Hi all,
(NB, all times are summer time when in force, for convenience)
1. GALWAY ASTOFEST ONLINE. Sat 30 January. There is some info at the following page with more to follow http://www.galwayastronomyclub.ie/astrofest-2021/
It's good to see this going ahead – and those are some excellent speakers!
2. IAA lecture via Zoom, 3 February, 7.30 p.m.: "Remote Telescopes for Public and Educational Access", by Pete Williamson.
Synopsis. This talk will cover what is available in access to remote observatories, and how you c an get involved with the educational networks. There is also a section on the growing amount of RAW data coming in from space missions that we ourselves can manipulate and process.
This resource is of particular interest and value during the current lockdown.
Biography.
Pete is a very well known astronomer, broadcaster, lecturer and astronomy outreach enthusiast, perhaps best known for his amazing photos using remote telescopes from all around the world, including the 2-meter Faulks telescopes, as well as his own near the Welsh border. You can check him out at www.peterwilliamson.co.uk
The link is:
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87652213797?pwd=YTRyaWR6UWlKMGZjUmR3MU9Uemovdz09
Meeting ID: 876 5221 3797
Passcode: 750496 The room will open around 19:15 to allow for a prompt start. This talk will also be Simulcast on our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/user/irishastronomy/videos
3. ISS The ISS continues its series of evening passes until 5 February. There are some excellent ones between now and 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
4. REGULAR FORTNIGHTLY SPACE and ASTRONOMY WEBINAR – Next is February 9
NB: Note platform change. Since most people have been watching on YouTube, we are ceasing the presentation via Zoom, and it will now be streamed live on both YouTube and Facebook. This will also give us lots of added features in the presentation.
Presented by me and the amazing Nick Howes, they are approximately 45 minutes long, every second Tuesday, at 7.30 p.m., covering whatever is topical in space and astronomy. The next one will be on Tuesday 9 February: youtube.com/spacestorelive
NB – So, from now on it will be Live streamed to YouTube SpaceStore Live! Channel and Live streamed to Facebook Live. I'll post any last minute news via Twitter.
5. NISF talk on astrophysics
https://www.facebook.com/543083169126615/posts/3120687611366145/?sfnsn=scwspmo
6. STAR TRACKER ONLINE, hosted by AOP, 24 Feb, 31 Mar.
Armagh Observatory and Planetarium hosts "Armagh StarTracker Online", a star show where we take you on a tour of the night sky using a virtual planetarium followed by live viewing the stars using telescopes in the Canary Islands. We will be using Slooh's online robotic telescopes to view the celestial objects. There will be a chance throughout the sessions to ask questions to the Director of Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, Professor Michael Burton.
Each session will focus on different objects and stars that are visible in the night sky.
Tickets are free (donations are welcome) and the zoom details will be emailed in advance.
*Please note you only need to book one ticket for one household.*
Dates: 24th February, 31st March, Time: 8pm
Admission: Free (donations welcome)
7. RESEARCH POSTS
(A) PhD position at DIAS.
PhD Position: Space Physics: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies. Deadline January 31st 2021
Ph.D. Studentship. Duration 4 years. Stipend: €18,500 per year, tax free
Please direct any queries to Caitriona Jackman cjackman@cp.dias.ie. Application deadline January 31st 2021. More information here:
https://www.dias.ie/2021/01/14/phd-planetary-magnetospheres/
(B). Undergrad Summer Placements at I-Lofar at Birr.
Thanks to support from Berkeley, I will have 2 summer undergraduate research placements available next summer working with I-LOFAR, based at Birr Covid-permitting.
Any questions on this can be fired my way. Application deadline is Feb 12th.
https://lofar.ie/2021-research-summer-internship/
https://seti.berkeley.edu/Internship.html
Dr. E. F. Keane, evan.keane@GMAIL.COM,
8. Reach for the Stars astrophotography competition, run by the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies and the Irish Times jointly with the support of the IAS - John Flannery will be one of the judges. Details available at this site::
https://www.dias.ie/ga/2020/12/16/reach-for-the-stars-diass-astrophotography-competition/ or see
We're sponsoring a new DIAS astrophotography competition! - Alice PR & Events
Or else, just go to dias.ie, the host website, and you should see it flagged in the announcements.
