Lectures, Sky Guide, Asteroid Impact, Flight Test, New Sunspot, Most distant GRB

Hi all,

1. NOV 4: IAA FREE PUBLIC LECTURE, BELFAST: The next lecture of the Irish Astronomical Association's new season will be given by well-known space author and lecturer Brian Harvey.

His talk is entitled "The Chinese Space Programme". Will they launch their own 'Space Station'? Will they land men and/or women on the Moon before the Americans do so again? It's on WEDNESDAY 4 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. RIA LECTURE IN DUBLIN AND BELFAST. The Royal Irish Academy has organised two lectures by former president of the RAS Prof Sir Michael Rowan Robinson, entitled "The cosmology of Distant and Dusty Galaxies". These will be held in DUBLIN in the RIA in Dawson St at 6.00 on 2 November, and in BELFAST at 6.00 on 3 November in the O'Connor Lecture Theatre, University of Ulster, Belfast campus, York St. Admission is free, but by ticket only, from www.ria.ie, although for the Belfast lecture at least you would probably be OK just turning up in time and asking for a ticket.

3. Blackrock Castle Observatory: November newsletter. There is limited availibility for Halloween's Movie by Moonlight and children's midterm workshops 'Planets of our Solar System'. The Vampire Ball is sold out. We are pleased to introduce a new theatrical programme from RSVP - History in Action. We hope you can enjoy some of the exciting events on offer! Regards and Clear Skies from all at Blackrock Castle Observatory. Please see for the online version

4. MAC LECTURE: Tuesday November 3rd. Mr. Seanie Morris, MAC Secretary, will present a talk entitled "Is that the Moon? How did that get there?" It will take place in the Presbyterian Church, High Street, Tullamore at 8:00pm. All things scientific and astronomical will be explored. All are welcome and admission is €2,.00.

5. FREE SKY GUIDE: John Flannery writes: "I'm pleased to report that the sky guide for 2010 is now available for you to download. This is your FREE 36-page guide to what's up in the skies over Ireland for the year ahead. The monthly notes in this year's booklet have been changed to a much handier calendar format which you can stick up somewhere as a reminder of what is happening in the current month. More comprehensive detail about astronomical phenomena can be found in the other pages. Feel free to get in touch if you would like to know more about a particular event or if you spot errors that need to be corrected. Enjoy!

I will be adding a second file soon which will contain the daily rise and set times for the Sun, Moon, and major planets, along with their solar elongation, brightness, and other ephemerides. I'll update everyone as soon as that is available.

Sky Guide 2010 is hosted on the file sharing web site Mediafire and can be downloaded by pasting the link below into your web browser. Click on the sky_guide_2010.pdf file name in Mediafire and then the "Click here to download" on the left-hand side of the next displayed page. A pop-up might appear but hopefully I'll soon get the file hosted on another web site which will be astronomy-related. http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=aa0aaa03bf1b2d470c814df2efeadc50e04e75f6e8ebb871

6. ASTEROID IMPACT/EXPLOSION: A 10-metre wide near-Earth asteroid impacted the atmosphere and exploded over Indonesia archepeligo in early October. The event received very little coverage in the Western press but astronomers have analysed details gathered from eye-witnesses and local media coverage. Scientists estimate that the explosion was two or three times more powerful than the WW 2 atom bombs. More details are at http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news165.html

7. ARES 1 FLIGHT TEST. The flight-test of Nasa's new Ares rocket (this one is Ares I-X) took place successfully today, October 28th. See http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/constellation/ares/flighttests/aresIx/index.html. It reached a height of 40 kilometres and carried numerous instruments to measure many aspects of this newly developed rocket. The test was crucial for the next stage of the Constellation programme which is part of Nasa's goal to develop a rocket and crew vehicle for future spaceflight. The programme is under scrutiny however because of its expense and may even be cancelled at a future date. Nasa recently released a report that recommends closer cooperation with private space ventures in developing vehicles for low-Earth orbit operations. Read more about Ares X-I at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ares_I-X

8. BIG NEW SUNSPOT: The sun is showing signs of life. Sunspot 1029 emerged over the weekend, and it is crackling with B- and C-class solar flares. The active region's magnetic polarity identifies it as a member of new Solar Cycle 24. If its growth continues apace, sunspot 1029 could soon become the biggest sunspot of 2009. Check http://spaceweather.com for animations and updates.

