered! In a scientific discovery that seems ripped from the pages of science fiction, astronomers have found a planet that orbits two suns, just like Tatooine in the movie "Star Wars." The Tatooine-like planet is called Kepler-16b and was discovered with NASA's Kepler space telescope. It is called a circumbinary planet, meaning it circles a binary star system.

The two 'parent' stars are a K-type Dwarf with a mass of about 69% of the Sun, and a Red Dwarf with a mass of about 30% of our Sun. They orbit each other with a period of 41 days, and the planet orbits them both with a period of 229 days.

The planet's orbit is stable, but it lies outside the habitable zone of the system.

(the following details are edited and adapted from "Space.com")

Project leader Laurance Doyle, an astrophysicist at the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Institute in Mountain View, Calif., said: "It's a completely different kind of planetary system. About half the stars in our galaxy reside in double systems, and about one in 70 are eclipsing binaries. Now that we know how to find circumbinary planets, I think in the next month or so we're going to find a few more. We know what they look like and we know the tricks they play.

Binary stars may just as easily have planets as single stars. There are disks that people think precede the formation of planets. And 'Kepler' found just as many disks around double stars as they had around singles. Some people thought that the two stars would dissipate the disk before planets could form. Others said, no, when you mix up the disk it actually starts to accrete, and you get planets forming even faster. But now we know that planets can form in such a system.

I see no reason why you can't find a habitable system around two stars. This system is stable so I don't see why others couldn't be. But speculating on what their biological cycles would be as a consequence, that'd be a fascinating study.

Nighttime would be odd. It would sometimes be a very short nighttime when the stars are far away from each other, then when they drew close you'd have a longer nighttime.

See: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/kepler/news/kepler-16b.html, and http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2011/15sep_doublesuns/

8. Satellite debris over Ireland? The Upper Atmospheric Research Satellite, or UARS, is expected to crash back to Earth in late September. As the orbit has an inclination of 57 degrees, it could in theory come down in Ireland (latitude approx. 52 - 55 degrees N.). NASA and U.S. military officials said it's currently impossible to predict when or where the spacecraft will fall, but it will most likely come down over the ocean or an unpopulated land mass. There is a 1-in-3,200 chance a piece of debris could injure or kill a person, according to an assessment by NASA. (The chance of it coming down over Ireland is simply the ratio of the land area of Ireland to the total surface area of the Earth between latitudes 57 degrees N & S. - You do the maths!)

The spacecraft, launched by the Shuttle in 1991, measured chlorine and fluorine in the stratosphere, a region between 9 miles and 30 miles above Earth's surface. The discovery confirmed chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs, used in manmade aerosol sprays, refrigerants and solvents caused the ozone hole over Antarctica.

UARS is now being captured by the atmosphere as it orbits at altitudes between 152 miles and 171 miles. When NASA decommissioned the 12,500-pound satellite in 2005, they lowered its orbit from 340 miles to expedite its re-entry. See

Spaceflight Now | Breaking News | NASA says crashing science satellite is low risk to public

9. Midlands Astronomy Club Outreach: The big MAC Astronomy Outreach event in Athlone is on Friday night, September 16th. MAC members will be there from 8pm in St. Kieran's Community Centre, Tormey Villas. A helpful guide with directions on Google Maps can be found here:
http://maps.google.ie/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=Athlone+Bypass,+Athlone&daddr=Tormey+Villas,+Athlone&hl=en&geocode=FcJVLwMdN_CG_yldlFgpDElcSDEwxEEBEIJbgg%3BFQFNLwMd7cuG_ym_pHdFqklcSDECsGJmO006Mg&sll=53.431552,-7.936034&sspn=0.015571,0.038581&vpsrc=0&mra=ls&ie=UTF8&t=m&z=16&layer=t
It begins to get dark after 8:30pm so if it is clear then telescopes will be set up for around then. Visitors can bring their own and ask questions about how to use and maintain them and set them up for all to see. This event is aimed at all ages and all levels of interest. And best of all IT'S FREE!
Not Weather Dependant: Should the weather not play ball then the event will be moved indoors where MAC members will demonstrate how to use some of the telescopes there, present a couple of 10 minute talks and take time to answer all manner of questions.

10. TWITTER: the IAA now has a twitter account. twitter@IaaAstro

11. 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

IAA/Cork, Lectures, Occult, Comet, Ast class, Comp, Galway, Twitter, Sun spheres

2011-09-07T07:34:00.001Z

Hi all,

1. IAA VISIT TO ASTRONOMY CENTRES IN CORK: 30 Sep - 2 Oct.
We have arranged a visit to see some of the very interesting astronomical places of interest in Cork. These include the new state of the art Blackrock Castle Observatory and Science Centre, and the historic and now beautifully restored Crawford Observatory in UCC. We will also meet up with our friends in the Cork Astronomy Club (CAC).
Access there is now quite easy, with Motorway or M-standard dual carriageway the whole way from Belfast. Plans are that we will car-share, with ideally no more than 4 per car (unless someone can offer a people carrier or similar), sharing travel costs. Accommodation will be in several B&Bs / Guest Houses all in the same vicinity, in Cork.
We aim to depart about lunchtime on Friday 30 Sep, returning on the Sunday evening.
The provisional programme is as follows:
Friday lunchtime: depart Belfast.
Friday evening: Arrive, check in to accommodation. Dark sky observing with CAC, if clear. If not, socialising in local hostelry (optional).
Saturday morning. Visit Blarney Castle, or Drombeg Stone Circle near Clonakilty, which has a confirmed winter solstice sunset alignment.
Sat Afternoon: visit Crawford Observatory in UCC.
Sat evening: dinner with CAC, and, if they wish, the Directors of the observatories & Science Centre
Sat night: dark sky observing with CAC, if clear. If not, stay on after meal or move to pub/hotel etc. (optional)
Sunday morning: Visit CAC Observatory near airport just south of the city.
Sun afternoon: tour of Blackrock Castle Observatory
Sun evening: return journey.
COSTS: The basic costs are estimated at about £150, including dinner (excluding your other meals) as follows:
2 nights B&8, singles, about £80 (maybe less if sharing)
Petrol, tolls, etc, @ 4 to a car, sharing: £25 each
Dinner on Sat night about £30 (optional)
Incidentals: £5 per head'
Total about £140. Say £150 to be safe
Other meals to be paid for as taken.
For details on -

BCO: see www.bco.ie and in particular http://www.bco.ie/whats-here/bco-labs/

Crawford Observatory: see http://astro.ucc.ie/obs/ and http://astro.ucc.ie/obs/butler/index.html

Drombeg Stone Circle: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drombeg_stone_circle and http://www.stonepages.com/ireland/drombeg.html

CAC: http://www.corkastronomyclub.com/

The trip is conditional on sufficient numbers booking. A deposit will be requested once we know how many will be going. This will only be refunded in the event of the trip being cancelled.

