Hi all,
(NB, all times are summer time when in force, for convenience)
1. IAA lecture via Zoom, 20 January, 7.30 p.m.: Prof Lorraine Hanlon, (UCD) " Gamma Ray Bursts and the Gravitational Wave Connection'.
Abstract: Prof Hanlon will tell us the latest news on these amazing events; the most energetic explosions in the universe since the Big Bang. They link to many areas of high[-energy astrophysics, and the latest development is the connection with gravitational waves. Lorraine will also tell us about C-space, UCD's new Centre for Space Research.
Biography LORRAINE HANLON is Full Professor of Astronomy at University College Dublin (UCD) and is Director of C-Space, UCD's Centre for Space Research. She did her undergraduate (BSc) and graduate (MSc and PhD) degrees in Experimental Physics and was a research fellow and an EU Human Capital and Mobility fellow at the European Space and Technology Research Centre (ESTEC) in the Netherlands, ESA's establishment for space mission development. She joined the academic staff of UCD in 1996, serving as Head of the School of Physics between 2008 and 2011. She is currently Chair of ESA's Astronomy Working Group and of the INTEGRAL Users' Group, is a member of the THESEUS Science Study Team, the Space Science Advisory Committee and a member of Council of the Royal Astronomical Society. Lorraine is programme director of UCD's MSc in Space Science and Technology. Her main research interests are gamma-ray bursts, multi-messenger astronomy, robotic telescopes, and space instrumentation. She is the Endorsing Professor for EIRSAT-1, Ireland's first satellite, a CubeSat being developed by an interdisciplinary team of UCD students and staff under ESA's 'Fly Your Satellite!' programme.
The link is:Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89489778385?pwd=eU1qY3prb3VVazFSOG4xZlVQQTUvZz09
Meeting ID: 894 8977 8385
Passcode: 537631
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
NB! Keeping your camera on during a one hour Zoom meeting emits 1,000 grams of CO2, SO SWITCH IT OFF!
2. MERCURY: we still have a good bit of the January evening apparition, with Greatest Eastern Elongation of 18.6º on 24 January. Look low in the SSW evening twilight.
The following table gives details for about 30 minutes after sunset for each evening.
| Date | Magnitude | Phase % | Elongation º | Diameter |
| Jan 19 | -0.8 | 71.9 | 17.7 | 6.2 |
| Jan 22 | -0.7 | 61.2 | 18.5 | 6.7 |
| Jan 25 | -0.4 | 48.2 | 18.4 | 7.3 |
| Jan 28 | +0.1 | 33.8 | 17.2 | 8.0 |
| Jan 31 | +1.0 | 19.7 | 14.5 | 8.8 |
As Mercury's apparent diameter is always very small, even with a big telescope all you will make out is the phase. Start looking about 30 minutes after local sunset.
Never look for Mercury with optical aid while the Sun is above the horizon, in case you accidentally get the Sun into the field of view, risking very serious eye damage.
3. ISS The ISS well commence a new series of evening passes on 20 January. 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 January 26
Presented by me and the amazing Nick Howes, they are approximately 40 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 12 January: youtube.com/spacestorelive
It's a Zoom webinar, and 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. 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!
6. Paul Evans' Lockdown Sky Video
7. 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/
8. 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,
9. 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.
10. Teaser answered. The question was - What's next in this sequence? 4, 2, 10, 3, 7 ? The sequence is the largest of the first 10 asteroids or Minor Planets, in decreasing order of size, obviously excluding Ceres which is now classed as a Dwarf Planet.
Patricia Carroll, again, got the answer, although as she was using a different data source, her list gave 6 Hebe as next, whereas my source gave 9 Metis; they are very close in size.
The largest ones, in order, are: 4 Vesta, 2 Pallas, 10 Hygeia, 3 Juno, 7 Iris, 9 Metis, 6 Hebe, 8 Flora, and 5 Astrea.
Cate Murphy also suggested the answer was 6 Hebe, but only after a clue, so I have to give priority to Patricia. But well done to both.
(P.s., I didn't make it 'the largest iof all asteroids, as some of the other later discoveries are just assumptions based on assumed albedo, so not entirely reliable)
11. New Teaser.
What are the next two in this sequence: - Regulus, Spica, Antares, Aldebaran, Pollux, ?
Please send all answers to me at my aol address terrymosel@aol.com
12. John Flannery's excellent astro calendar for 2021 is now available on line.
The download link is https://bit.ly/3mmSUU
13. 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
14. 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.