9. MOST DISTANT OBJECT EVER OBSERVED: Astronomers have just reported observation of the most distant object and event ever seen - a Gamma Ray Burst, at a distance of 13.1 billion Light Years. Detected by the SWIFT satellite, the event took place only 600 million years after the estimated date of the Big Bang, and the gamma rays from it have been travelling for the last 13.1 billion years to reach Earth!

Clear Skies,

Terry Moseley

Correction, Orionids, Lectures, Galilean Nights, BCO, ISS

From: TerryMoselaol.com

Date: 20 October 2009 01:34:43 GMT+01:00

Subject: Correction, Orionids, Lectures, Galilean Nights, BCO, ISS

Hi all,

1. Correction: Sorry - I somehow gave out the wrong date for the IAS lecture at Dunsink. That lecture was tonight (19th), NOT on the 21st! Apologies to all, and to the IAS in particular. So to be clear, there will NOT be a lecture at Dunsink on 21 October.

2. ORIONID METEORS - ENHANCED ACTIVITY THIS WEEK?

(The following is adapted and edited from an E/M by Dr John Mason).

The Orionid meteor shower will be active throughout the coming week. One of two annual showers associated with Comet 1P/Halley the Orionids usually produce observed rates in excess of 10 meteors/hr around their maximum.

In the years 2006-2008, some observers reported higher-than-normal Orionid meteor rates, and there is chance that enhanced activity may be observed again this year. New Moon is on October 18, and First Quarter on October 26, so moonlight will not interfere this year.

Peter Jenniskens reports that the strong Orionid meteor shower activity may well repeat this year, according to M. Sato and J.-I. Watanabe. They ascribed the enhanced activity in the period 2006-2008 activity to dust trails of comet 1P/Halley that were formed by meteoroids ejected in the years -1400 and -11. The orbital evolution of the dust trails is affected by the 1:5 to 1:8 mean-motion resonances with Jupiter. This so-called "filament" component is expected to be in the Earth's path again around Oct. 18-24 in 2009, giving rise to a higher-than-normal Orionid-shower activity that is relatively rich in bright meteors. Thanks to the filamentary nature of the debris stream laid down by the parent comet, activity can vary markedly from one year to another: good rates can be experienced if Earth encounters a rich meteoroid filament, but at other times activity might seem disappointing.

Several sub-peaks are usually seen between October 20-22, and intervals of slightly increased activity can be found even as late as October 27-28. These meteoroids have a retrograde orbit around the Sun, meaning that they enter the upper atmosphere 'head on' at the high velocity of 66 km/sec, so Orionid meteors are very swift, and the brighter ones often leave behind brief persistent ionisation trains.

Having been laid down over numerous returns of 1P/Halley, the Orionid meteor stream is quite spread out, and this is reflected in the shower's diffuse (probably multiple) radiant. Orionid meteors emanate from a region of sky midway between Betelgeuse (Orion's eastern 'shoulder') and the second-magnitude star Gamma Geminorum. The radiant doesn't rise until 22h local time, and best rates are generally found in the early morning hours once it has gained somewhat in altitude.

Observations of the Orionid meteor shower should be made according to the standard methods of the BAA Meteor Section which are available on the Section's website at http://www.britastro.org/meteor

Please submit your observations to the BAA Meteor Section as soon as possible after you have made them, and at any rate within one month at the most. Observations should be sent to the Acting Director: Dr John Mason, 51 Orchard Way, Barnham, West Sussex PO22 0HX. Tel: 01243 814307. email docjohndircon.co.uk

3. Oct 21: IAA FREE PUBLIC LECTURE, BELFAST: The next lecture of the Irish Astronomical Association's new season will be given by Dr Carla Gil. Carla has done some pioneering research work with the world's most powerful telescope, the European Southern Observatory's VLT in Chile, specifically using it in Interferometer mode, when it can function with an effective aperture of 100 metres. Yes, that's one hundred metres! She is now a visiting ESO Research Fellow at Armagh Observatory.

