Hi all,
| 1. International Dark Sky Week - Focus Event 22nd April 2020 |
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From Mayo Dark Skies
Dear Dark Sky Ireland friends. Firstly, I hope you are all well in these strange times.
Despite the cancellations of all participative events, we wanted to encourage as many locations around Ireland to get involved in International Dark Sky Week (19-26th April) as a virtual event. In these difficult times, the night sky is more relevant than ever for people separated from friends and family. The International Dark Sky Association will be pleased to share and host links or recordings for any 'virtual' event taking place and we felt it would be nice for Ireland to raise a profile.
As an example, much work has been undertaken by the team in Blackrock Castle on the Globe at Night project and we felt that this could be something that most regions could participate in. https://www.bco.ie/events/dark-sky-week-workshops/
The Dark Sky Ireland website can be a portal to list all participating regions and we felt it would be wonderful to create an "Irish constellation" from all of our national partners taking part or promoting this within their local community/dark sky platforms. The idea being that people can participate from their own home, backyard or even from an apartment window. We are just providing the tools and resources online. Given also that Earth Day falls on 22nd April - that would be a nice target date with the participating locations posted online to build the stars of a constellation, based the location of the co-ordinating group. We can then throw it out to an audience to guess the shape / name of the Irish constellation.
Naturally it is up to each region to decide what you feel you could organise and you may already have ideas for alternatives. Any event submitted to the Dark Sky Ireland facebook page, will also be displayed on www.darksky.ie
Here is the dedicated IDA website for International Dark Sky Week https://idsw.darksky.org
On another note, with future times in mind, may I bring your attention to www.gostargazing.co.uk. This site is building a presence for good stargazing locations in Ireland (nothing to do with the IDA). I had intended to close the below spreadsheet link last year but it is still open as very few were listed so feel free to add a local site that you deem good for stargazing in your area. I'll leave it open until after International Dark Sky Week and then send it on to them.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1eqiMrHW2OjQZqqCRDbKZMRWhWPC2FW4T
Do get in contact if you have any questions. Take care all, keep well.
Georgia McMillen
2. Terry's Teaser, One answer, and a clue.
To pass the time in your self-isolation or quarantine, here's something to occupy your mind.
A. Fairly Simple; . Which of the following constellation names is the odd one out, and why?
Canis Minor, Leo Minor, Ursa Minor?
First correct answer was from Peter Millar, who correctly identified Leo Minor. It's the odd one out because there's no 'Leo Major' (just Leo), whereas we do have a Anis Major and an Ursa Major.
B. Challenging: What links the Latin word for heat, an English surveyor, a mountain in Greece, a Scottish physicist, and a simple type of eyepiece?
Danny Collins came in fairly quickly with an answer which showed that at least he was ion the right track, though not correct.
TO HELP YOU - Firstly, the answer is obviously an astronomical one! - It's based on the solar system.
And a clue: the mountain in Greece is Mount Olympus – although that is not the actual answer! But follow whatever lead you can take from that. Good luck.
ANOTHER TEASER from Danny Collins
"On 14 August 1945, five days after they had dropped the second atomic bomb of WWII on Nagasaki, the US Air Force launched a B29 'Superfortress' bomber attack on Japan's last functioning oil refinery, on northern Honshu island, ostensibly to deny it to a possible USSR invasion of Japan. Japanese forces in Tokyo detected the approaching bombers, and fearing an attack on the capital, enforced an immediate blackout. This had the serendipitous effect of disrupting a revolt by extreme Japanese militants who were determined to prevent Emperor Hirohito signing the documents of surrender, and thereby saving hundreds of thousands of lives on both sides.
Bizarre as it may seem, there is a link between the particular B29 version used on that mission, and the demise of the dinosaurs some 65 million years ago. Happy hunting!!"
3. Apollo 13 Drama, 50th anniversary. See this detailed illustrated account
4. Lyrid meteors maximum, April 21-22, with no Moon The Lyrids reach maximum at midnight on 21/22 April, with no interference from Moonlight. The Zenithal Hourly Rate is usually about 15, but occasional outbursts have occurred. The meteors are moderately fast; best observed rates will be after midnight as the radiant climbs higher in the sky. The radiant is about 10 deg SW of Vega.
5. Amateur astronomers can help make the ultimate parallax measurement on April 22-23! http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/News-Center/News-Article.php?page=20200417
6. Death of former IAA President, David Beesley. It is with great sorrow and regret that I have to report the death of David Beesley, from Covid-19 infection. David was a leading member of the Belfast Centre of the IAS (the forerunner of the IAA), and played a long and leading role in the IAA after its formation. He served as secretary for very many years, plus a term as President. He is survived by his wife Hazel, and son Mark and daughter Fiona. Both personally, and on behalf of all IAA members, and other amateur astronomers who knew him, we offer our sincere condolences.
