Hi all,
1. Another Interstellar object! Ukrainian amateur astronomer Gennady Borisov discovered the object, now classed as a comet, and named C/2019 Q4 (Borisov), approaching from beyond the orbit of Mars on Aug. 30th.
Based on observations gathered since Borisov's discovery, the comet seems to be following a hyperbolic orbit with an eccentricity greater than 3.5. This means the comet is unbound to the Sun. Indeed, it is moving at 30.7 km/s (68,700 mph), too fast for the Sun's gravity to hang onto it. Comet Borisov is a first time visitor to the inner solar system, and after this flyby it will return to deep space.
The Comet will make its closest approach to the Sun (2 AU) around Dec. 7th. Three weeks later, near the end of December, it will make its closest approach to Earth (also 2 AU). At the moment the comet is very dim, around magnitude +18. We'll need more observations before we can estimate how bright it may become.
Unlike 'Oumuamua, which seems to have been asteroidal, this object is currently classed as a comet.
Amazing that we should discover one of each in such quick succession!
2. Congratulations, belatedly, to Deirdre Kelleghan!
I'm delighted to be able to say (belatedly – it's a long story!) that Deirdre has been honoured by the IAU by the naming of an asteroid in her honour. 52681 Kelleghan (1998DK34) was discovered by Eric Elst on 1998 Feb 27 at La Silla. Eric is now in the eighties, and is one of the worlds most prolific discovers of asteroids with over 300 to his credit.
The citation reads:
"Deirdre Kelleghan (b. 1957) is an Irish astronomer, artist and educator. She invents, designs and enacts creative workshops to help children understand our solar system through drawing. Her activities take place in schools, libraries, science centres and observatories throughout Ireland."
I, and many others, know and admire the extensive and selfish work that Deirdre does in promoting astronomy, particularly to schoolchildren.
Well done Dee – thoroughly deserved!
The nomination was proposed by John McConnell, who has performed this 'service' for several Irish amateur astronomers – thanks John!
3. IAA Public Lecture, Sep 25. Dr Mike Simms (UM): "1969; A special year for space rocks (and not just from the Moon)" Mike is one of Ireland's leading meteorite experts, and has given us many fascinating lectures before. This one focuses on 3 very significant meteorite falls which, coincidentally, occurred in the same year as the first retrieved rocks from the Moon. One of those was the famous Bovedy Meteorite, that last one known to fall in N. Ireland. A fascinating talk is to be expected, delivered in Mike's inimitable style.
SYNOPSIS:
"1969 was an auspicious time for rocks from Space. Meteorite falls at Bovedy in Northern Ireland, Allende in Mexico, and Murchison in Australia, all led to breakthroughs in our understanding of the early Solar System. Rocks brought back by Apollo's 11 and 12 gave us our first chance to find out if the Moon really was made of cheese. And a chance discovery down in Antarctica was to have a fundamental influence on the future of meteoritics for decades to come."
Details; 7.30 p.m., Bell Lecture Theatre, Physics Building, QUB. Admission free, including light refreshments. See www.irishastro.org.
NB.
Derek Heatly will be selling lots of books/dvds, incluiding the 1999 BBC ''Planets'' series, quite hi-res, still worth a look, plus many of the 50s SF classics, e.g. Forbidden Planet, When Worlds Collide, etc..
4. Flyover the 4 shortlisted sample collection sites for Asteroid Bennu: https://mail.aol.com/webmail-std/en-gb/DisplayMessage?ws_popup=true&ws_suite=true
5. ISS: The ISS continues its current series of morning passes until 14 September. It will then commence a new series of evening passes on 20 September.. Details of both ISS and Starlink for your own location, and lots more info on space and astronomy, on www.heavens-above.com.
If you want to check for transits of the ISS across the Sun or the Moon which occur somewhere near you, visit http://transit-finder.com
Series of space and astronomy events in Dublin; (thanks to John Flannery for this; I've kept them together for convenience)).
6. Friday, Sept 20th -- Culture Night
Many events are organised countrywide for Culture Night and Dunsink Observatory will once again host a series of talks, exhibits, and viewing of the night sky through the historic Grubb refractor. Search for events in your area on https://culturenight.ie
7. Saturday, Sept 21st -- Dune (70mm)
The Irish Film Institute will screen the David Lynch directed movie of Frank Herbert's seminal 1963 novel Dune. Details at https://ifi.ie/dune-70mm-2/
8. Saturday, Sept 28th -- Frontiers of Physics 2019
Waterford Institute of Technology is the venue for this year's event organised by the Institute of Physics in Ireland. More details at https://events.iop.org/frontiers-physics-2019
9. To the end of September -- Moon landing art
The Sporting Emporium in Dublin has been hosting an art exhibition on the theme of the Moon landings. It is being run in conjunction with Balla Ban Art Gallery (in the Westbury Mall). More details at https://visualartists.ie/events/50th-anniversary-of-first-moon-landing-at-sporting-emporium-dublin/
10. Monday, Sept 30th (to Oct 4th) RDS Library Booksale
The annual RDS Library book sale takes place during the above dates. Everyone is welcome to browse and purchase out-of-date and duplicate books. More details at https://www.rds.ie/Whats-On/Event/39313
11. Tuesday, Oct 8th -- DCUniverse
As part of Space Week, Dublin City Universe will host an evening of four talks by researchers at the University. More details and booking at https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/dcuniverse-tickets-70013651717
With astronomy becoming the domain of large international collaborations and of scientific consortia behind new instruments, telescopes and space missions, this INAM meeting will be an opportunity for Irish researchers to showcase projects carried out in partnership with international collaborators.
