Hi all,
1. IAA Public Lecture, Wednesday November 6, 7.30 p.m. "Backyard Science for the Amateur Astronomer - Research isn't Just for the Professionals!", by Mike Foylan, Cherryvalley Observatory )
. Mike Foylan became interested in Astronomy at the age of 5, receiving his first telescope from his father at age ten. Since then he has become a keen amateur astronomer establishing in 2010, Cherryvalley Observatory, in the small village of Rathmolyon in rural Co Meath. The observatory was awarded a recognised observatory code (I83) by the International Astronomical Union and Minor Planet Centre in 2011.
Its focuses on astrometry (position measuring) and photometry (light measurements) of asteroids. He is also a member of the British Astronomical Association, Meath Astronomy Group and has affiliations with Kingsland Observatory near Boyle, County Roscommon, which carries out primarily solar system studies and developing instrumented technologies for SETV research (Search for Extraterrestrial Visitation).
Cherryvalley observatory is also affiliated to NEMETODE (Network for Meteor Triangulation and Orbit Determination) which undertakes research into the nature of meteors using off-the-shelf equipment, a joint venture among amateur and professional astronomers across the UK and Ireland.
Cherryvalley observatory has a number of authored and co-authored peer reviewed papers published in the Minor Planet Bulletin, Journal of the British Astronomical Association and the WGN, the Journal of the International Meteor Organisation, in collaboration with colleagues and friends from the UK, USA, Italy and Ireland.
The Observatory's main instrument is an 8-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope, fitted with an SBIG-STL 1301E CCD Camera and Optec robotic focuser with photometric filters on a modified Celestron CG5-GT EQ mount.
In his spare time he helps out as a volunteer citizen scientist at Dunsink Observatory Dublin, part of the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, as part of their programme of meetings, workshops, and public outreach.
Abstract:
With the advent of better hardware and software technologies now available for amateur astronomers, Mike will demonstrate how the amateur astronomer can utilise such technologies to perform valuable scientific work using modest equipment from one's back garden using examples from Cherryvalley Observatory's work on Meteors and Minor Planets and how such amateur backyard work can lead to new (if accidental) discoveries!
Details; 7.30 p.m., Bell Lecture Theatre, Physics Building , QUB. Admission free, including light refreshments. See www.irishastro.org.
2. ISS. The International Space Station continues its series of morning passes until 10 Nov. Details for your own, or any, location, and lots more astronomy, on www.heavens-above.com
3. Mayo Dark Sky Festival, 1- 3 November. Newport, Co Mayo. Updates -
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 is a children's author with the publication of her book 'Shooting for the Stars' by The O'Brien Press.
This is a weekend of fabulous family friendly events featuring astronomy, science, culture and the environment in the communities of Newport, Mulranny & Ballycroy, Mayo. Our festival programme is here and tickets can be purchased online (kids go free!): https://www.mayodarkskyfestival.ie/programme
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 -
4. European Symposium for the Protection of the Night Sky Mulranny, Mayo, 3 - 5 Nov.
UPDATES. 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.
This event is offers a truly international programme, which you can view online here: https://www.mayodarkskyfestival.ie/symposium-programme We have speakers and representative of IDA places all over the world, including Japan, Germany, France, Austria, Spain, UK and more as well as various guest speakers (including the author of the newly published "Lonely Planet guide to Dark Skies", Valerie Stimac).
The European Symposium for the Protection of the Night sky runs over 3 dates, offering a platform for research, activism and policy discussions on protecting the night sky and is licenced by the International Dark Sky Association (IDA) as a sister event to their 2019 AGM and Dark Sky Conference.
The event is open to everyone - academics, activists, architects, astronomers, community groups, conservationists, dark sky advocates, ecologists, engineers, lighting experts, planners, policy makers, scientists, students and more (!) to discuss the challenges and explore the solutions to light pollution and implementing best practices for dark sky friendly lighting.
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.
5. IAU 100 Astronomy Day in Schools, 10 – 17 November
As one of IAU100's goals is to foster communication and exchange of ideas for the global astronomical community, this also includes the exchange of knowledge and ideas with the next generation of astronomers. The IAU100 has launched the Astronomy Day in Schools Global Project. This initiative hopes to instil some interest and passion for space sciences to continue the momentum of IAU throughout the next 100 years.
Any amateur or professional astronomer is invited to participate by organising astronomy activities in schools taking place around the week 10-17 November 2019, which includes the World Science Day for Peace and Development on 10 November as well as a Mercury transit on 11 November, which offers an exciting outreach opportunity for the visiting astronomers. This project is also a special opportunity for students to directly interact and engage with astronomers in their communities. Organisers of registered events will have the opportunity to win different prizes.
6. Transit of Mercury, 11 November.
The closest planet to the Sun, little rocky Mercury, transits the Sun as seen from Earth much more frequently than its bigger neighbour Venus. On average, there are 13 transits per century. Because it's both smaller and further away from the Earth than Venus, you definitely need optical aid to see it. This transit will begin at 12.35 and end after local sunset, so the Sun will set with the transit still in progress
The transit lasts from 12.35 – 18.04 UT, but the Sun sets before then throughout Ireland.
