Hi all,
1. IAA Public Lecture, Wednesday February 19, 7.30 p.m., Bell Lecture Theatre, Physics Building, QUB, " The First Stars in the Universe", by Dr Laura Murphy, TCD
ABSTRACT: Understanding the nature of the first stars and their explosive deaths is key to understanding the early universe and the evolution of distant galaxies. With new facilities such as the James Webb Space Telescope we may soon have the first observations of the earliest stars, but to understand these observations we will require detailed simulations. The first stars were very different to stars that we see today, they were more massive, much hotter and only contained elements formed during the Big Bang, meaning that they would have evolved very differently, and produced more black holes and explosive events. Using stellar evolution modelling, we investigate these first stars for a range of masses up to 120 times the mass of the sun, both rotating and non-rotating. This research sheds new light on the behaviour of the first stars and how they may have impacted their surroundings, particularly in relation to their final fates.
Laura is an awardee of the IRC postgraduate research award, and is a member of the Supernovae and Stellar Evolution research group led by Prof. Jose Groh. She is also active in outreach and is an executive committee member of WITS (Women in Technology and Science) Ireland.
ADMISSION FREE, including light refreshments
2. ABC of the Universe. As part of NISF, Dr Liz Conlon will be doing this presentagtion at The Accidental Theatre, Shaftesbury Square, Belfast, on 18 February at 7 p.m. Book via NISF.
3. Venus.
You can't miss brilliant Venus in the SW twilight these evenings. Watch is it noves ever higher out of the bright twilight over the next few months.
4. Zodiacal Light is a challenging target:
For the best chance to see this very faint cone-shaped light extending above the W horizon along the line of the ecliptic in the very late evening twilight sky you'll need a clear view to the West, a very dark and transparent sky, and obviously no moonlight. Best chances this year are from Feb 12 to 24, and March 12 to 25.
5. ISS The International Space Station will commence a new series of morning passes on Feb 23 Full details for your location, and lots of other astronomy information, on the excellent free site www.heavens-above.com
6. BETELGEUSE fading may be slowing.
Red Supergiant star Betelgeuse has faded since October by well over 1 magnitude. Some conjecture that this is a prelude to a supernova explosion, but that is very unlikely. However, it's certainly worth watching. It's now about equal in brightness to Bellatrix, the star marking Orion's other 'shoulder'.
My latest magnitude estimate, on 17 February, made it equal to, or slightly brighter, than Bellatrix, (mag 1.6), which is the same as my estimate about a week ago.
That's still over 1 magnitude fainter than its average of +0.5 - the faintest I've ever seen it – and that's from 1963!
You can compare it with Pollux (mag 1.16), Castor (mag 1.58), Bellatrix (mag 1.64), Al Nath / Beta Tau (mag 1.68), Epsilon Ori (middle star in the Belt, mag 1.7), Zeta Ori (bottom left star in the Belt, mag 1.9), or Gamma Gem (mag 2.0). Only do it when Betelgeuse is at least 30 degrees above the horizon, and choose comparison stars at about the same altitude as it.
A recent prediction indicates that if the fading is due to the minima of several different periodic cycles co-inciding, then the star should reach its faintest about February 21, and then start to recover. We shall see!
This article gives some good background information: https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/2017/03/22/what-will-happen-when-betelgeuse-explodes/#6a05f2ec13ac
7. The NI Science Festival,13-23 February. The IAA will be contributing several events, including our public lecture on 19 February.
8. Sad death of Dr Brian Sloan.
Brian was a long-standing member. His daughter commented, (He) always enjoyed the meetings. and although he hadn't been so well over the last year he still loved to go along when he could. When he passed he was just two weeks short of his 89th birthday. He donated his body to Queens Medical school, so there was no funeral which felt a little strange.
I would be grateful if you could pass the news of his passing on to any other members of the club who knew him.
9. Dark Sky observing event, Cavan Burren Centre, 20 March. I've been asked to run another one of these events, in a very dark sky location, near Blacklion, just across the border from Belcoo. More details later.
10. International Astronomical Youth Camp in Spain, 12 July – 1 August
The International Astronomical Youth Camp (IAYC) is a three-week long summer camp aiming to promote knowledge of astronomy and related sciences in a unique international atmosphere. The IAYC is an experience unlike any other; a place for unforgettable memories and lifelong friendships. During the camp, 65 young and enthusiastic participants from all corners of the world gather in a remote location in Spain to observe and learn about some of the most spectacular skies on this Earth. Applications for the 2020 camp are being accepted until 5 April 2020.
International Astronomical Youth Camp, 12 July-1 August 2020; Baños de Montemayor, Spain
More information and application are here: www.iayc.org
11. National Astronomy Week, 14 – 22 November.
National Astronomy Week (NAW) will be held in the UK from Saturday 14 November to Sunday 22 November, to celebrate the close approach of Mars. Amateur and professional astronomers will be holding observing events during the week. Seen through a telescope magnifying about 100 times, Mars will appear as a pale orange disc, with its markings clearly visible, at a distance of 80 million km.
