1. IFAS Convention, Saturday 19 September 2026.
BOOKED OUT! There are no places left, and space is limited, so don’t just turn up and hope to get in! Congratulations to Ronan Newman for coming up with this idea, and for doing most of the work in making it happen.
2. This event also coincides with International Observe the Moon Night – 19 September.
International Observe the Moon Night 2026 is on Sept. 19: Here's how to join in
3. IAA OPENING LECTURE MEETING OF NEW SEASON, 23 September.
7.30p.m., Wed 23 Sep, Larmor Lecture Theatre, Astrophysics Research Centre, Physic Building, QUB
A. Major Plans for Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, by Prof Michael Burton, Director of AOP.
B. Eclipse Round-Up: Reports from members on the 12 Agust Total/{artalSolar Eclipse in Ireland and abroad.
Admission free, including light refreshments. All welcome.
4. ECLIPSE OF THE SUN, 12 AUGUST – Reports on this eclipse, and advice on next year’s major eclipse in next bulletin
5. AUTUMN EQUINOX, 23 September.
The Sun will cross the equator Southwards on its journey around the ecliptic on September 23 at 01h 06m, marking the start of N. Hemisphere Autumn. From then on, the days will gradually shorten.
6. ISS. The ISS has just started a new series of evening passes, continuing until 26 September.
7. VENUS is a bit too low in the W twilight to be seen.
8. MARS & JUPITER – becoming visible in the early morning sky
Mars in in Gemini, still small and faint, with mag 1.2, and a diameter of only 5.3”. Jupiter lies in Cancer, much brighter at mag -1.7, and bigger, with a diameter of 32.4”
9. SATURN.The Ringed Planet is visible now later in the night, in Pisces. It’s now North of the Equator, giving us better viewing for longer each night. It will gradually become even better placed as it heads towards opposition on October 4. It ends September in Cetus, which of course is not one of the zodiacal constellations, but the astrologers will ignore that!
On Sep 30, ot will be mag 0.3 and diameter 19.7”. The angle of the rings is now steadily increasing, reaching 7.4 degrees by the end of September, with the South side presented to Earth.
Of the main moons, Titan is by far the easiest to see, reaching mag 8.3 at the end of September and just visible in good binocs when at greatest elongation from Saturn. Rhea is visible in any decent amateur telescope, reaching mag 9.7, and next, moving in closer to the planet, are Dione (mag 10.4), Tethys (mag 10.2) and Enceladus, mag 11.7. The next one in is Mimas, challenging at mag 12.9, especially as it never gets far from the bright rings. Much further out from Saturn, beyond Titan, is the mysterious Iapetus, where one side is more than twice as bright as the other, at mag 10.2 – 11.9.
10. 100 Hours of Astronomy – 1-4 October 2026
And IAU Office Astronomy Outreach Newsletter September 2026
11. World Space Week, 4 – 10 October
12. MAYO DARK SKY FESTIVAL, 31 October – 1 November.
Based mainly in Newport, with other events in Mulranny and Ballycroy Dark Sky Park VC, this is always a brilliant event!
13. NEW EASY TEASER
What’s special about asteroid 15?
Clue: Do I have to spell it out for you?
Rule: You are only eligible to enter the Easy Teaser if you have not been a member of an astronomy club or society for more than 10 years, or if you have not already correctly answered one of the difficult ones. This is to give the beginners and young readers a chance!)
14. NEW DIFFICULT TEASER:
What are the two connections between Cygnus and the ‘Distance Scale of the Universe’? You must get both. If your first answer only gets one, I’ll tell you, but not which one is correct!
Clue: For one of them – What’s in a name?
BTW, I’m NOT accusing anyone of using Chat GPT, or any other form of AI, but to be safe, and for my own satisfaction, I’m trying to make the questions as AI-proof as possible!
Remember, send answers to me only at my aol address: terrymosel@aol.com.
15. INTERESTING WEBLINKS (Disclaimer – Use of material herein from various sources does not imply approval or otherwise of the opinions, political or otherwise, of those sources). NB: If the title in the weblink does not indicate the subject matter, I give a brief simple intro before the link. I may also comment about the link afterwards.