15. 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
Telescopes on Far Side of the Moon Could Illuminate the Cosmic Dark Ages - Scientific American
When galaxies collide – what happens to their Black Holes? Galaxies hit single, doubles, and triple (growing black holes) -- ScienceDaily
Mapping our solar neighbourhood reveals many new brown dwarfs Mapping our sun's backyard: Astronomers and citizen scientists produce the most complete 3D map of cool brown dwarfs in the Sun's neighborhood -- ScienceDaily
A background of gravitational waves? Astronomers may have detected background ripples in spacetime itself (newatlas.com)
Astronomers document the rise and fall of a rarely observed stellar dance -- ScienceDaily
Nasa finds there are far fewer galaxies than previously thought | Daily Mail Online
Astronomers detect most distant supermassive black hole known | Daily Mail Online and
Most distant quasar discovered sheds light on how black holes grow (phys.org)
Big question – how did it get so massive, so quickly?
Astronomers look 9bn years into past and get photo of a dying galaxy | Daily Mail Online
The 'Old Faithful' of a distant galaxy An 'old faithful' active galaxy: Black hole rips away at star -- ScienceDaily
Measurements of pulsar acceleration reveal Milky Way's dark side -- ScienceDaily
Chandra X-ray Observatory studies extraordinary magnetar -- ScienceDaily
COSMOLOGY
Nasa finds there are far fewer galaxies than previously thought | Daily Mail Online – how does this affect Dark Energy? Many fewer galaxies means less overall mass, and lower mean density of the universe, so there's less gravity trying to halt the cosmic expansion. It doesn't explain WHY the rate of expansion is accelerating (assuming it is), but it affects it.
'Bumblebee gravity' could explain why the universe is expanding so quickly | Live Science
The symmetries which underlie the universe – or do they? Physicists get closer to examining the symmetries underlying our universe -- ScienceDaily
'Galaxy-sized' observatory sees potential hints of gravitational waves -- ScienceDaily
EARTH & MOON
I hope that most, if not all, readers of this bulletin don't need convincing, but this is useful evidence for the deniers that we all encounter This scientist destroyed climate change deniers in a single viral post (msn.com)
2020 tied for warmest year on record, NASA analysis shows -- ScienceDaily
The future for Earth does not look good Science warns world of 'ghastly' future ahead | Climate News Network Perhaps we should do more to look after this planet before we think about terraforming other ones.
Earth's first life may have breathed arsenic, not oxygen Earth's oxygen came from arsenic-breathing microbes - Big Think
EXOPLANETS
Unique 'super-puff' planet is as big as Jupiter but 10 TIMES lighter | Daily Mail Online and
A 'super-puff' planet like no other -- ScienceDaily
SETI
A Very Interesting Radio Signal was Just Detected Coming from Proxima Centauri - Universe Today
SOLAR SYSTEM
The Insight Mars Mole is defunct NASA Has Given Up on Trying to Deploy InSight's Mole - Universe Today
NASA extends planetary science missions at Mars and Jupiter (msn.com)
There's a black hole on Mars NASA stares into dark, freaky pit on Mars - CNET
Juno to explore Jupiter's rings and moons during new mission extension (newatlas.com)
New comet Leonard might put on a good show. Newly found Comet Leonard might become 2021's brightest | Astronomy Essentials | EarthSky
SPACE
Blue Origin's New Shepard completes 14th flight, with improved capsule (newatlas.com) and
Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin to fly first passengers on space tourism rocket 'in a few months' (msn.com)
InSight's Mars "mole" abandoned after two years of troubleshooting (newatlas.com)
NASA extends planetary science missions at Mars and Jupiter (msn.com) and
Bezos' Blue Origin Sends Skywalker Dummy to Space (msn.com)
Branson's Virgin Orbit reaches space with key mid-air rocket launch (msn.com)
UK rocket firm creates space tug to move satellites and clear debris | Daily Mail Online
SpaceX's Dragon cargo ship makes first Atlantic splashdown | Daily Mail Online
Rolls-Royce and UK Space Agency work on nuclear-powered space engine | Daily Mail Online
TELESCOPES, INSTRUMENTS
Telescopes on Far Side of the Moon Could Illuminate the Cosmic Dark Ages - Scientific American
This is an excellent survey How the famed Arecibo telescope fell—and how it might rise again | Science | AAAS (sciencemag.org)
16. 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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