See the IAA website www.irishastro.org for a downloadable booking form.

Members will also get a hard copy of this notice, with the booking form, with the next edition of STARDUST, going out soon.

DEADLINE FOR BOOKING: 15 SEPTEMBER

2. Dublin Lecture: "CHINESE STAR CHARTS" by JEAN-MARC BONNET-BIDAUD.
    Discover an astronomy chart done 1300 years ago by a Chinese Astronomer. Dr. Jean-Marc Bonnet-Bidaud will present his work on Chinese Star Charts on the 7th of September 2011 at Dunsink Observatory (DIAS)
   Jean-Marc Bonnet-Bidaud is an astrophysicist at the Astrophysical Department of the French Atomic Energy Commission (C.E.A.), a specialist in high energy astrophysics and in the study of highly condensed stars in the Galaxy (white dwarfs, neutrons stars and black holes). He is involved in several international collaborations to search, locate and study new sources of X-rays and gamma-rays in the Galaxy by means of space astronomy. He is currently taking part in scientific programs, using the European satellites XMM (X-ray Multiple mirror Mission, XMM) and INTEGRAL (International Gamma-ray Astrophysics Laboratory).
   Jean-Marc Bonnet-Bidaud has also a deep interest in the history and popularisation of astronomy. He is at present the scientific adviser of the French astronomy magazine "Ciel et Espace". He has published numerous articles in different magazines and newspapers and was also the author of different television programs.
   He is currently carrying out research works on the roots of astronomy in Africa and China. After publishing results concerning the rate of star explosions in the Galaxy and the colour change of the star Sirius deduced from historical Chinese reports, he is now involved in a systematic study of the oldest Chinese Star Charts to evaluate their scientific content.
   Presentation at DUNSINK OBSERVATORY (DIAS) Castleknock, Dublin 15, Wednesday 7th September at 8 pm (20.00 h). A 40/45 min lecture in English with Q&A + a 12-15 min Break, with some refreshments for informal discussion. + A visit to the South Dome and the Grubb Telescope. + With possible observations of the night sky through the Grubb Telescope and others if the weather is kind on that evening
    Contact Details for the Event to be held in Dunsink Observatory: For your e-ticket request please e-mail hod@cp.dias.ie on or before Monday 22nd August 2011 (17.00 h)
    Please head the request for your e-ticket/s "Chinese Star Charts" by Jean-Marc Bonnet-Bidaud Dunsink Obs 7th Sept 2011, and state the number of tickets that you require. DIAS has a minimum age limit of 12 years of age for an evening event such as this.
   More details if required from: Hilary O'Donnell/Sullivan, Astrophysics and Astronomy Section, School of Cosmic Physics, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 31 Fitzwilliam Place, Dublin 2, Ireland. Telephone + 353-1-662 13 33, Fax + 353-1-524 23 02, E-mail hod@cp.dias.ie Mobile number 00 353 (0) 87 629 49 66.

3. OCCULTATION BY PALLAS: (forwarded from Tolis Christou at Armagh Observatory, with slight editing).

"An interesting astronomical event will occur over the UK and Ireland on the 18th of September: an occultation of an +11m star (+10m in the red) by the large asteroid 2 Pallas. The occultation path (see link below) and the small uncertainty means that practically anyone observing from most of the UK and all of Ireland will have a fair chance of seeing the star disappear.

   Although the resulting light drop ((Pallas+star)/Pallas) is rather small (30%), the expected duration of 30 sec means that, for example, several CCD exposures with a small telescope can be fitted into the asteroid's "shadow". Could prove to be an interesting experience, especially for students wanting to try their hand at some observing.
   The occultation map is provided here:
http://www.asteroidoccultations.com/2011_09/0918_2_24051_MapE.gif
   If you are interested, I can provide finder charts and collate any results (positive or negative) for submission to the International Occultation Timing Association (European Section).
   Good luck (and clear skies) if you decide to give it a go. Regards. Tolis."

(Additional info: The star lies 52' 40" N and a little E of Mu Aquilae, or just about 4 deg 10' W, and a little S, of Altair. It's a very red star, with a B - V index of 1.6 mags. Unusually, the track of the occultation runs nearly N to S, as you can see from the map. Fortunately there are no other stars of comparable magnitude within 7 arcminutes, so it's easy to identify.

You can contact Tolis at aac@arm.ac.uk T.M.)

4. ASTRONOMY CLASSES, BANGOR: The inimitable Dr Andy McCrea (Editor of STARDUST, and proprietor of North Down Telescopes) will present another series of his popular basic astronomy classes "Night Sky For Beginners" in Bangor, Co Down. Start 13 September, weekly for 6 weeks. Time: 7 to 9 p.m. Location: Bangor SERC (South Eastern Regional College, formerly the 'Tech'). Contact number is (02891 276695) for registration and payment details.