Local details for Belfast
1st C (when the edge of Mercury first appears to ingress on the Sun) = 12h 35m 18s*,
2nd C (when the whole disc of Mercury first appears totally silhouetted on the Sun) = 12h 36m 58s*.
Mid transit = 15h 20m 57s,
Transit ends = 18h 03m 50s (not vis).
In practice, first contact is essentially invisible, and it's only about halfway through ingress when it becomes readily visible.
First contact will appear at a Position Angle of 110 degrees
The Sun sets at 16h.35m in Dublin, and at 16h 27m in Belfast. The Sun's altitude at mid transit will be 07º 9' at Belfast, and 08º 11' in Dublin.
NB: This will be the most central transit until 2190 Nov 12!
OBSERVING ALTITUDE and DIRECTION
In order for you to plan your observing location to get the best possible view, here are the positions of the Sun at critical stages, and intermediate hourly intervals, for Belfast, and for Portmagee in SW Kerry.
You can interpolate from these to get a fairly accurate indication for your own location. Basically, the further South you are, the higher up the Sun will be at any given stage, and the further West you are, the later the Sun will set, and thus you'll see a bit more of the transit.
BELFAST PORTMAGEE
Alt.º ' Az º Alt.º ' Az.º
1st contact, 12.35 17 44 187 20 43 182
13.00 17 07 193 20 20 189
14.00 14 06 208 17 44 204
15.00 09 13 221 13 00 218
Mid transit, 15.20 07 16 226 11 03 222
16.00 02 57 234 06 39 231
16.50 below horizon 00 34 241
The last transit was on 9 May 2016, and the next one won't be until 2032 Nov 13, with mid transit at 08.55. Sunrise will be at 07.51 in Belfast, so most of that transit will also be visible from here.
This will be the Mercury transit with the longest duration since 1973, and the longest until 2190 Nov 12.
SAFE VIEWING: Like anything involving observing the Sun, eye safety is paramount. You should NEVER look directly at the Sun with any sort of optical instrument, or you will seriously damage your eyes, with possible permanent blindness.
The only safe ways to observe this event are as follows:
1. Telescope or good binoculars which you fit with a specially designed solar filter such as Baader Astrosolar, which you make to fit your own instrument using just scissors, card, and tape. If you are using binoculars you should either make a filter for each objective (front lens), or else make only one, and make sure that the front lens cap is securely fitted over the other objective. Do NOT use just an eyepiece lens cap, as the focused sunlight will quickly burn a hole through it.
Since Mercury is quite small, you'll need fairly high-power binoculars to see it – a pair with a magnification of at least 12x.
2. Projection Method: use either an ordinary telescope, or one half of a good pair of binoculars, to project the image onto a piece of white card held about 20 – 30 cm behind the eyepiece. You'll also need to fit some sort of a screen over the eyepiece end of the telescope tube to prevent direct sunlight falling on the projection screen and spoiling the image. This method has the advantage that a number of people can observe the event simultaneously – all standing with their backs towards the un, looking at the screen. See the photo for how the projection is done.
If you have a telescope
3. A proper Solar Telescope designed for observing the Sun. These are very expensive, and if you already have one, you'll know how to use it.
4. A special solar eyepiece, which you use with an ordinary telescope. These are also very expensive, and if you already have one, you'll know how to use it.
PHOTOGRAPHY: never try and photograph the Sun directly with any sort of camera: you will almost certainly damage the CCD chip. You should either photograph through a telescope fitted with a filter as above, or else photograph the projected image as in 2 above.
Alternatively, if you have a camera with a telephoto or zoom lens which gives a magnification of at least 10 over a standard view you can make a solar filter to fit over the front of the lens as in 1 above. Note that a 'zoom range' of 10 to 1 is not enough, as that's the total range, from wide-angle to medium telephoto; such a lens might only magnify 6 or 7 times above the standard view, which will not be enough.
* For the nerds/purists. My Skymap Pro 11, now about 15 years old, gives those times for first and second contacts for Belfast. But the IAS's "SkyHigh" for 2019 gives times for Dublin of 12h 35m 38s and 12h 37m 10s, and says that times will not differ by more than 2 seconds throughout the rest of the country. That's a difference of 20 seconds between the two predictions, so it would be interesting to see which is closer to what we see.
For reference, the Geocentric 1st & 2nd contact times are 12h 35m 27s and 12h 37m 08s. The horizontal parallax of the Sun will be 08.9"; that of Mercury will be 13.0", a difference of only 04.1", so one's observing location anywhere in Ireland should cause very little difference.
Also, according to Skymap Pro 10, Ingress takes a total of 1m 40s, and according to Fred Espenak it takes 1m 41s, so that's as close as makes no difference. But according to SkyHigh it takes only 1m 32s. That's one aspect that should not vary at all no matter where you are on Earth, so that's odd.
It could be that the times quoted in SkyHigh are geocentric, whereas mine are topocentric, i.e. they allow for the fact that we're at a certain point on the surface of a rotating Earth.
