Hi all,
(NB, all times are summer time when in force, for convenience)
May I wish you all the very best of Season's Greetings, and Remember – you still need to STAY SAFE!
1. IAA lecture via Zoom, 6 January, 7.30 p.m.: Prof Stephen Smartt, (QUB) "Searching for Kilonovae in the nearby Universe"
Abstract:
The LIGO-Virgo gravitational wave detectors carried out the their third observing run (called O3) during 2019-2020. Many black hole mergers were detected, along with one confident binary neutron star merger and a possible black hole - neutron star system. At the same time, wide-field optical sky surveys are discovering a remarkable diversity in how stars merge, collapse and explode. Only one
gravitational wave source has had a discovery of an electromagnetic counterpart. In 2017 a pair of merging neutron stars produced what we now call a kilonova ("a thousand novas"!). This was a remarkably fast transient, which decayed in a matter of days. Many surveys have been searching for these kilonovae without success but given they can be as bright as supernovae they should be detectable irrespective of gravitational wave signals. I will discuss our efforts to uncover
this new class of object and reasons why we haven't found them yet.
Biography
Stephen Smartt is a professor of astrophysics at Queen's University. He has worked at the Isaac Newton Group of telescopes on La Palma and the University of Cambridge. He leads several
international projects, mostly focused on regularly surveying the sky to find anything that changes and his group manage the large scale data processing of two NASA funded surveys. He has discovered supernova progenitors, the faintest supernovae and most luminous explosions as well as mergers of compact stars. In 2018 he was awarded the Royal Irish Academy's Gold Medal and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2020.
(I would add that Stephen is an internationally renowned expert on supernovae!)
The link is......Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88696378331?pwd=Z2JDN2k0eE9mUmVia2Y5ampnem5pQT09Meeting ID: 886 9637 8331
Passcode: 180521
2. Earth at Perihelion, Jan 2.
The Earth will be closest to the Sun in its elliptical orbit on Jan 02 at 13.50, at a distance of 0.9832571 AU, or 147,093, 168.5km.
3. Quadrantid Meteors, Jan 3-4.
The Quadrantids are active for just about a week in early January, with the peak on the night of the 3rd – 4th. The Moon is waning gibbous, so it will rather spoil the view, This shower reaches a sharp peak over only a few hours, just before dawn, with a ZHR of about 80 fairly fast meteors. The best option is to choose a location where you can hide the Moon behind a building or evergreen tree, so it's not actually in your field of view. This year, given the conditions, you might see 30 – 40 per hour at the peak
4. ISS The ISS continues its series of morning passes until 7 January. Full details for your location, and lots of other astronomy information, on the excellent free site www.heavens-above.com
5. 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.
6. Teasers Tumbling! The last one was answered quickly! Congratulations to Peter Millar ( Again!) who sent the right answer next morning. The next correct answer came from John O'Neill, semi ex-patriated in the USA, although he may have had a time handicap as he may not have seen my bulletin until later. Next was Conn Buckley, and then Gavin Dobson (good name for an amateur astronomer!)
The question was: Who's next in this sequence? Huygens, Cassini, Herschel, Bond/Lassell, Pickering, ? And the answer was Dollfus – they are the discoverers of the first 10 named and numbered moons of Saturn, in chronological order. Huygens was first with Titan, and Audoin Dollfus discovered Janus in 1966 at the Pic du Midi observatory.
7. Another Teaser – I hope this one is a bit harder!
. What links the following? Bootes, Cancer, Coma, Gemini, Leo, Libra, Ophiuchus, Sagittarius, Scorpius, Serpens Caput, Serpens Cauda, Virgo ?
8. Paul Evans has produced another excellent 'Lockdown Video guide to the sky for December: https://youtu.be/bh5IDvpXs7Y
9. John Flannery's excellent astro calendar for 2021 is now available on line.
The download link is https://bit.ly/3mmSUU
10. REGULAR FORTNIGHTLY SPACE and ASTRONOMY WEBINAR – Next is January 12
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.