7. USA to launch astronauts again, on May 27, @NASA will once again launch American astronauts on American rockets from American soil! With our @SpaceX partners, @Astro_Doug and @AstroBehnken will launch to the @Space_Station on the #CrewDragon spacecraft atop a Falcon 9 rocket. Let's #LaunchAmerica
8. What's happening in the sky? An 8 minute video of what's coming up in the sky next week. See https://youtu.be/dDEXMxAAm_s Thanks to IAA webmaster Paul Evans for this.
9. BCO Remote Learning.
Our Daily Astro Challenge: Weekdays at 12.30pm
With this program we will slowly build your familiarity with the night sky through a series of increasingly complex challenges. These short, 2 minute episodes build on what you've learned in earlier sessions to take you from a novice to a real amateur astronomer in no time! These challenges have already proved to be immensely successful. You can view the back catalogue, and find new challenges every weekday. Check it out here.
ESERO Ireland Remote Workshops For Tech Week: Wednesday/Thursday at 11am.
For those of you with children in primary school, we will be running live astronomy workshops next week that focus on the topic of Light Pollution. No materials needed, just a screen and an internet connection. We'll provide links to educational resources if you're interested in building on the learning experience yourself. Further details here.
Planetarium at Home Fridays from 4pm
We are particularly excited to be bringing our planetarium experience to a remote learning platform. Guided planetarium shows are at the heart of the BCO visitor experience and we're sure you'll enjoy watching these weekly shows as much as we enjoy making them. These are a perfect family weekend activity, with two short episodes dropping every Friday evening. These videos are also supplemented with ESERO Ireland Resources for those who want to go one step further with the learning experience. The first episodes dropped already! We hope you find these programs are a good way to relax during this particularly stressful period, and that they can offer a stimulating educational activity for anyone with young people at home right now. We will have more programs coming online shortly.
10. Another embarrassing error. EarthSky gets it wrong yet again. Very wrong. It's simply not true that a First Quarter Moon is high up at sunset as seen from anywhere on Earth. A FQ Moon in autumn is always low down in the sky at sunset from moderately high N latitudes.
For example on 23 Sep 2020 the FQ Moon will be less than 11 degrees above the horizon at sunset from Belfast (Lat 54.6 degrees). And on 23 October it will be less that 10 degrees up at sunset. From Edinburgh, Scotland (Latitude 55.9 degrees) it will be even lower.
This shows a fundamental lack of knowledge of basic astronomy. Appalling.
11. Tim Peake's autobiography Signed copies of Tim Peake's autobiography ''Limitless'' due October, available for pre-order for £20 on Waterstone's site (unsigned would cost nearly as much).
12. Star Trek Free Download There's a site ''toptvseries.org'' for slow free downloads of box sets, or fast download if you pay. They're doing Star Trek Enterprise, they have all except TOS, and Next Generation.
(thanks to Derek Heatly for these last two)
13. COMET ATLAS may disappoint: - BUT
After early optimistic predictions, Comet ATLAS (C2019 Y4) is now breaking up and fading. You can get its position from www.heavens-above.com
But latest reports indicate a tiny nucleus, which may soon disintegrate… - but
14 New Comet Swan is brightening and will soon be coming far enough North to be visible from Ireland. Unfortuantly iot will be past its best by the timer we can see it well. Details also on www.heavens-above.com
15. New book on Soviet Space programme
Soviet Space Graphics: Cosmic Visions from the USSR (Thanks to Danny Collins for this)
16. ISS Will start a new series on morning passes from Ireland on 1 May. These will then gradually merge into a series of evening passes which will last to the end of the Month. Full details for your location, and lots of other astronomy information, on the excellent free site www.heavens-above.com
17. Asteroid Day, 30 June. Asteroid Day was co-founded by astrophysicist and famed musician Dr. Brian May of QUEEN; Apollo 9 Astronaut Rusty Schweickart; Filmmaker Grig Richters; and B612 President Danica Remy, to promote awareness and provide knowledge to the general public about the importance of asteroids in our solar system history, and the role they play in our solar system today. Events are scheduled leading up to 30 June, the date of the largest asteroid impact of Earth in recorded history (Tunguska).
18. 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
19. 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.
20. 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
IMBH found shredding a star https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/03/200331162251.htm
Novae, dwarf novae, recurrent novae and 'sleeping novae' are all related. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/03/200324202047.htm
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/04/200409142409.htm
MW's satellite galaxies may have satellite galaxies of their own https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/04/200406140110.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily%2Ftop_news%2Ftop_science+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Top+Science+News%29
First photo proof of powerful relativistic jet from colliding galaxies https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/04/200407131440.htm
Are GRBs powered by star's collapsing magnetic fields? https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/04/200407103450.htm
New evidence that the speed of light is constant even at very high energies https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/03/200331130043.htm
Amazing supernova twice as bright as any other https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/astronomers-discover-supernova-twice-as-bright-or-energetic-than-any-ever-recorded/ar-BB12zEEM?ocid=spartandhp and https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/04/200413132805.htm
Massive stars are born like this https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/04/200413165620.htm
The powerful shock waves of a nova explosion https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/04/200413132814.htm
Orbital precession of star orbiting MWs SMBH proves Einstein right again https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/04/200416072638.htm
COSMOLOGY
A new way to look for Dark Matter https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/04/200409093957.htm
Is the universe really isotropic? https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/04/200408102144.htm
General Relativity confirmed again to ultra high precision. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/04/200409100338.htm
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/techandscience/weird-neutrino-behavior-could-explain-longstanding-antimatter-mystery/ar-BB12G2zo?ocid=spartandhp Surely an excess of matter over antimatter of just one part in a billion is well within the realms of statistical probability? If you were to toss a perfectly fair coin 1 billion times, you wouldn't be in the least surprised if there was an excess of 1 head, or tail!