ASTROPHYSICS:
Superkilonova explodes twice in stunning animation | Watch
ALMA Observes the Birth of a Massive Binary Star Astronomers have for the first time tracked the formation of a pair of young, massive stars in the IRAS 07299−1651 system, located approximately 5,500 light-years away. The study has been published in *Nature Astronomy*. ALMA and https://t.co/TVXvuDfgvh" / X https://share.google/kRZ9ymIV2QXBgUTpu
Astronomers discover a new type of astrophysical object: a black hole star the size of the solar system
The James Webb Space Telescope has found the most distant galaxy ever seen, at the dawn of the cosmos again
Astronomers looked back in time and found a monster 5,000 times bigger than our galaxy and it's packed full of dark matter
'Astrosphere' bubble around sun-like star seen for first time | Watch
Have we got our Galaxy completely wrong? Scientists just worked out it's much wider than they thought
A strange, dark object is warping the universe. Scientists still don’t know what it is
Hubble discovers galaxy made of 99% dark matter
Why do black hole flares die out? It may be down to how stars spin
James Webb Space Telescope finds 'hidden stars' making the 1st galaxies much bigger than we knew
Cloud-9: Case Strengthened For The Galaxy That Is Likely Without Stars | IFLScience https://share.google/oIcwbAJCrjNgSP7NX
Dense Galaxies Are Carving Out A Bubble in the Early Universe - Universe Today https://share.google/xSk3HZsLR8BmW5rEU
Why are the stars around our galaxy's black hole missing their companions? https://share.google/2nw0HlPsdL3xVSHOg
Continuous video of black hole radio observations challenges shock wave theory https://share.google/Sp7IJhF3zBD85kUyy
Astronomers discover two stars that joined together to form a binary system just 60 years ago https://share.google/gOUL5L2wj1HKgWZ02
New Research Says that Early Galaxies Could be Sending us Neutrinos - Universe Today https://share.google/uEYRIFJK6nGC7Q8Cu
Some black holes grow much faster than their galaxies https://share.google/e5BCwvqjrZIKMWMPt
Big supernova dataset challenges dark energy theory https://share.google/McDBY2EZZgqg8gOk7
Dark matter could magnify the jets of a ravenously feeding supermassive black hole
COSMOLOGY
A New Catalog of Close to 3,000 Supernova Challenges Theories on Dark Energy - Universe Today https://share.google/yKWURY0YMM2rsCXNk
Known physics suggests the early universe should have produced matter and antimatter in equal amounts. Nearly all of it annihilated into radiation, but roughly one extra matter particle survived for every billion pairs—and why that tiny imbalance existed remains one of physics’ deepest unsolved problems. https://share.google/NbRB31Z0gfvfvXI0S
So originally the universe had a billion times as many particles as it has now......
We thought the universe was the same everywhere. But it turns out it could be much stranger than we'd imagined – I’ve been suggesting this for quite a while.
A new hypothesis could connect two of physics’ greatest mysteries: dark energy and quantum gravity
Scientists make new finding in search for dark matter
https://phys.org/news/2026-08-black-hole-caught.html?utm_source=nwletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily-nwletter
Helium measurements clarify conditions seconds after the Big Bang https://share.google/prPbsO72qCrAoJHtt
EARTH & MOON
How to plan and where to go for the "eclipse of the century" – the 2027 total solar eclipse | Digital Camera World https://share.google/odGUo24oegzI8pe3f
China donates Chang'e-6 lunar far-side samples to UN for permanent display in Vienna - Global Times https://share.google/vAdIEg7wzQSQUIsVJ
Earth is spinning faster and your clock could be left behind But this may not be required, since there is another, almost constant, factor slowing down the rotation - the tidal friction caused by the Moon's gravitational pull on the Earth's oceans. If the effects in the Earth's core are only temporary, the tidal effect may become dominant again.
Mystery of the moon finally solved: Study claims our lunar satellite was created in just five hours
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman on X: "The race to the Moon is about far more than planting a flag. The lunar south pole will be strategically important for decades to come, and America intends to take lead. https://t.co/xMYPCs6ltb" / X https://share.google/k2O7mP2wm8wGra0U2
EXOLIFE:
The case for life on Mars just got stronger. A NASA rover has found extensive organic carbon in ancient river rocks | BBC Sky at Night Magazine https://share.google/W6q7PLa749fIAWoGl
Just wait until they find a Mars Bar!