9. 'Easy' Teaser answered - What's the next letter in this sequence: I, E, G, C ? Congrats to Gary Corcoran who replied next day with the correct answer – "A".
They are of course the moons of Jupiter, in numerical order (usually in roman Numerals, thus):
I = Io, II = Europa, III = Ganymede, IV = Callisto, and then V=Amalthea.
The 4 big ones were all discovered at about the same time by Galileo in 1609, so they were later numbered in order from the planet. No more were discovered for a long time, then Amalthea was discovered, and even though it was closer to the planet than Io, it was numbered 5.
Other later finds were then also numbered in order of discovery, not orbital distance, so the numbers are a bit chaotic - the main ones are, in order outwards (in normal notation, for convenience),
16 Metis; 5 Amalthea; 14 Thebe; 1 Io; 2 Europa; 3 Ganymede; 4 Callisto; 13 Leda; 6 Himalia,.... and so on!
10. Harder Teaser (anyone can enter)
Ironically, what hasn't happened in Scorpius since 1890?
Please send all answers to me at my aol address terrymosel@aol.com
11. John Flannery's excellent astro calendar for 2021 is still available on line.
The download link is https://bit.ly/3mmSUU
12. Astrophysics & Cosmology Masterclass, 25 February. Maynooth University
This event is targeted at 5th & 6th year LC secondary-school pupils, and may be of interest to younger members and acquaintances. More info at the following link.
https://www.maynoothuniversity.ie/node/498485
13. Close fast pass by good sized asteroid on March 21.
Asteroid 231937 will whizz past us on Mar 21, at only 5.3 Lunar Distances, and at the high speed of 34.4km/sec. It has an estimated diameter of 1024m. No danger of a collision, but that's fairly close for such a big asteroid and especially one going so fast!
14. June 8-11: Institutions of Extraterrestrial Liberty, hosted by U of Edinburgh. 4 days of webinars on Human Exploration of Mars.
15. Davagh Dark Sky Park and Observatory closed until further notice
See https://www.midulstercouncil.org/visitor/things-to-do/star-gazing/davagh-dark-sky-observatory , and https://www.facebook.com/omdarksky/ I'll post any updates here. Or phone 03000 132 132 for changing Covid-19 advice.
16. 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
'Sextuply-eclipsing sextuple star system' discovered whirling through the Milky Way (msn.com)
Aliens could be sucking energy from black holes. That may be how we'll find them. (msn.com)
How a supernova explodes https://www.facebook.com/1015803760/posts/10221614226757747/?sfnsn=scwspmo
Neutrons' 'evil twins' may be crushing stars into black holes (yahoo.com)
NASA finds 'Lost Galaxy' shining out of Virgo's bosom (msn.com)
Catalogue of the sky glimpses 700 million astronomical objects – UKRI
This is only tangentially related to astrophysics, in that any new particles could have implications for Dark Matter and Dark Energy. But the science is amazing. The cloak-and-dagger tale behind this year's most anticipated result in particle physics | Science | AAAS (sciencemag.org)
Giant Galaxies from the Universe's Childhood Challenge Cosmic Origin Stories - Scientific American
We may have found the most powerful particle accelerator in the galaxy (msn.com)
What if the speed of light is different in different directions? – We have no way of knowing! https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2932782033617282&id=100006565414017&sfnsn=scwspmo
New galaxy reveals how stars form New galaxy sheds light on how stars form -- ScienceDaily
A big, indeed a massive, problem! Giant Galaxies from the Universe's Childhood Challenge Cosmic Origin Stories - Scientific American
COSMOLOGY
'Stupendously large' black holes could be lurking in between galaxies (msn.com)
This will exercise your grey matter Mysterious 'kick' just after the Big Bang may have created dark matter (msn.com)
Giant Galaxies from the Universe's Childhood Challenge Cosmic Origin Stories - Scientific American
EARTH & MOON
Climate change: Global ice melting accelerates in line with 'worst-case' scenarios (msn.com)
Bright fireball over Belgium could have dropped a meteorite https://www.facebook.com/253501018061324/posts/3716199581791433/?sfnsn=scwspmo
Martian mineral, rare on Earth, found locked in Antarctic ice (msn.com)
Mystery of Greenland's expanding 'dark zone' finally solved (msn.com)
Stonehenge's 'extraordinary' secrets exposed after scan breakthrough: 'Story isn't over' (msn.com)