12. Asteroid flyby, Sep 14: "A huge asteroid with a diameter twice as big as London's Shard skyscraper is to hurtle past Earth this month. The asteroid identified by NASA's Center for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) is going to fly past quite safely. The object, identified as 2000 QW7, has an estimated diameter of 2,133 feet, and will fly past at a safe distance of 3.3 million miles on September 14." (Estimated diameter of 2133 ft. Wow – that's a pretty accurate estimate! I think that 2130 ft would be accurate enough. Or even 2100 ft. Or why not say '650m', and let us do our own conversion if we want to?)
13. Public Lecture, Sep 20, "Our Sun, Friend or Foe?", by Terry Moseley. Venue: IPCC, Lullymore, Rathangan, Co Kildare. I've been invited back yet again to give another lecture for Culture Night, at the Irish Peatlands Conservation Council, in the lovely dark skies of rural Kildare. Some observing if clear afterwards. See www.ipcc.ie, or on twitter and Facebook.
14. ExoWorlds Take Centre Stage For Culture Night at CIT Blackrock Castle Observatory
Friday 20th September, Time: 6pm – 10pm
Join CIT Blackrock Castle Observatory for a fun, family-friendly night of talks, workshops and live astronomy with our friends at Cork Astronomy Club*! The theme of the night will be ExoWorlds, to build on the excitement of the fantastic NameExoWorlds Competition. Learn all about Exoplanets from the BCO Research team in a free talk.
For our workshop on the night, children will be taught about Exoplanets before we give them an opportunity to show us what they think these worlds look like. This promises to be a fun and fascinating night with something for the whole family. Be sure to swing by!
Learn more here: https://www.bco.ie/events/culture-night/
15. Autumn Equinox, Sep 23, The Sun will cross the celestial equator going southwards on Sep 23 at 07.49 UT, marking the start of autumn in the N. Hemisphere. That's the latest date and time for the autumn equinox for the next 100 years (and more), as the date and time are currently slowly moving back in our calendar (just as is happening with our spring equinox). In fact the last one on Sep 23 occurs on 2059 Sep 23 at 00h 02m. And we'll have our first (in recent history) equinox occurring on Sep 21 in 2092 at 23h 41m. It's all due to slow cyclical changes in Earth's orbit.
16. Dark Sky Evening Event, Sep 27. Lough Navar Forest, Co Fermanagh, I'll be leading this event, run by Fermanagh DC. More details later.
17. IAA Public Outreach event, Oct 5, World Space Week Event. Mullaghbawn, Co Armagh. More details later.
18. Spaceweek at BCO, 4-11 October info at spaceweek@bco.ie)
19. Dark Matter Day: 31 October
20. Samhain agus Science, DIAS; 31 October - 01 November:
Our annual celebration will kick off with a talk by Peter Coles in 10 Burlington Road, with more events to be confirmed shortly. Once confirmed all details will be available on the Dias website.
21. Mayo Dark Sky Festival, 1- 3 November. Newport, Co Mayo.
Latest news - Astronaut Dr. Robert Thirsk will speak at this year's festival, and we are delighted to confirm that Professor Mark McCaughrean will also be joining the line-up, which also includes Dr Niall Smith of CIT and Blackrock Castle Observatory, and Dr Niamh Shaw, aspiring astronaut.
Also confirmed is DR. NORAH PATTEN is a faculty member at the International Space University and is a citizen scientist-astronaut candidate with Project PoSSUM. An award winning STEM advocate and ambassador. Norah has participated in several citizen science campaigns including microgravity research flights and spacesuit testing and evaluation. In September 2019, Norah will become a children's author with the publication of her book 'Shooting for the Stars' by The O'Brien Press.