EARTH & MOON
Drought is widespread across large parts of the Earth https://newatlas.com/environment/nasa-global-groundwater-map-drought/?utm_source=New+Atlas+Subscribers&utm_campaign=296efb48a6-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_04_01_08_21&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_65b67362bd-296efb48a6-92786061 This is just as serious a consequence of climate change as the rising temperatures. We need to eat, and crops need water to grow. As I keep saying, there are just too many of us on this poor planet!
Mapping the world's methane https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/03/200323141215.htm
Armagh Observatory's Dr Mark Sarzie says working from home is the future https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/health/coronavirus/drop-in-pollution-levels-shows-working-from-home-is-way-forward-says-armagh-observatory-scientist-39101615.html
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8206535/Minoa-civilisation-Europe-New-research-indicates-overwhelmed-volcano.html This theory was first put forward in a lecture to the IAA about 30 years ago by Prof Archie Roy of Glasgow University. Entitled "The Lamps of Atlantis", he based his theory on the constellations and stars known to the Minoan civilisation, which of course vary over time due to the effects of precession. By noting what they saw, and didn't see, he was able to get a fairly precise estimate of the date of the end of their civilization, and concluded, like this study, that it was ended by the eruption of Santorini, which had been approximately dated within the time frame by geologists. He concluded that the effects of a tsunami (and ash and earthquakes), ended the rule of the Minoans.
And of course, more recently, Prof Mike Baillie, who has also lectured to us several times, also confirmed the event by his pioneering study on tree ring dating.
But it's amazing that Archie Roy beat them all to it by interpreting precession effects! (The title of his talk relates to the fact that he thought that the Atlantis myth, of a country swallowed up by the sea, related to the tsunami inundating N. Crete.)
EXOPLANETS
Sulphur in exoplanets' atmospheres may be a guide to exolife https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/04/200406140104.htm
Earth twin found in habitable zone of a Red Dwarf https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/04/200416105650.htm
IMAGES
SOLAR SYSTEM
Meteorites reveal Martian water history https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/03/200330110336.htm
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/04/200402080506.htm
Why Saturn's atmosphere is so hot https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/04/200406190444.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily%2Ftop_news%2Ftop_science+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Top+Science+News%29
'Oumuamua interstellar object explained https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/04/200413165627.htm
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/techandscience/weird-mystery-of-watery-plumes-on-europa-may-hint-at-stealth-particles/ar-BB12Fr4f?ocid=spartandhp Most of the plumes come from the polar region, but the first two illustrations show them coming from the equatorial region of Europa.
SPACE
New book of graphics of Soviet space program https://www.amazon.co.uk/Soviet-Space-Graphics-Cosmic-Visions/dp/1838660534/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=soviet+space+art&qid=1586172470&s=books&sr=1-1 (thanks to Danny Collins for this)
https://www.space.com/trump-moon-mining-space-resources-executive-order.html
https://www.space.com/scientists-want-mission-to-enceladus-saturn-moon.html
https://newatlas.com/space/rocket-lab-helicopter-catch-booster/?utm_source=New+Atlas+Subscribers&utm_campaign=3aa40330a9-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_04_11_10_54&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_65b67362bd-3aa40330a9-92786061 this is a neat and simple idea.
Assessing radiation risks for astronauts https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/04/200416135857.htm
Machine leaning will speed up rocket design https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/04/200416135837.htm
MUST WATCH! Amazing internal video tour of the ISS! https://earthsky.org/space/video-tour-iss-with-astronauts-2020?utm_source=EarthSky+News&utm_campaign=8c1b49f70e-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_02_02_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c643945d79-8c1b49f70e-394571661
Long spaceflights affect the brain and the Pituitary gland https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/04/200414173710.htm
SUN.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-8203175/British-researchers-reveal-highest-resolution-images-Sun.html I managed to get Prof Robert Walsh to give us a lecture some time in the 'Noughties', I think.
Why the Solar wind is hotter than expected https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/04/200414173712.htm
TELESCOPES, EQUIPMENT, TECHNIQUES
Testing the JWST's mirror deployment- video https://newatlas.com/space/james-webb-space-telescope-deployment-test/?utm_source=New+Atlas+Subscribers&utm_campaign=296efb48a6-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_04_01_08_21&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_65b67362bd-296efb48a6-92786061
CHEOPS space telescope ready to study exoplanets https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/04/200416114541.htm
21. 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