The FastKD Project: How To Deflect an Asteroid – And Do It Fast! - Asteroid Day
Earth's outer shell ballooned during massive growth spurt 3 billion years ago (msn.com)
Earth is about to lose its second moon, forever (msn.com)
Humans would be completely powerless against a superintelligent AI system, study finds (msn.com)
Earth is hotter now than at any time in the last 12,000 years! Scientists solve a major climate mystery, confirming Earth is hotter than it's been in at least 120 centuries (msn.com)
EXOPLANETS
'One in a million' SuperEarth discovered https://www.facebook.com/7155422274/posts/10159658434672275/?sfnsn=scwspmo
Scientists spot very strange solar system moving in unusual 'rhythm' (msn.com)
Mysterious star system sees five alien planets orbit in 'harmonic' pattern (msn.com)
Astronomers find six exoplanets locked in a rhythmic motion | Daily Mail Online and
CHEOPS finds unique planetary system -- ScienceDaily
High schoolers help discover 4 new alien planets (msn.com)
The seven rocky planets of TRAPPIST-1 seem to have very similar compositions -- ScienceDaily
FUTURISM
This is amazingly prescient. Although there have been advances never dreamed of then, the principles and ethics haven't changed. And with the development of AI, as seen now even in spacecraft, the issues raised have become even more important Robots got their name 100 years ago today (newatlas.com)
One possible answer to the Fermi Paradox is that there are no other living beings much more advanced than us – they've all become 'robots' of one form or another.
IMAGES
Amazing space images of the week (msn.com)
And
Mind-blowing images of deep space (msn.com)
Parker Solar Probe takes planetary portrait https://www.facebook.com/739068559/posts/10158938002503560/?sfnsn=scwspmo
HST images the Lost Galaxy NASA finds 'Lost Galaxy' shining out of Virgo's bosom | Live Science
SETI
Aliens could be sucking energy from black holes. That may be how we'll find them. (msn.com)
Extraterrestrial evidence: 10 incredible findings about aliens from 2020 (msn.com) This is a reasonably sensible report.
SOLAR SYSTEM
Solar system formation in two steps -- ScienceDaily
Largest sea on Titan could be more than 1,000 feet deep (msn.com)
Phosphine in Venusian clouds very unlikely. Purported phosphine on Venus more likely to be ordinary sulfur dioxide -- ScienceDaily
Disappointing. But that's how science works. Observation-based facts are more important than opinions or wishful thinking or Trump-style 'alternative facts'.
OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample mission to return to Earth in 2023 (newatlas.com)
The Simple Task That Mars Made Impossible (msn.com)
Thick lithosphere casts doubt on plate tectonics in Venus's geologically recent past -- ScienceDaily
SPACE
Humans could move to 'floating asteroid belt colony' within 15 years
https://www.facebook.com/100052644831465/posts/222861829478643/?sfnsn=scwspmo The asteroid belt does not deserve that!
International Space Station - latest news, breaking stories and comment - The Independent
Moon landing bombshell: CIA 'stole' Moscow's space probe in secret mission before Apollo (msn.com)
OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample mission to return to Earth in 2023 (newatlas.com)
The UAE's Hope mission is nearly to Mars, and scientists can't wait (msn.com)
Scientist invents new plasma engine for rockets (msn.com)
What's holding up the next test of SpaceX's Starship? Elon Musk blames the FAA. (msn.com)
SUN
Magnetic waves explain mystery of Sun's outer layer -- ScienceDaily
TELESCOPES, INSTRUMENTS, TECHNIQUES
Preliminary investigation offers possible cause of Arecibo Observatory telescope collapse (msn.com)
South African astronomy has a long, rich history of discovery – and a promising future | Space
US planetary radar may get a boost from Green Bank Observatory (msn.com)
Metamaterial tiles boost sensitivity of large telescopes -- ScienceDaily
Experimental planetary radar captures incredible high-res Moon images (newatlas.com). They should try this at Jodrell Bank – although the VLBA might be too far over the horizon to be useful as a receiver for most of the time, and there's no equivalent in UK or Europe.
NASA's Roman mission will probe galaxy's core for hot Jupiters, brown dwarfs -- ScienceDaily
17. 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
No comments:
Post a Comment