5. Comet C 2009 P1 Garradd. Both Andy McCrea and David Stewart have got excellent photos of the comet as it passed near the lovely Coathanger (Cr399) or Brocchi's Cluster, in Vulpecula. See the IAA website: www.irishastro.org. It has now developed a short stubby tail. It should remain fairly bright and well placed for viewing into early 2012. A finder chart, with further details, is at http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/highlights/128836743.html

6. CASSINI COMPETITION. (edited from an email by Deirdre Kelleghan) The Cassini Mission to Saturn is one of the greatest robotic space exploration missions of our time. Now you have an opportunity to become involved and maybe put your school's name on the map internationally. The Cassini Scientist For a Day Contest 2011 is now open. Deadline is October 26th. This contest increases awareness of space exploration, technology, engineering and science, all good STEM subjects.
This contest stretches students' writing and research abilities. The Task? Write a 500 word essay on why the Cassini Spacecraft should target certain objects for imaging and investigation. How do I do that? Watch three short videos, decide which is the most interesting for you, and write your essay based on that.

The Cassini website would be your main source of reference for information, everything you need to know is here http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/. Watch this video below, for the an introduction and then watch each of the videos in turn to choose your target.
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/education/scientistforaday10thedition/

The three targets are: 1. Hyperion, 2. Rhea and Titan, and 3. Saturn. Computer simulated pictures of these three targets are posted on the above website.
Watch these videos to choose your essay subject Hyperion? Rhea/Titan? or Saturn? You decide, it's your adventure.
Target Overview here http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/education/scientistforaday10thedition/targets/
There are three age groups: 11-13 years old; 14-16 years old; 17-18 years old

The Prizes: For the School - Pride. For the Teacher - Pride. For the winning child - Pride and their essay gets published on the Cassini website, how cool is that?
Send all entries to Deirdre Kelleghan, contest co-ordinator for Ireland. e-mail cassiniessay@gmail.com. Include child's name, age, postal address, name of your school, name of teacher, teacher' e-mail address.

7. Galway astro event, 23 September. Dr Andy Shearer is organising an event as part of the EU Researchers Night Programme - see www.sea2sky.ie. This event has a strong astronomy element, and the Galway Astronomy Club are taking a key role in this. Dr Andy Shearer, Director, Centre for Astronomy, School of Physics, NUI Galway. Phone +353 91 493114, andrew.shearer@nuigalway.ie

8. LECTURE IN WEXFORD: The public library in Wexford Town is hosting a particle physics lecture and discussion on THE GOD PARTICLE AND THE PARTICLE ZOO with Brendan Wallace, consultant engineer, on Wed 28 September 2011; 7 - 8.30pm. It also covers the LHC at CERN. Booking essential.

9. TWITTER: the IAA now has a twitter account. twitter@IaaAstro

10. SUN SPHERES. Visitors to Belfast from the M1 may have noticed a new piece of 'public art / sculpture' at the end of the Motorway where it becomes the Westlink, just above the roundabout at Donegall Road / Broadway. The two very large concentric lattice spheres are officially called 'RISE,' and reach a height of 37.5m, which is 3m higher than the Albert Clock! They symbolise "the rising of the Sun, and new hope for Belfast's future". They were inspired when the artist saw the Sun rise, with the Moon still in the sky, from his home in Northampton. I'm sure we've all seen that ourselves, and of course it's quite a common effect, when the Moon is waning gibbous to about just after Last Quarter.

Following in the illustrious tradition of our friends in Dublin, they will of course have to get a nickname (like 'the Tart with the Cart' for Molly Malone.) Although they are not quite on the Falls Road, they are close enough to warrant the moniker "The Balls at the Falls'. (Adapted from a suggestion by J.M.). Has anyone any better suggestions?

11. IAA Solar Event in Merrion Square, Dublin. Apologies to John Flannery - I forgot to mention that he also called unannounced at this event on 27 August to offer his assistance. T.M.

12. 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

Award for DK, TV, BCO, ASGI, Lecture, Ultra Cool stars, Sirius Domes, Dublin Sun

2011-08-31T07:26:00.001Z

Hi all,

1. I'm delighted to announce the following Award received by Deirdre Kelleghan of the IAS and IFAS:
   "The American Association for the Advancement of Science, publishers of Science Magazine, has honoured Deirdre Kelleghan for her 'Deadly Moons' Drawing Workshop with the Prestigious SPORE Award."
   Deadly Moons, an interactive drawing workshop for children created by Deirdre Kelleghan, has been recognised for its educational value by Science Magazine, the publication of The American Association for the Advancement of Science.
   Deadly Moons is an interactive drawing workshop. It teaches children aged 6 – 12 about our moon and some of the other exotic moons in our solar system. Deirdre Kelleghan created 'Deadly Moons' in March 2008; she found that children had a very positive reaction to it. The title of the workshop was inspired from the local dialect children use in Ireland, they have said to her 'that's deadly' when they looked at the moon through her telescope. 'To children the word 'Deadly' means 'Totally Amazing', therefore it was an already welcoming positive word and that's the appeal of the title' - says Deirdre.
   It is Deirdre's belief 'that awareness of our moon and the Universe in general should be fundamental to the education of young children. When I found that UNAWE were looking for downloadable resources, I was delighted to offer the Deadly Moons workshop to them as they could reach more children than I could ever do'."
   The Science Prize for Online Resources in Education (SPORE) has been established to encourage innovation and excellence in education, as well as to encourage the use of high-quality on-line resources by students, teachers, and the public.
   I'm sure you'll all join me in congratulating Deirdre on this well-deserved award.

2. TV: Wednesday 31 August, BBC2, 9.00 Horizon: "The Core."
What may lie at the Earth's core has been the stuff of science fiction for decades. Now scientists are uncovering a bizarre and alien world situated 4,000 miles beneath our feet. It is a planet buried within the planet we know, where storms rage within a sea of white-hot metal and crystals combine to form giant forests on a metallic core as big as the Moon. Horizon follows the experiments which are re-creating this hidden world in laboratories.
Also on BBC HD. 6290
    We will never be able to dig to the earth's core. We may be able to travel into space, but the pressures and temperatures under the Earth's crust make it a no-go area for humans. But as this Horizon explains, that hasn't stopped resourceful scientists finding other ways to explore the extreme strangeness of the deep, subterranean world.
    Seismologists have used the echoes of earthquakes to work out that not only is there a swirling mass of liquid metal 4000 miles beneath our feet (which, by the way, creates the magnetic field that protects us from the solar wind) but also in the midst of that is a solid metal ball the size of the moon, covered in a forest of vast crystals. How they worked all this out is very clever and helps explain why the earth's magnetic field will probably, in the next few thousand years, reverse. David Butcher

3. Blackrock Castle Observatory Events:
    First Fridays at the Castle: Activities and workshops for kids, families and science fans at our free monthly event. This month's talk is "Death from Space" - a humorous look at the various ways that life on Earth can be wiped out, or made intolerable by cosmic phenomena,

    Celebrating 50 years of human space flight is the theme for World Space Week 2011, which will take place from October 4 - 10.  At BCO we're going to celebrate in style with rocket launches, NASA astronauts and much more!