If anyone in Ireland can take high resolution video of ingress, that would be very useful, as you can then run it backwards to see just when 1st contact occurred.
7. Observing events for the Transit of Mercury.
Various events are planned, including at Blackrock Castle Observatory -Time: 12.30 pm – 4.30 pm. Audience: All welcome! Admission: Free. Further details here: https://www.bco.ie/events/transit-of-mercury-2/
Armagh Observatory will also host an event, as will the IAA. More details in next bulletin.
8. Space Careers Roadshow at National University Of Ireland Galway, 22 November. For Science Week 2019 and the Galway Science & Technology Festival , National University of Ireland Galway will host a Space Career Roadshow in conjunction with Science Foundation Ireland, ESERO Ireland and CIT Blackrock Castle Observatory. These roadshows will provide students with an excellent opportunity to engage with space industry professionals, and third level institutions, so that they can get a taste of the exciting opportunities that a STEM career in Space has to offer.
Date: Friday 22nd November 2019, Time: 10 am – 2.15 pm. Audience: Transition Year to Leaving Cert. Admission: Free. Further details here: https://www.bco.ie/events/space-careers-roadshow-at-nuig/
9. Mission Santa, Christmas experience, AOP, every Saturday 30 Nov – 22 Dec. For kids, of course. Booking at www.armagh.space
10. 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
Detecting wormholes by star orbits near Black Holes https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/10/191023135913.htm
First detection of heavy metal strontium from Neutron star merger https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/10/191023132153.htm
Monster galaxy from very early universe is 'missing link' https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/10/191022142202.htm
Simulations confirtm giant hot jupiters in eccentric orbits https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/10/191030132730.htm
COSMOLOGY
A new measure of the Hubble constant provides more headaches for cosmologists https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/10/191023150327.htm
https://newatlas.com/physics/higgs-boson-mass-measured/
Before the Big Bang was Inflation, but what came in between? https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/10/191025130414.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily%2Ftop_news%2Ftop_science+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Top+Science+News%29
Is an unknown particle changing the fate of the universe? https://www.livescience.com/new-particle-changing-fate-of-universe.html?utm_source=Selligent&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=9456&utm_content=20191030_LS_Essentials_Newsletter+-+adhoc+&utm_term=3473357&m_i=B6i3OBvBkL4LLhCt7oMGEbDodqHkqOkSnkw%2Bov1oysWXoYZ71Bj5GIcfgvd3QUjzZ51xsRZu8r2bbq91bPBcPh3AMMGo1eQBBB
Another piece in the Dark Matter puzzle? https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/10/191025145313.htm
DARK SKY SITES
EARTH & MOON
https://spaceflightnow.com/2019/10/20/nasas-resilient-van-allen-probes-shut-down/
Another asteroid impact extinction event 13,000 years ago? https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/10/191025110314.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily%2Ftop_news%2Ftop_science+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Top+Science+News%29
How the Chicxulub Impact actually caused mass extinction https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/techandscience/the-worst-day-in-earths-history-contains-an-ominous-warning/ar-AAJwyeR?ocid=spartandhp
Melting of Iceland's glaciers https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-7613037/Aerial-photographs-reveal-staggering-melting-Icelands-largest-glacier.html
Robot to search for lunar ice https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-7614617/NASA-announces-lunar-rover-scour-Moons-south-pole-search-water-ice-2022.html
EXOLIFE
EXOPLANETS
https://earthsky.org/space/small-rocky-exoplanets-can-still-be-habitable?utm_source=EarthSky+News&utm_campaign=70f5fb7b18-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_02_02_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c643945d79-70f5fb7b18-394571661 Another factor is the planet's own internal heating, either from radioactive decay, or from tidal stresses, e.g. from interactions with another larger planet, or if its orbit was reasonably elliptical, although obviously not too much.
Earthlike planets may be common in the universe https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/10/191017141052.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily%2Ftop_news%2Ftop_science+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Top+Science+News%29
IMAGES
SETI
SOLAR SYSTEM
Landslides on Mars not proof of ice? https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/10/191024074957.htm
Origin and composition of Titan's dunes https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/10/191018100506.htm
Is Hygeia the smallest Dwarf Planet in the Solar System? https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-7622313/Giant-space-rock-actually-dwarf-PLANET-astronomers-claim.html
A mole just popped up on the surface of Mars! https://mail.aol.com/webmail-std/en-gb/DisplayMessage?ws_popup=true&ws_suite=true
SPACE
https://spaceflightnow.com/2019/10/18/china-launches-mysterious-geostationary-satellite/
https://spaceflightnow.com/2019/10/18/lawmakers-question-nasas-plan-for-a-2024-moon-landing/ Would it be too cynical to suggest that Trump was hoping to have this happen during his Presidency, assuming that he would get re-elected in 2020?
https://spaceflightnow.com/2019/10/21/nasas-moon-program-winning-international-support/
No reduction in mouse fertility after stay in space https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/10/191023093453.htm
TELESCOPES, INSTRUMENTS, TECHNIQUES
https://spaceflightnow.com/2019/10/23/german-x-ray-telescope-achieves-first-light/
11. 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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