Norah was a recipient of the Emerging Space Leaders Grant and a Next Generation Plenary panellist at the International Astronautical Congress in 2015. Through a partnership with NanoRacks, Norah initiated and managed 'The Only Way is Up' project which launched Ireland's first student experiment to the International Space Station in 2014. Norah participated in the International Space University Space Studies Program in 2010 and holds a PhD in aeronautical engineering. She currently works as the programme manager at the Irish Composites Center (IComp)Details at www.mayodarkskyfestival.ie
It will be followed by -
22. European Symposium for the Protection of the Night Sky Mulranny, Co Mayo, 3 - 5 Nov.
The14th European Symposium for the Protection of the Night Sky is to be held in Mulranny, County Mayo, from 3rd to 5th November 2019 (immediately following the Mayo Dark Sky Festival weekend). Please share the dates and details on this event and would love to see you there.
In particularly we are looking to promote the call for abstracts and would be grateful if you can help us share this international event for Dark Sky Ireland with colleagues in environmental /astronomy & scientific/ dark sky networks. This event will be sanctioned by the International Dark Sky Association.
Information is available on our website www.mayodarkskyfestival.ie/symposium and we will be updating this with more announcements, news and updates on the event as they happen.
23. For Sale: Pulsar Telescope Dome, with full control equipment.
The dome is around 5 years old in perfect condition and is currently fully dismantled and available for collection. The dome comes complete with the associated equipment;
· Pulsar Observatory 2.2m full height observatory dome
· Shutter drive kit (including solar panel module plus charger and 12V battery)
· Dome Rotation Drive Kit
· Shelyak Dome tracker kit
· Dome security clamps
· Rubber flooring kit
· Associated cables and wiring and other extras.
Total Price NEW – c £6,500; Price as available £3,500
Contact Dr Andy McCrea of North Down Telescopes, email s.mccrea980@btinternet.com, mob 07799434030
24. 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
The origins of 'Black Widow' and 'Redback' pulsars https://www.livescience.com/millisecond-pulsar-neutron-star-redback-formation-theory.html?utm_source=ls-newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20190825-ls
GRB data reveals a kilonova that produced copious amounts of gold and platinum https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/08/190827123524.htm
Oldest stars in the galaxy move fastest https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/08/190828193809.htm
Milky Way is full of strings – of stars. https://newatlas.com/space/colorful-new-galactic-map-shows-strange-strings-of-star/
https://www.livescience.com/building-a-wormhole-with-cosmic-strings.html?utm_source=ls-newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20190828-ls Sorry to be a pessimist, but there's one slight problem with this: 'stretching the ends of the cosmic string to infinity'. Even if this could be done, it would take an infinitely long time to do it. By which time you could have easily crossed the galaxy to your destination by bicycle.
MMS detects first interplanetary shock https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/08/190808123855.htm
Finding Black Hole nurseries https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/08/190807190824.htm
https://newatlas.com/physics/new-distance-record-quantum-entanglement-light-matter/
Magnetars can crack open and bombard us with Gamma rays https://www.livescience.com/weird-neutron-star-x-ray-pulse-figured-out.html?utm_source=ls-newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20190831-ls
Massive stars grow the same way as lighter stars – just more! https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/07/190708112520.htm
New record for heaviest star forming a Planetary Nebula https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/06/190624111458.htm
HST finds tint electric balls in space https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/06/190625133450.htm
Pair of GW detections was NOT a gravitationally lensed event https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/techandscience/scientists-detected-2-black-hole-mergers-just-21-mins-apart-but-its-not-what-we-hoped/ar-AAGFoq4?ocid=spartandhp
https://newatlas.com/space/xray-flash-fireworks-galaxy/
Milky Way's SMBH dramatically increased in brightness https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/09/190911165226.htm
Newly formed Black hole found to be ringing just as Einstein predicted https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/09/190911121948.htm
Imaging the afterglow of the neutron star merger that produced GWs https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/09/190909133247.htm
Searching for the first stars in the universe. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/09/190909081805.htm
Astronomers decode weird X-ray pattern from neutron star https://www.livescience.com/weird-neutron-star-x-ray-pulses-figured-out.html?utm_source=ls-newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20190908-ls
COSMOLOGY
Problems with the Hubble Constant https://www.livescience.com/hubble-constant-discrepancy-explained.html More distant Cepheids are obviously older; could it be that the period-luminosity law varies slightly with the age of the stars? For example, on average, older stars formed earlier in their galaxies, when the ratio of heavy elements was not as high as now.