4. The Astronomical Science Group of Ireland (ASGI) autumn meeting will be held in Armagh Observatory on Monday September 5th 2011. The programme will consist of oral presentations and posters from the astronomical community. This is the first call for contributions. Please submit your name and presentation or poster title (specifying which) to Neil Trappe. Email:

neal.a.trappe@nuim.ie .This is a professional level meeting, but members of organisations affiliated to ASGI, such as the Irish Astronomical Association, are welcome to attend. However, note that most of the presentations require 3rd level maths and physics for full understanding.

5. Dublin Astronomy Event: "CHINESE STAR CHARTS" by JEAN-MARC BONNET-BIDAUD.

Discover an astronomy chart done 1300 years ago by a Chinese Astronomer. Dr. Jean-Marc Bonnet-Bidaud will present his work on Chinese Star Charts on the 7th of September 2011 at Dunsink Observatory (DIAS)
   Jean-Marc Bonnet-Bidaud is an astrophysicist at the Astrophysical Department of the French Atomic Energy Commission (C.E.A.), a specialist in high energy astrophysics and in the study of highly condensed stars in the Galaxy (white dwarfs, neutrons stars and black holes). He is involved in several international collaborations to search, locate and study new sources of X-rays and gamma-rays in the Galaxy by means of space astronomy. He is currently taking part in scientific programs, using the European satellites XMM (X-ray Multiple mirror Mission, XMM) and INTEGRAL (International Gamma-ray Astrophysics Laboratory).
   Jean-Marc Bonnet-Bidaud has also a deep interest in the history and popularisation of astronomy. He is at present the scientific adviser of the French astronomy magazine "Ciel et Espace". He has published numerous articles in different magazines and newspapers and was also the author of different television programs.
   He is currently carrying out research works on the roots of astronomy in Africa and China. After publishing results concerning the rate of star explosions in the Galaxy and the colour change of the star Sirius deduced from historical Chinese reports, he is now involved in a systematic study of the oldest Chinese Star Charts to evaluate their scientific content.

Presentation at DUNSINK OBSERVATORY (DIAS) Castleknock, Dublin 15, Wednesday 7th September at 8 pm (20.00 hrs). A 40/45 min lecture in English with Q&A + a 12-15 min Break, with some refreshments for informal discussion. + A visit to the South Dome and the Grubb Telescope. + With possible observations of the night sky through the Grubb Telescope and others if the weather is kind on that evening

Contact Details for the Event to be held in Dunsink Observatory: For your e-ticket request please e-mail hod@cp.dias.ie on or before Monday 22nd August 2011 (17.00 hrs)

Please head the request for your e-ticket/s "Chinese Star Charts" by Jean-Marc Bonnet-Bidaud Dunsink Obs 7th Sept 2011, and state the number of tickets that you require. DIAS has a minimum age limit of 12 years of age for an evening event such as this.
   More details if required from: Hilary O'Donnell/Sullivan, Astrophysics and Astronomy Section, School of Cosmic Physics, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 31 Fitzwilliam Place, Dublin 2, Ireland. Telephone + 353-1-662 13 33, Fax + 353-1-524 23 02, E-mail hod@cp.dias.ie Mobile number 00 353 (0) 87 629 49 66.

6. Discovered: Stars as Cool as the Human Body. Scientists using data from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) have discovered six "Y dwarfs" -- starlike bodies with temperatures as cool as the human body.

Astronomers hunted these dark orbs for more than a decade without success. When viewed with a visible-light telescope, they are nearly impossible to see. WISE's infrared vision allowed the telescope to finally spot the faint glow of a half dozen Y dwarfs relatively close to our sun, within a distance of about 40 light-years. The Y's are the coldest members of the brown dwarf family. Brown dwarfs are sometimes referred to as "failed" stars. They are too low in mass to fuse atoms at their cores and thus don't burn with the fires that keep stars like our sun shining steadily for billions of years. Instead, these objects cool and fade with time, until what little light they do emit is at infrared wavelengths. The atmospheres of brown dwarfs are similar to those of gas giant planets like Jupiter, but they are easier to observe because they are alone in space, away from the blinding light of a parent star.

So far, WISE data have revealed 100 new brown dwarfs. Of these, six are classified as cool Y's. One of the Y dwarfs, called WISE 1828+2650, is the record holder for the coldest brown dwarf with an estimated atmospheric temperature cooler than room temperature, or less than 80 degrees Fahrenheit (25 degrees Celsius).

7. Sirius Observatories and Domes: Dr Andy McCrea of North Down Telescopes is now the exclusive Ireland dealer for the well known Sirius Observatories and domes. The observatories come in a range of sizes from 2.3m, 6.7m and 5m. They are weather-resistant and easy to install and the modular design is easy to maintain with a gelcoat finish. They also manufacture a range of domes to suit buildings. Email Andy at s.mccrea980@btinternet.com for prices/delivery.

8. IAA Solar Event in Merrion Square, Dublin. The IAA was invited by Dublin Civic Trust to run a 'Solar Afternoon Event' as part of Dublin Garden Squares Day on Saturday 27 August. As the event was in the open air, we had no back-up option of our usual Planetarium shows, so it was totally weather-dependent. Not surprisingly, we had the usual Irish mixture of sunshine and showers, the latter causing some fun as we hastily tried to put telescopes and the display material under cover! Our invitation came too late for the event to be covered in their publicity, but even so we had a steady flow of interested members of the public. They were treated to some excellent views of two lovely prominences in the H-Alpha Solarscopes, and a total of 6 sunspots in white light, two of which were bigger than the Earth.
   Thanks to Barry Pickup, Deirdre Kelleghan and Michael Murphy for coming along to help me. T.M.