Peptides in Venus’ clouds could form life-giving shapes
EXOPLANETS
Meet a Saturn-sized exoplanet with Earth-like temperatures https://earthsky.org/space/saturn-sized-exoplanet-earth-like-temperatures-toi-199b-methane/
IMAGES:
Circular star trails above Paranal
https://x.com/apod/status/2093191807362380069?s=20
When photo competition got it wrong, and the rule-abiding photographers paid the price
Rubin Observatory Peers Deep Into the Famous COSMOS Field - Universe Today https://share.google/pR1joXlsTZoCDzAGE
SOLAR SYSTEM
James Webb Space Telescope and Hubble discover 27 puzzling new objects far beyond Neptune | Space https://share.google/v6Nl2LjLXIsUmOeQJ
How did the sun form? Scientists get surprising new insights from 4.6-billion-year-old space dust
James Webb Space Telescope and Hubble discover 27 puzzling new objects far beyond Neptune
Venus had a moon for nearly 2 billion years, scientists say and
Did Venus once have a Moon? https://earthsky.org/space/venus-had-a-moon-moons-roche-limit/?mc_cid=96e0a1ef9c&mc_eid=dca371d595
Rings aren’t exclusive to giant planets: Chariklo, an icy body only about 250 kilometres across—shorter than Tasmania is long—carries two narrow rings, and Webb observations suggest they are changing on timescales of years. https://share.google/dYzxt0GtvokyiOW9g
NASA’s next landing won’t be on Mars – it’s heading into darkness | Watch
ESA's BepiColombo mission nears major turning point on Mercury approach
Curiosity Blog, Sols 4995-5001: 5,000 (Martian) Days on Mars - NASA Science https://share.google/5EKqTABnfU7Hjntlj
Astronomers using Hubble found a new roughly 104,000-mile-wide ten-sided storm forming at Saturn’s south pole, a geometric twin to the famous hexagon that has long circled the north https://share.google/Bnn6qh1GKnvpj7lSG
Hubble and Webb find that far-out solar system objects 'remember' the past https://share.google/B0KJ46H25PLQ5AQ52
SPACE
Mars astronauts could live in houses 3D-printed from freeze-dried yeast | Popular Science https://share.google/AY29qHwQ9UtLC6z1U
SpaceX's next Starship launch is about to attempt its biggest leap yet https://share.google/xrry6xs49YB2I4vLG
Sounds good. Now, where's the gelatin?....
Making rocket fuel out of Mars' thin air: New breakthrough could make it happen | Space https://share.google/KQM9GWKv8sXyszdbi
Europe’s space chief wants decision this year on launching without NASA https://share.google/cqxJSSsYVP1HC5ToI
SUN:
'Fingerprints' inside the Sun could reveal if it once swallowed a planet
TELESCOPES, INSTRUMENTS, TECHNIQUES:
DwarfLab Draco telescope uses spinning sensor to fix star trails https://share.google/Z320CFiHJLeHG0GZQ - It’s double the size of the S50!!!
Black Hole on X: "The SPHEREx space telescope has begun creating a unique infrared map of the Universe 🌌 Over the course of two years, the NASA spacecraft will conduct four complete sky surveys across 102 infrared bands—by comparison, its predecessor, WISE, used only four. The new mission will https://t.co/cEi3jsRm6L" / X https://share.google/bJUQTeVwh0u54Av7n
NASA expands Deep Space Network with giant new dish in California desert | Space
A Tool for Measuring the Mass of the Stars, Galaxies, and the Universe Gets a Tweak - Universe Today https://share.google/78RgzH8IzkkIKC6rG
When photo competition got it wrong, and the rule-abiding photographers paid the price
Four fixed half-pipe reflectors in British Columbia, each 100 meters long and strung with 1,024 antennas, watched the same overhead strip of sky from July 25, 2018 to September 15, 2023 and logged 4,539 fast radio bursts from 3,641 separate sources, on a telescope that cannot be aimed. https://share.google/MLxjIajEjjSJ5yMGF
FINAL WORD:
“The treasures hidden in the heavens are so rich that the human mind shall never be lacking in fresh nourishment." - Johannes Kepler
16. JOINING the IRISH ASTRONOMICAL ASSOCIATION. This link gives options to join the IAA.
https://irishastro.org/join-the-iaa/ If you are a UK taxpayer, please select the 'gift-aid' box, as that enables us to reclaim the standard rate of tax on your subscription, at no cost to you. You can also make a donation via Paypal if you wish: just click on the 'Donate' button. See also https://irishastro.org/
The Irish Astronomical Association is registered with The Charity Commission for Northern Ireland NIC 105858
DISCLAIMER: Any views expressed herein are mine, and do not necessarily represent those of the IAA.
Clear skies,
Terry Moseley