Mix Quantum physics + gravity to get time, but not as we know it! https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/08/190826122010.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily%2Ftop_news%2Ftop_science+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Top+Science+News%29
Supercomputer creates many universes to understand ours https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/08/190809170818.htm
Dark Matter may be lighter and warmer than we thought https://newatlas.com/dark-matter-lighter-warmer/60580/?utm_source=New+Atlas+Subscribers&utm_campaign=97b8d215d5-UA-2235360-4&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_65b67362bd-97b8d215d5-92786061
Chameleon Theory may change ideas about gravity https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/07/190708131153.htm
EARTH & MOON
https://www.livescience.com/asteroid-fly-by-september-2019.html?utm_source=ls-newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20190825-ls It's both meaningless and stupid to talk about the height of an asteroid, which is probably more round than long/tall. You don't talk about the height of a soccer ball, or a beach ball. In any case 'long' is just as valid as 'tall', as there's no up' in space! And the midrange of the diameter estimate is nowhere near height of the Burj. Even the upper l8imit falls short of that size. Very poor journalism.
https://earthsky.org/earth/amazon-rainforest-fires-burning-4-reasons-why
Earth's oldest known impact crater may have ended the Snowball Earth deep-freeze https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/08/shock-and-thaw-earth-s-oldest-asteroid-impact-may-have-helped-lift-planet-out-deep?utm_campaign=news_daily_2019-08-27&et_rid=415711678&et_cid=2962861
Fascinating linking between geology and astronomy brings Earth's calendar back another 8m years https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/08/190829150747.htm
The Moon is older than we thought https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/07/190729111234.htm
The fossil evidence of the day of the Chicxulub impact https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/09/190909160102.htm
EXOLIFE
Earth as a blueprint for exolife https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/08/190828140132.htm
EXOPLANETS
The dark sides of exoplanets have similar temperatures https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/08/190827111114.htm
Huge exoplanet has very eccentric orbit https://newatlas.com/space/exoplanet-eccentric-egg-shaped-orbit/
Hot volcanically active exomoon? https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/08/190829115425.htm They don't give a mass for either the planet or the possible Moon, but if the mass ratio is significant, it would affect the times of the transits of the planet. SS mass ratios are as follows: Jupiter – Io = 1:21260,
Saturn – Titan = 1:4225; Neptune – Triton 1:4786, Earth – Moon 1:81.3
New system has planets filling the 'gap' in sizes between Earth and Neptune https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/07/190729111328.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily%2Ftop_news%2Ftop_science+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Top+Science+News%29
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/techandscience/water-vapour-—-and-maybe-even-rain-—-found-on-distant-world-twice-the-size-of-earth/ar-AAH8Zhp?ocid=spartandhp and https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/09/190911121950.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily%2Ftop_news%2Ftop_science+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Top+Science+News%29
Goldilocks zone for smaller planets https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/09/190911142740.htm
SOLAR SYSTEM
Inside Saturn, conductive liquids flow like honey https://newatlas.com/space/saturns-conductive-liquids-honey/
Fascinating linking between geology and astronomy brings Earth's calendar back another 8m years https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/08/190829150747.htm
India's moon lander fails at the last minute https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-7435649/Indias-ground-breaking-Chandrayaan-2-mission-moons-south-pole-set-land-TONIGHT.html
SPACE
https://newatlas.com/space/watch-spacexs-starhopper-hit-new-heights/
https://newatlas.com/space/nasa-switches-on-rugged-deep-space-atomic-clock/
Authentic working model of Sputnik 1 goes to auction https://newatlas.com/space/sputnik-1-auction-bonhams/
Rosalind Franklin rover goes to France for testing https://newatlas.com/space/rosalind-franklin-mars-rover-environmental-testing/
https://newatlas.com/space/nasa-mars-2020-rover-helicopter/
A new material could make parts of Mars habitable. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/07/190715114256.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily%2Ftop_news%2Ftop_science+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Top+Science+News%29
SUN
Revised solar opacity figures solves solar mystery. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/09/190911165210.htm
Telescopes, Equipment, etc.
JWST is now complete https://newatlas.com/space/nasas-james-webb-space-telescope-complete/
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-7406241/James-Webb-Space-Telescope-finally-built-ahead-2021-launch.html Nice graphics, but 3 text errors: launch will be in 2021, not 2020 as stated once; It won't be the world's biggest, just the biggest in space; and the gold hex panels are the mirror, not the sunshield.
AI learns to model the universe https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/08/190828100554.htm
Graphene can be used for THz detectors for space telescopes https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/09/190911074212.htm
New robotic detected on veteran telescope will extend SDSS in hunt for dark energy https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/09/robot-detector-map-cosmos-clues-dark-energy?utm_campaign=news_daily_2019-09-11&et_rid=415711678&et_cid=2984005 I was lucky enough to get up close and hands-in with the 4m Mayall telescope on a visit to Kitt Peak in the Eighties – a wonderful instrument, which was the largest at the observatory.
25. JOINING the IRISH ASTRONOMICAL ASSOCIATION. This link downloads a Word document to join the IAA. http://documents.irishastro.org.uk/iaamembership.doc
If you are a UK taxpayer, please tick 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 www.irishastro.org .
The Irish Astronomical Association is registered with The Charity Commission for Northern Ireland NIC 105858
DISCLAIMER: Any views expressed herein are mine, and do not necessarily represent those of the IAA.
Clear skies,
Terry Moseley
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