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

IAA Perseid party, Solar day, TV Programmes, ASGI, Dublin lecture, ISS

2011-08-12T03:41:00.001Z

Hi all,

(Not long back from a week in SW Kerry - fabulous dark skies in St Finian's Bay! We also went to Skellig Michael - it would be the darkest sky of anywhere in Ireland, but you're not allowed to stay overnight. Also, you wouldn't want to trip over your telescope tripod on top of the rock! We saw a few nice early Perseids without really trying. I had hoped to try to spot Vesta with the unaided eye again, but forgot to bring the star charts with me!)

1. IAA PERSEIDS PARTY. The annual Perseid meteor shower will reach maximum on the night of 12-13 August, with the peak predicted for 04h on the 13th. The IAA will be holding a 'Perseid Party' on the evening of the 12th, at Delamont Country Park, south of Killinchy on the A22 to Downpatrick, commencing about 8 p.m. with a Fry-up / BBQ. Obviously such an event is weather dependent, so check the IAA website www.irishastro.org beforehand to see if it will be going ahead.

Unfortunately the Moon will be full on the 13th, so only the brighter meteors are likely to be seen that night. The best technique is to find an observing spot where the Moon is hidden behind a building or tree etc, so that it isn't in your field of view at all.

However, the Perseid shower is active from now to about the 20th of August, with rates building up gradually to the peak on the 13th, then gradually dropping away again. So look out for Perseids any time from now to about Aug 19-20. A few days after the maximum there will be a short period of darkness before moonrise. The radiant is near the famous 'Double Cluster', which lies roughly midway between Perseus and Cassiopeia.

2. IAA SOLAR DAY at WWT, CASTLE ESPIE, 14 August, 2 p.m. - 5 p.m. The Irish Astronomical Association will be running another of its ever-popular 'Solar Days' at the WWT at Castle Espie, near Comber, Co Down. Now that Solar activity is steadily increasing, we can expect to see lots of detail on the Sun's disk if there's any clear sky. We will have a selection of solar telescopes, each fitted with specialised safe astronomical filters, to see it in visible light, and in the wavelengths of Calcium and H-Alpha. There should be sunspots and huge prominences, each many times bigger than planet Earth. We will also have the usual display of astronomical and space items, posters, etc, and a mobile planetarium, so come along even if it's cloudy. More details on www.irishastro.org

3. TV PROGRAMMES:

A. The Sky at Night: Sir Patrick Moore will discuss the asteroid 4 Vesta, recently visited for the first time by the Dawn spacecraft. This episode will be broadcast on: August 11th, 7:30 pm - BBC Four; August 12th, 2:00 am - BBC Four; August 13th, 12:00 pm - BBC Two (except Northern Ireland); August 14th, 12:35 am - BBC Four

B. Horizon: On the new generation of telescopes on Monday 15 Aug, BBC2 at 9:00,

4. The Astronomical Science Group of Ireland (ASGI) autumn meeting will be held in Armagh Observatory on Monday September 5^th 2011. The programme will consist of oral presentations and posters from the astronomical community. This is the first call for contributions. Please submit your name and presentation or poster title (specifying which) to Neil Trappe. Email:

neal.a.trappe@nuim.ie .This is a professional level meeting, but members of organisations affiliated to ASGI, such as the Irish Astronomical Association, are welcome to attend. However, note that most of the presentations require 3rd level maths and physics for full understanding.

5. Dublin Astronomy Event: "CHINESE STAR CHARTS" by JEAN-MARC BONNET-BIDAUD.

Discover an astronomy chart done 1300 years ago by a Chinese Astronomer. Dr. Jean-Marc Bonnet-Bidaud will present his work on Chinese Star Charts on the 6th and 7th of September 2011 at the Alliance Francaise and at Dunsink Observatory (DIAS)
   Jean-Marc Bonnet-Bidaud is an astrophysicist at the Astrophysical Department of the French Atomic Energy Commission (C.E.A.), a specialist in high energy astrophysics and in the study of highly condensed stars in the Galaxy (white dwarfs, neutrons stars and black holes). He is involved in several international collaborations to search, locate and study new sources of X-rays and gamma-rays in the Galaxy by means of space astronomy. He is currently taking part in scientific programs, using the European satellites XMM (X-ray Multiple mirror Mission, XMM) and INTEGRAL (International Gamma-ray Astrophysics Laboratory).
   Jean-Marc Bonnet-Bidaud has also a deep interest in the history and popularisation of astronomy. He is at present the scientific adviser of the French astronomy magazine "Ciel et Espace". He has published numerous articles in different magazines and newspapers and was also the author of different television programs.
   He is currently carrying out research works on the roots of astronomy in Africa and China. After publishing results concerning the rate of star explosions in the Galaxy and the colour change of the star Sirius deduced from historical Chinese reports, he is now involved in a systematic study of the oldest Chinese Star Charts to evaluate their scientific content.

1. Presentation at the Alliance Francaise of Kildare Street Dublin 2, Tuesday 6th September at 6.30 pm (18.30 hrs). NB! Presentation will be in French. Film "Dunhuang star charts" in English. Q&A in French and English

2. Presentation at DUNSINK OBSERVATORY (DIAS) Castleknock, Dublin 15, Wednesday 7th September at 8 pm (20.00 hrs). A 40/45 min lecture in English with Q&A + a 12-15 min Break, with some refreshments for informal discussion. + A visit to the South Dome and the Grubb Telescope. + With possible observations of the night sky through the Grubb Telescope and others if the weather is kind on that evening

Contact Details for the Event to be held in Dunsink Observatory: For your e-ticket request please e-mail hod@cp.dias.ie on or before Monday 22nd August 2011 (17.00 hrs)

Please head the request for your e-ticket/s "Chinese Star Charts" by Jean-Marc Bonnet-Bidaud Dunsink Obs 7th Sept 2011, and state the number of tickets that you require. DIAS has a minimum age limit of 12 years of age for an evening event such as this.
   More details if required from: Hilary O'Donnell/Sullivan, Astrophysics and Astronomy Section, School of Cosmic Physics, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 31 Fitzwilliam Place, Dublin 2, Ireland. Telephone + 353-1-662 13 33, Fax + 353-1-524 23 02, E-mail hod@cp.dias.ie Mobile number 00 353 (0) 87 629 49 66

6. ISS: The International Space Station is just ending a series of morning passes over Ireland, and will almost immediately start a series of evening passes, on August 13/14. Full free details for any location anywhere in the world fom www.heavens-above.com.