Her talk is entitled "Observing with a 100-metre virtual telescope, the VLTI". It's on WEDNESDAY 21 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; particularly ladies - come along and see what women are doing at the leading edge of astronomical research: astronomy is not just a topic for men! Full details of the rest of the programme are on the website: www.irishastro.org

N.B. The Belfast Festival at Queen's is on that week, so come early if you want to get parked on the QUB site, or indeed anywhere in that area. There are no events at that time in QUB itself, but there's one at the Elmwood Hall which is not too far away, so parking spaces will soon fill up. I suggest you try to get there no later than 7.0.

4. Public Lecture, Armagh: "Why Are We Here?", 8.00 pm Thursday 22 October 2009

The Armagh Observatory and the Armagh Natural History and Philosophical Society are co-hosting a free public lecture on Thursday 22 October 2009 in the Rotunda Lecture Theatre, St. Patrick's Trian, Armagh. The Lecture will be delivered by Dr Martin Hendry of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Glasgow. The lecture will begin at 8.00 pm and is scheduled to end at 9.00 pm with questions, followed by tea and coffee.

The title and summary of the lecture are: "Why Are We Here?

Since the dawn of civilisation human cultures have sought to understand our place in the universe, asking "Big questions" about our cosmic origins. Modern cosmology provides some startling answers to these questions: not only is the universe expanding, but we believe the expansion to be accelerating -- driven by a mysterious "dark energy" that challenges our

ideas about gravity and the very nature of space and time. Moreover our runaway universe appears to be rather delicately balanced, in the sense that small changes in the laws of nature would result in a very different cosmos -- most likely unsuitable for life like us. What does all of this mean for our cosmic origins? Is our universe unique, or do we belong to a

"multiverse" -- a vast ensemble of universes, each with its own laws of nature? In his lecture, Dr Hendry will explore these, and other, questions posed by the latest cosmological discoveries, and discuss what implications they might have for the existence of life in the universe."

For free tickets to this public lecture, please contact Aileen McKee at the Armagh Observatory; Tel: 028-3752-2928; Fax: 028-3752-7174; e-mail: ambnarm.ac.uk.

5. IAA "GALILEAN NIGHTS" OBSERVING, Sat 24 October, Delamont Country Park, near Killyleagh, Co Down. See the attached poster for details of this event. If you are attending bring a 'scope or binocs if you can. It is of course subject to the weather and you will need to check the forum on the IAA website www.irishastro.org between 6.00 and 6.30pm that evening for confirmation that it is going ahead.

6. Blackrock Castle Observatory Events: BCO in Cork has an excellent series of ongoing events: See www.bco.ie.

Director Clair McSweeney also sent me this: "In addition, CIT / Blackrock Castle Observatory has taken on the role of communications point of contact within Ireland for ESON. ESON is the European Southern Observatory Outreach Network. http://www.eso.org/public/outreach/ This has a wide brief but entails being a link into any relevant amateur and professional body for ESON press and media releases and also hopefully to be the same for all and any such relevant bodies within Ireland back to ESON. The ESON brief is that such communications are ESO/ESON related.

Tom Bonner of Cork Astronomy Club and CIT, and I are looking to create communication links that would go directly between us and the Irish astronomy community. Our brief is to promote knowledge and awareness of ESON, pass on their releases and when appropriate act as the link for the Irish astronomy community back to ESON to raise the profile of events and activities that would be deemed relevant. Galilean Nights is a good example. See www.galileannights.org

BCO will officially launch Ireland ESON at Discovery, Cork’s interactive science exhibit, on Sat Nov 14. For more details see http://www.bco.ie/October_09_Newsletter.html"

7. ISS IN MORNINGS: The International Space Station is making a series of morning passes at the moment - see www.heavens-above.com Look out for it when it passes close to.....