Although Mars is at its closest to Earth a month earlier, by November it is well up in the sky during the early evening, allowing younger schoolchildren an opportunity to get a good view of the planet. It will not be as close again until 2033.
As well as Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and the Moon will be on show during National Astronomy Week. Details of observing events will be posted on the NAW website.
12. 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
Cocoon Galaxy has double nucleus. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/02/200205143349.htm
Citizen science discovers rare and odd Brown Dwarf pair https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/02/200212121955.htm
COSMOLOGY:
Cosmic Strings may explain how we exist https://newatlas.com/physics/cosmic-strings-matter-antimatter-imbalance-neutrinos/?utm_source=New+Atlas+Subscribers&utm_campaign=92b232162f-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_02_07_08_49&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_65b67362bd-92b232162f-92786061
Simulating a universe in which Newton's gravity is only partially valid may solve cosmic problems https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/02/200207124454.htm
EARTH & MOON
Potentially serious for UK & Ireland https://newatlas.com/environment/melting-ice-floods-arctic-fresh-water-cool-europe/?utm_source=New+Atlas+Subscribers&utm_campaign=f2b2620a2f-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_02_10_09_25&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_65b67362bd-f2b2620a2f-92786061
Rate of sea-level rise is accelerating. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/02/200210095310.htm Keep your Wellies handy....
Two new records: highest temp ever in Antarctica, and January was the hottest on record. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-8001529/Temperatures-Antarctica-hit-time-high-nearly-21C-DAYS-previous-record-broken.html
TCD research on ancient climate https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/02/200210153341.htm
2,000,000 methane hotspots in just one region of the Arctic tundra https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/02/200213192422.htm
Can Moondust be turned into fuel and water? https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-8012511/Moondust-studied-turned-WATER-fuel-bricks.html
EXOLIFE
EXOPLANETS
Giant planets and brown dwarfs form differently https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/02/200210165729.htm
SETI
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/techandscience/extraterrestrial-life-found-in-space-likely-to-be-intelligent-as-humans/ar-BB101aNr?ocid=spartandhp But what are the chances that any advanced civilisations are still broadcasting radio waves?. We've been broadcasting intelligent signals at a reasonable power for about 50 years, but will we still be doing so in another 150 years, or will radio then be obsolete? Even if we're still doing so in another 200 years (unlikely), that's a total of only 250 years in the total possible timescale of billions of years. If a nearby civilisation reached our state of development 50,000 years ago, and broadcast radio signals for 250 years, from a distance of say, 100LY the last of those radio waves passed by us 49,750 years ago! Even if they broadcast for 10,000 years, they passed us about 40,000 years ago!
New technologies and strategies for SETI https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/02/200215082548.htm
SOLAR SYSTEM
YORP effect will break up our asteroids https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/02/200210112236.htm
Pallas has had so many impacts it looks like a giant golf-ball! https://newatlas.com/space/pallas-golf-ball-asteroid-new-images/?utm_source=New+Atlas+Subscribers&utm_campaign=cf21912eaf-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_02_11_09_20&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_65b67362bd-cf21912eaf-92786061 and https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-7988395/Images-golf-ball-asteroid-revealed-time.html
A wealth of information from a tiny speck of moon dust https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/02/200207095427.htm
Pluto's icy 'heart' makes winds blow https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/02/200204112548.htm
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/feb/13/not-just-a-space-potato-nasa-unveils-astonishing-details-of-most-distant-object-ever-visited-arrokoth?utm_term=RWRpdG9yaWFsX0xhYk5vdGVzLTIwMDIxNA%3D%3D&utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&CMP=labnotes_email&utm_campaign=LabNotes and https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/02/200213164317.htm
Titan's atmosphere affected by galactic cosmic rays https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/02/200214134709.htm
SPACE
Amazing Voyager 2 is back online! https://newatlas.com/space/voyager-2-back-online/?utm_source=New+Atlas+Subscribers&utm_campaign=f2b2620a2f-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_02_10_09_25&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_65b67362bd-f2b2620a2f-92786061
Software glitches nearly destroyed Boeing starliner spacecraft https://newatlas.com/space/boeing-starliner-spacecraft-almost-destroyed-software-glitches/?utm_source=New+Atlas+Subscribers&utm_campaign=f2b2620a2f-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_02_10_09_25&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_65b67362bd-f2b2620a2f-92786061
NASA is hiring new astronauts. https://newatlas.com/space/nasa-hiring-astronaut-job/?utm_source=New+Atlas+Subscribers&utm_campaign=2c00605fe0-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_02_13_09_17&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_65b67362bd-2c00605fe0-92786061
SUN:
How dangerous radiation builds up in CMEs https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/02/200203162844.htm
TELESCOPES, INSTRUMENTS etc
Major enhancem,ent for MeerKAT radio telescope https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/02/powerful-observatory-studying-formation-galaxies-getting-massive-54-million-expansion?utm_campaign=news_daily_2020-02-07&et_rid=415711678&et_cid=3198410
13. 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 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
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