7. 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

Earth's sister, Rockets, Lecture, ISS, TV, Perseids, IAA Solar Day, BCO, ASGI

2011-07-29T08:50:00.001Z

Hi all,

1. Planet Earth has a 'Little Sister'.

A tiny asteroid has been discovered which runs ahead of Earth in our yearly orbit around the Sun. This makes Earth the fourth planet in the solar system that is known to share its orbit with an asteroid. The details are reported in the latest issue of Nature. The object, called 2010 TK7, was discovered last year by Nasa's Wise satellite. It was then observed with a telescope in Hawaii in April, determining its orbit with enough precision to show it was a Trojan.

If Earth and the asteroid, which measures only about 300 metres across, were travelling around a clock face, with the Sun in the middle, the asteroid runs about two numbers ahead. However, the asteroid sometimes goes so far ahead that it is on the opposite side of the Sun from Earth. Spotting a small asteroid in Earth's orbit is difficult from the ground because the potential locations are generally in the daytime sky. Wise, which operates in the infrared, was not so badly hampered by this effect.

The discovery was made by Martin Connors, of Athabasca University in Alberta, and colleagues. Asteroids that share an orbit with a planet are called Trojans. We have already found a few for Mars and Neptune and nearly 5,000 for Jupiter.

Donald K Yeomans, manager of Nasa's Near-Earth Object Programme Office, said that most astronomers suspected Earth had Trojans, adding: "I would guess there are others."

2. So you want to be a ROCKET SCIENTIST?

Have you ever wondered how to build a solid fuel space rocket? Have you ever wanted to witness a rocket launch? If the answer is yes, then Armagh Planetarium is the place to be on the 30^th and 31^st of July 2011 as we blastoff into a fun-filled weekend of rockets.

Rocket Man Andy Willis is looking to recruit some space engineers in his Rocket Workshop to construct some real rockets ready to be delivered to the launch pad. Are you ready to be his apprentice?

Take part in the countdown and watch as the rocket is launched up into the air, carrying its very own satellite. Perhaps even try and guess the height that the rocket travelled!

You will also discover the latest design in Japanese space planes, participate in some water rocket launching and even be trained up on how to make paper planes.

If you are up for the challenge, step up to the launch pad and give us a call on 028 37 523689 to book your place. The rocket workshop is FREE, but places are limited and filling up fast. Workshops will blastoff at 11am and 2pm sharp each day.

On this weekend the Planetarium will have their summer programme of Digital Theatre shows on offer. Here you can relax and experience our planet and beyond and view the cosmos as never seen before. Check out our website www.armaghplanet.com for show trailers and times. Pre-booking for a theatre show is essential and normal admission fees apply.

www.armaghplanet.com

02837523689

3. KILLER ASTEROIDS - PUBLIC LECTURE, 3 August, 7 p.m.

The Michael West Public Lectures in astronomy will be held each year to explain some of the latest and most exciting discoveries in the world of Astronomy. They are named after Dr. Michael West, who is supporting scientific research and public outreach in the Astrophysics Research Centre at Queens.
Dr. Pedro Lacerda, the Michael West research Fellow in Astronomy, said
"A lot of people are interested in astronomy, which happens to be a major research topic at Queen's University Belfast. We want to give everyone the chance to learn about it from some of the best astronomers in the world."
The second lecture in the series, entitled "Killer Asteroids" will be given by Dr. Robert Jedicke from the University of Hawaii. Dr. Jedicke is a renowned asteroid hunter, and is leading the search for dangerous asteroids with the new PanSTARRS1 telescope in Hawaii. This lecture will be held on Wednesday 3rd August.

The talk will take place in the Larmor Lecture Theatre in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Queen's. Attendance is free of charge, but seats must be booked either by phone at 028 9097 3202, or by visiting the website http://tinyurl.com/MichaelWestLectures and registering there.

These talks have been organised by the Astrophysics Research Centre at QUB, in association with the Irish Astronomical Association.

4. The ISS will begin another series of morning passes over Ireland at the end of July: details as always are on www.heavens-above.com

5. EXCELLENT TV PROGRAMME: "Journey to the Edge of the Universe" on More4, Saturday 31 July, 10pm - 00.05. (per Derek Heatly - thanks)

6. PERSEIDS. The annual Perseid meteor shower will reach maximum on the night of 12-13 August, with the peak predicted for 04h on the 13th. The IAA will be holding a 'Perseid Party' on the evening of the 12th, at Delamont Country Park, south of Killinchy on the A22 to Downpatrick, commencing about 8 p.m. with a Fry-up / BBQ. Obviously such an event is weather dependent, so check the IAA website www.irishastro.org beforehand to see if it will be going ahead. Unfortunately the Moon will be full on the 13th, so only the brighter meteors are likely to be seen that night. However, the Perseid shower is active from the end of July to about the 20th of August, with low rates to start with, building up gradually to the peak on the 13th, then gradually dropping away again. So look out for Perseids any time from the end of this month, especially before the Moon gets too bright. The radiant is near the famous 'Double Cluster', which lies roughly midway between Perseus and Cassiopeia.

7. IAA SOLAR DAY at WWT, CASTLE ESPIE, 14 August, 2 p.m. - 5 p.m. The Irish Astronomical Association will be running another of its ever-popular 'Solar Days' at the WWT at Castle Espie, near Comber, Co Down. Now that Solar activity is steadily increasing, we can expect to see lots of detail on the Sun's disk if there's any clear sky. We will have a selection of solar telescopes, each fitted with specialised safe astronomical filters, to see it in visible light, and in the wavelengths of Calcium and H-Alpha. There should be sunspots and huge prominences, each many times bigger than planet Earth. We will also have the usual display of astronomical and space items, posters, etc, and a mobile planetarium, so come along even if it's cloudy. More details on www.irishastro.org

8. BCO EVENTS in AUGUST: Limited availability left for Space Camp 2011. Plus a chance to WIN a coveted place for one lucky space cadet.