8. BRILLIANT MORNING STAR VENUS: Venus is still the brightest object in the morning sky. It currently rises in morning twilight, preceded by much fainter Saturrn, and followed by Mercury, which is about midway in brightness between Saturn and Venus. But both Mercury and then Venus will soon move too close to the Sun to be seen, so look in the next few mornings before they go.

If you see the ISS pass nearby on a good bright pass, compare its brightness with Venus - from Belfast it will be noticeably fainter than Venus, more comparable with Jupiter which is visible earlier in the night. From Dublin it can be almost as bright as Venus. And from Cork, where it can pass nearly overhead, it can equal Venus in brightness!

9. IAA's Castle Espie Event a Great Success: A combination of good publicity and a clear sky resulted in a huge turnout at the IAA's IYA2009 Stargazing + Mobile Planetarium evening last Saturday. It was the largest turnout at any event they have had since the newly refurbished VC was opened, and all were delighted with the evening. Except maybe poor Andy McCrea, who had to do 4 planetarium starshows in quick succession! Thanks Andy. We got lovely telescopic views of giant planet Jupiter with its cloud belts and 4 bright Galilean moons, plus of course all the usual deepsky wonders. Thanks to all who helped.

Clear Skies,

Terry Moseley

IYA 2009 at WWT, Lectures, BCO Prog, ISS, Venus

From: TerryMoselaol.com

Date: 16 October 2009 23:20:59 GMT+01:00

Subject: IYA 2009 at WWT, Lectures, BCO Prog, ISS, Venus

Hi all,

1. IAA / IYA PUBLIC ASTRONOMY EVENT AT CASTLE ESPIE, 17 October.

To mark International Year of Astronomy 2009, the Irish Astronomical Association will be holding a special public astronomy event at the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust, Castle Espie, near Comber, Co Down.

We will show members of the public the wonders of the night sky, including mighty Jupiter, the largest planet in the Solar System, with its four big Galilean Moons, and lovely double stars, star clusters, nebulae and galaxies from far across the universe.

We will also have an exhibition, meteorites, and starshows in a mobile planetarium, so there will be plenty to enjoy, even if it's cloudy.

Wrap up warm in any case, especially if the sky is clear.

Date: 17 October

Time: 8 p.m until about 11 p.m.

No extra charge, but WWT normal admission charges apply.

2. IAS Talk in Dunsink Observatory, Dublin, 21 October, at 8 p.m. "The Herschel Space Observatory: The Golden Age of Space-Based IR Astronomy Continues". Speaker: Dr. Brian O'Halloran, Research Associate at Imperial College London. He is a member of the Herschel SPIRE Instrument Control Centre team, and a member of the Herschel Specialist Astronomy Group 2 consortium.

The Herschel Space Observatory carries the largest, most powerful infrared telescope ever flown in space, and is the first space observatory to observe from the far-infrared to the submillimetre waveband, unveiling the mysterious hidden cold Universe to us for the first time.

They have reserved 4 places in total for IAA members. Please let John Murphy know if you wish to attend so he can put you on the list (Insurance limits the amount of attendees in Dunsink, hence the limits). E: murphymevodafone.ie, orjohnmurphy474gmail.com

3. Oct 21: IAA FREE PUBLIC LECTURE, BELFAST: The next lecture of the Irish Astronomical Association's new season will be given by Dr Carla Gil. Carla has done some pioneering research work with the world's most powerful telescope, the European Southern Observatory's VLT in Chile, specifically using it in Interferometer mode, when it can function with an effective aperture of 100 metres. Yes, that's one hundred metres! She is now a visiting ESO Research Fellow at Armagh Observatory.