11. STFC Summer School at AOP postponed to January 2021 This year AOP was going to organize the STFC summer school for starting PhD students in astronomy. This event will now take place online and has been postponed to early January 2021 to attract also student's contributions on their proposed research topics, through short talks and poster. We have put together an exciting program of lectures, complementary skills workshops and meet the speaker breakout sessions and we would be glad to also invite students from everywhere in Ireland. Please feel free to forward the appended message to your postgraduate program coordinator as well as to your own students.
STFC 2020 INTRODUCTORY ASTRONOMY SCHOOL – 2nd Announcement. We should be grateful if you would circulate the details for the STFC Introductory Astronomy school to STFC funded students that could benefit from the school. The dates of the remote school are 11- 15 January 2021 and registration needs to be completed by 12 December 2020. PhD students are encouraged to present a short talk or poster outlining their proposed research topic – prizes will be awarded.
On behalf of the school organizing committee, Marc Sarzi & Simon Jeffrey. http://astro-online.iopconfs.org/home
12. 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.
13. 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,
14. 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
A giant black hole keeps evading detection and scientists can't explain it (msn.com)
This particle exists only in 2 dimensions. Get your head around that https://www.facebook.com/81276070943/posts/10158842869405944/?sfnsn=scwspmo They worked flat out on that research…
Ancient billion solar mass Black Hole is aimed straight at us https://www.facebook.com/100006565414017/posts/2911669512395201/?sfnsn=scwspmo
COSMOLOGY
Entanglement Theory may Reveal a Reality we can't Handle - Web Education (xn--webducation-dbb.com)
Dark matter in computer models may be wrong - Big Think
Primordial black holes and the search for Dark Matter from the multiverse https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/12/201228095432.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_c
EARTH & MOON
The surface of the moon is a galactic time capsule (msn.com)
A lunar gold rush could create conflict on the ground if we don't act now (msn.com)
'Zombie' greenhouse gas lurks in permafrost beneath the Arctic Ocean (msn.com)
Life on Earth could have arisen from DNA / RNA mix Discovery boosts theory that life on Earth arose from RNA-DNA mix: Newly described chemical reaction could have assembled DNA building blocks before life forms and their enzymes existed -- ScienceDaily
EXOLIFE
Summary of 2020's findings Here's what we learned about aliens in 2020 (msn.com)
Opinions | A new frontier is opening in the search for extraterrestrial life (msn.com)
IMAGES
I'm 99% certain this is space debris
Moment meteor shower streaks across the sky in Essex on Christmas Day (msn.com)
Beautiful photo of the December TSE. (We were meant to be on a cruise to see that one – but Covid had other ideas! https://www.facebook.com/1728339851/posts/10208307384678762/?sfnsn=scwspmo
Amazing new HST images https://www.facebook.com/7155422274/posts/10159598442137275/?sfnsn=scwspmo
Radio
This week's BBC Radio 4 In Our Time with Melvyn Bragg is on the subject of eclipses: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000qmnj (Thanks to Nick James for that)
SOLAR SYSTEM
The enigma of Enceladus The enigma of Enceladus | Astronomy.com
Mysterious asteroid the size of a dwarf planet is lurking in our solar system (msn.com)
SPACE
A 4G network on the moon is bad news for radio astronomy (msn.com)
Hello, Venus! Solar Orbiter spacecraft makes first swing past planet (msn.com)
SpaceX releases stunning HD video of its Starship SN8 launch | Daily Mail Online
China on course for its own space station in 2022 https://www.facebook.com/100052644831465/posts/205789294519230/?sfnsn=scwspmo and
Commercial spaceflight companies to offer suborbital flights from A to B
Axiom Space builds training and production campus at Houston Spaceport - SpaceWatch.Global
NASA offers links for 3D printing of lots of space items Models | 3D Resources (nasa.gov) (thanks to Adam Jeffers for this). Now has anyone got a link to print a good 3D printer?
Russian Space Chief Accuses US of Sabotaging Russian Space Program (futurism.com)
A lunar gold rush could create conflict on the ground if we don't act now (msn.com)
The ultimate limits to space travel – very interesting! https://www.facebook.com/670158369806165/posts/1871097239712266/?sfnsn=scwspmo
The UK's prospects in the Space industry https://www.facebook.com/692905441/posts/10164824559280442/?sfnsn=scwspmo
15. 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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