Students from 8 to 12 years are invited to join us for our 4th annual Space Camp to use science and engineering to explore the universe. There are very limited places available in the August camp, especially for the morning options, so get in there quick if your kids are looking to learn about the universe, alien life and how to build and launch their own rockets.

We're Eco Warriors at BCO and use as much recycled products in our workshops as possible - and we need a lot for Space Camp. We're offering one lucky kid the chance to win their place at this year's Space Camp just by bringing us in things that you will already have at home for recycling. Cost €95 per child. Members & second child discount.

See: www.bco.ie for more details of this and other events.

9. The Astronomical Science Group of Ireland (ASGI) autumn meeting will be held in Armagh Observatory on Monday September 5^th 2011. The programme will consist of oral presentations and posters from the astronomical community. This is the first call for contributions. Please submit your name and presentation or poster title (specifying which) to Neil Trappe. Email: neal.a.trappe@nuim.ie

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.

Clear skies,

Terry Moseley

2 Lectures, Rockets, IAA for APOY, Eclipse survey, ISS, Perseids, Solar day

2011-07-25T01:33:00.001Z

Hi all,

1. PUBLIC LECTURE ON 'RECENT' SPACE IMPACTS: Prof Mike Baillie of QUB is giving a public lecture titled "What happens when a scientist plays at archaeology" in the Whitla Hall, Queens University Belfast, on Wednesday, July 27^th at 7pm. The alternative title is "How precise tree-ring dating raises issues concerning the frequency of extraterrestrial impacts."

Mike is Professor Emeritus of Palaeoecology at Queen's, and a world expert on tree-ring dating, and is well known to many astronomers in Ireland and further afield for his interesting and forthright views on the rate of relatively recent comet/asteroid impacts on Earth as revealed by accurate tree-ring dating of climatic events, and indeed with possible links to stories in Irish and other mythologies. He has given fascinating and thought-provoking lectures to the IAA, among others, on this topic. He has written three books on the topic "Exodus to Arthur", "New Light on the Black Death: the cosmic connection", and "The Celtic Gods: comets in Irish mythology", the latter with IAA member Dr Patrick McCafferty. See: http://www.qub.ac.uk/schools/gap/Staff/AcademicStaff/ProfEmeritusMikeBaillie/.

For details of the lecture see http://www.iopireland.org/ and click on the lecture notice in the noticeboard section of the site.

This public lecture is part of the XXVII International Conference on Photonic, Electronic and Atomic Collisions, being held in Queen's from July 27^th to August 2^nd. A map of the QUB campus showing the Whitla Hall is on p 2 of the main conference programme, available at http://www.qub.ac.uk/icpeac2011/index.html. (Thanks to John Flannery for the initial alert.)

2. So you want to be a ROCKET SCIENTIST?

Rocket Man Andy Willis is looking to recruit some space engineers in his Rocket Workshop to construct some real rockets ready to be delivered to the launch pad. Are you ready to be his apprentice?

Take part in the countdown and watch as the rocket is launched up into the air, carrying its very own satellite. Perhaps even try and guess the height that the rocket travelled!

You will also discover the latest design in Japanese space planes, participate in some water rocket launching and even be trained up on how to make paper planes.

www.armaghplanet.com

02837523689

3. KILLER ASTEROIDS - PUBLIC LECTURE, 3 August, 7 p.m.

These talks have been organised by the Astrophysics Research Centre at QUB, in association with the Irish Astronomical Association.

4. IAA Member's photo shortlisted for Astronomy Picture of the Year!One of Martin Campbell's images has been shortlisted for the Astronomy Picture of the Year 2011. This is the second year in succession that one of his images has been shortlisted. Martin is well known for his exquisite images, particularly widefield or all-sky images, and has given a superbly illustrated talk to the IAA on this subject. Let's all wish him luck, but of course even getting shortlisted is a superb achievement.

5. ECLIPSE CHASER SURVEY. IAA member Dr Kate Russo, who gave us a lecture on this topic last year, is writing a book on 'eclipse chasers' or 'umbraphiles' as they are sometime known. She has posted the following item for eclipse chasers; I am forwarding it as I know that many members on this list are eclipse chasers to a greater or lesser degree. (I have edited out some introductory and background material. T.M.)

" I am an eclipse chaser, and also a psychologist, and I am now currently researching my book about the people who chase eclipses.
   The book has a provisional title of "Total Addiction", and will be published by Springer next year. The focus is not on eclipses themselves, but rather the experiences of those who chase eclipses - what drives us, motivates us to see totality. Some questions and topics I am hoping to cover:
- Are we all suffering from an addiction?
- What drives us all to chase eclipses?
- What is the emotional experience of totality?
- What do eclipses mean to us?
- What makes us unique as a group?
- Is there an eclipse chasing personality?
- How do people make decisions about where to go for clear skies?
   As part of this research, I have put together a brief survey for eclipse chasers, which can be found here: http://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/582415/A-survey-of-eclipse-chasers-for-launch-July-4-2011 .   A link to this survey can also be found on Bill Kramer's eclipse chasers website www.eclipse-chasers.com .
   This is a general survey, taking approximately 20 minutes to complete, which aims to explore people's motivations and experiences of totality.  Information gathered in this survey is anonymous, and will help guide the content of the book. I am hoping that as many eclipse chasers as possible complete this survey.
   I am also hoping that people are interested in being part of the book by sharing experiences - i.e. of your first time, what eclipses mean to you, challenges of being an eclipse chaser, what it's like to be responsible for others seeing an eclipse, or anything that you feel is important or interesting. You can do this by sending me an email about anything you wish to share about you as an eclipse chaser; and/or by participating in an interview (skype most likely!) about your experiences. There is space to leave your contact details if you would like in the survey, or else you can email me directly on umbraphillia@gmail.com.
The book will be completed early next year, in order to be available in the lead up to the 2012 eclipse in north Queensland, which coincidentally, is where I am from.
    I hope people think this is an interesting and worthwhile idea, and I hope I can do us all justice. Please forward these details on to any other eclipse chasers you know.