Her talk is entitled "Observing with a 100-metre virtual telescope, the VLTI". It's on WEDNESDAY 21 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; particularly ladies - come along and see what women are doing at the leading edge of astronomical research: astronomy is not just a topic for men! Full details of the rest of the programme are on the website: www.irishastro.org

N.B. The Belfast Festival at Queen's is on that week, so come early if you want to get parked on the QUB site, or indeed anywhere in that area. There are no events at that time in QUB itself, but there's one at the Elmwood Hall which is not too far away, so parking spaces will soon fill up. I suggest you try to get there no later than 7.0.

4. Public Lecture, Armagh: "Why Are We Here?", 8.00 pm Thursday 22 October 2009

The Armagh Observatory and the Armagh Natural History and Philosophical Society are co-hosting a free public lecture on Thursday 22 October 2009 in the Rotunda Lecture Theatre, St. Patrick's Trian, Armagh. The Lecture will be delivered by Dr Martin Hendry of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Glasgow. The lecture will begin at 8.00 pm and is scheduled to end at 9.00 pm with questions, followed by tea and coffee.

The title and summary of the lecture are: "Why Are We Here?

Since the dawn of civilisation human cultures have sought to understand our place in the universe, asking "Big questions" about our cosmic origins. Modern cosmology provides some startling answers to these questions: not only is the universe expanding, but we believe the expansion to be accelerating -- driven by a mysterious "dark energy" that challenges our

ideas about gravity and the very nature of space and time. Moreover our runaway universe appears to be rather delicately balanced, in the sense that small changes in the laws of nature would result in a very different cosmos -- most likely unsuitable for life like us. What does all of this mean for our cosmic origins? Is our universe unique, or do we belong to a

"multiverse" -- a vast ensemble of universes, each with its own laws of nature? In his lecture, Dr Hendry will explore these, and other, questions posed by the latest cosmological discoveries, and discuss what implications they might have for the existence of life in the universe."

For free tickets to this public lecture, please contact Aileen McKee at the Armagh Observatory; Tel: 028-3752-2928; Fax: 028-3752-7174; e-mail: ambnarm.ac.uk.

5. Blackrock Castle Observatory Events: BCO in Cork has an excellent series of ongoing events: See www.bco.ie.

Director Clair McSweeney also sent me this: "In addition, CIT / Blackrock Castle Observatory has taken on the role of communications point of contact within Ireland for ESON. ESON is the European Southern Observatory Outreach Network. http://www.eso.org/public/outreach/ This has a wide brief but entails being a link into any relevant amateur and professional body for ESON press and media releases and also hopefully to be the same for all and any such relevant bodies within Ireland back to ESON. The ESON brief is that such communications are ESO/ESON related.

Tom Bonner of Cork Astronomy Club and CIT, and I are looking to create communication links that would go directly between us and the Irish astronomy community. Our brief is to promote knowledge and awareness of ESON, pass on their releases and when appropriate act as the link for the Irish astronomy community back to ESON to raise the profile of events and activities that would be deemed relevant. Galilean Nights is a good example. See www.galileannights.org

BCO will officially launch Ireland ESON at Discovery, Cork’s interactive science exhibit, on Sat Nov 14. For more details see http://www.bco.ie/October_09_Newsletter.html"

6. ISS IN MORNINGS: The International Space Station is making a series of morning passes at the moment - see www.heavens-above.com Look out for it when it passes close to.....

7. BRILLIANT MORNING STAR VENUS: Venus is still the brightest object in the morning sky. It currently rises in morning twilight, preceded by much fainter Saturrn, and followed by Mercury, which is about midway in brightness between Saturn and Venus. But both Mercury and then Venus will soon move too close to the Sun to be seen, so look in the next few mornings before they go.

If you see the ISS pass nearby on a good bright pass, compare its brightness with Venus - from Belfast it will be noticeably fainter than Venus, more comparable with Jupiter which is visible earlier in the night. From Dublin it can be almost as bright as Venus. And from Cork, where it can pass nearly overhead, it can equal Venus in brightness!

Clear Skies,

Terry Moseley