Kate Russo, Queen's University Belfast

6. The ISS will begin another series of morning passes over Ireland at the end of July: details as always are on www.heavens-above.com

7. PERSEIDS. The annual Perseid meteor shower will reach maximum on the night of 12-13 August, with the peak predicted for 04h on the 13th. The IAA will be holding a 'Perseid Party' on the evening of the 12th, at Delamont Country Park, south of Killinchy on the A22 to Downpatrick, commencing about 8 p.m. with a Fry-up / BBQ. Obviously such an event is weather dependent, so check the IAA website www.irishastro.org beforehand to see if it will be going ahead. Unfortunately the Moon will be full on the 13th, so only the brighter meteors are likely to be seen that night. However, the Perseid shower is active from the end of July to about the 20th of August, with low rates to start with, building up gradually to the peak on the 13th, then gradually dropping away again. So look out for Perseids any time from the end of this month, especially before the Moon gets too bright. The radiant is near the famous 'Double Cluster', which lies roughly midway between Perseus and Cassiopeia.

8. IAA SOLAR DAY at WWT, CASTLE ESPIE, 14 August, 2 p.m. - 5 p.m.. The Irish Astronomical Association will be running another of its ever-popular 'Solar Days' at the WWT at Castle Espie, near Comber, Co Down. Now that Solar activity is steadily increasing, we can expect to see lots of detail on the Sun's disk if there's any clear sky. We will have a selection of solar telescopes, each fitted with specialised safe astronomical filters, to see it in visible light, and in the wavelengths of Calcium and H-Alpha. There should be sunspots and huge prominences, each many times bigger than planet Earth. We will also have the usual display of astronomical and space items, posters, etc, and a mobile planetarium, so come along even if it's cloudy. More details on www.irishastro.org

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

Two Lectures, Eclipse survey, ISS, Perseids, IAA Solar Day at WWT

2011-07-21T21:14:00.001Z

Hi all,

1. Final reminder: Supermassive Black Holes: Lecture at QUB on Friday 22 JULY, in the Department of Physics and Astronomy.

The lecture will be given by Professor Reinhard Genzel, Director of the Max-Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics. Professor Genzel is an international expert on investigating black holes that weigh millions of times more than our Sun. In 2008 he won the prestigious Shaw Prize for establishing the existence of a huge Black Hole in the centre of our own Milky Way.

Black Holes are the most extreme, most mysterious, most fascinating and least understood objects in the universe. And the big ones, such as the one at the centre of our own Milky Way Galaxy, which has a mass equivalent to about a million Suns, are the most powerful energy emitters in the universe.

Some others, in giant galaxies, are even bigger. So Supermassive Black Holes break just about all the records in the entire universe!

(NB: the date was incorrectly given as 27 July in my Skydiary section in Stardust - sorry.)
The talk will take place in the Larmor Lecture Theatre in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Queen's. Attendance at the talk is free of charge, but seats must be booked either by phone at 028 9097 3202, or by visiting the website http://tinyurl.com/MichaelWestLecture Series and registering there.
These talks have been organised by the Astrophysics Research Centre at QUB, in association with the Irish Astronomical Association.

2. PUBLIC LECTURE ON 'RECENT' SPACE IMPACTS: Prof Mike Baillie of QUB is giving a public lecture titled "What happens when a scientist plays at archaeology" in the Whitla Hall, Queens University Belfast, on Wednesday, July 27^th at 7pm. The alternative title is "How precise tree-ring dating raises issues concerning the frequency of extraterrestrial impacts."

For details of the lecture see http://www.iopireland.org/ and click on the lecture notice in the noticeboard section of the site.

3. ECLIPSE CHASER SURVEY. IAA member Dr Kate Russo, who gave us a lecture on this topic last year, is writing a book on 'eclipse chasers' or 'umbraphiles' as they are sometime known. She has posted the following item for eclipse chasers; I am forwarding it as I know that many members on this list are eclipse chasers to a greater or lesser degree. (I have edited out some introductory and background material. T.M.)

Kate Russo, Queen's University Belfast

4. ISS: The ISS will begin another series of morning passes over Ireland at the end of July: details as always are on www.heavens-above.com

5. PERSEIDS. The annual Perseid meteor shower will reach maximum on the night of 12-13 August, with the peak predicted for 04h on the 13th. The IAA will be holding a 'Perseid Party' on the evening of the 12th, at Delamont Country Park, south of Killinchy on the A22 to Downpatrick, commencing about 8 p.m. with a Fry-up / BBQ. Obviously such an event is weather dependent, so check the IAA website www.irishastro.org beforehand to see if it will be going ahead. Unfortunately the Moon will be full on the 13th, so only the brighter meteors are likely to be seen that night. However, the Perseid shower is active from the end of July to about the 20th of August, with low rates to start with, building up gradually to the peak on the 13th, then gradually dropping away again. So look out for Perseids any time from the end of this month, especially before the Moon gets too bright. The radiant is near the famous 'Double Cluster', which lies roughly midway between Perseus and Cassiopeia.

6. IAA SOLAR DAY at WWT, CASTLE ESPIE, 14 August, 2 p.m. - 5 p.m.. The Irish Astronomical Association will be running another of its ever-popular 'Solar Days' at the WWT at Castle Espie, near Comber, Co Down. Now that Solar activity is steadily increasing, we can expect to see lots of detail on the Sun's disk if there's any clear sky. We will have a selection of solar telescopes, each fitted with specialised safe astronomical filters, to see it in visible light, and in the wavelengths of Calcium and H-Alpha. There should be sunspots and huge prominences, each many times bigger than planet Earth. We will also have the usual display of astronomical and space items, posters, etc, and a mobile planetarium, so come along even if it's cloudy. More details on www.irishastro.org

7. 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