Hi all,
(NB, all times are summer time when in force, for convenience)
1. BELFAST GEOLOGISTS' SOCIETY TALK, Mon 18 January. Dr Mike Simms is doing a Zoom talk on Meteorites and the Solar System on Monday 18th at 7:30 pm. IAA members are very welcome to participate - just get a link by emailing belfastgeologists@live.co.uk. Mike has given many great talks to the IAA, and this should be well worth seeing.
2. 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
3. MERCURY: we get a good evening apparition in January, with Greatest Eastern Elongation of 18.6º on 24 January. Look low in the SSW evening twilight.
On the 15th the young crescent Moon will lie above and left of Mercury.
The following table gives details for about 30 minutes after sunset for each evening.
| Date | Magnitude | Phase % | Elongation º | Diameter |
| Jan 16 | -0.8 | 80.1 | 16.4 | 5.8 |
| 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.
4. Paul Evans' Lockdown Sky Video
5. 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
6. 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.
7. Teaser. What's next in this sequence? 4, 2, 10, 3, 7 ?
8. John Flannery's excellent astro calendar for 2021 is now available on line.
The download link is https://bit.ly/3mmSUU
9. 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.
10. 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
11. 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.
12. 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,
13. 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
Some supermassive black holes may be entrances to WORMHOLES | Daily Mail Online Why some, and not all?
Missing supermassive black hole baffles scientists (msn.com) and
Explained: A missing supermassive black hole that has left astronomers baffled (msn.com)
Winds and jet streams found on nearest Brown Dwarf Striped or spotted? Winds and jet streams found on the closest brown dwarf -- ScienceDaily
Gravitational bending of light observed at SMBH in our Milky Way High Speed Stars Confirm Relativity (resonancescience.org)
Chandra X-Ray Observatory reveals extraordinary magnetar/pulsar Chandra X-ray Observatory studies extraordinary magnetar -- ScienceDaily and
Astronomers spot the fastest spinning magnetar ever seen | Space
Astronomers see galaxy starting to die (msn.com)
The cause of GRBs has been found https://www.facebook.com/1127703627341760/posts/3466141910164575/?sfnsn=scwspmo
NASA finds origins of giant flare that swept passed Mars (msn.com)
Astronomers just found the oldest supermassive black hole yet (msn.com)
A magnetar explosion in a nearby galaxy? Burst of light April 15, 2020 likely magnetar eruption in nearby galaxy -- ScienceDaily
COSMOLOGY
https://www.forbes.com/sites/drdonlincoln/2021/01/05/crisis-in-cosmology-gets-worse/
Readers of this section will know that I have favoured consideration of MOND since it was first proposed Dark matter does NOT exist, says study that finds 'modified gravity' causes the unexplained motion | Daily Mail Online
EARTH & MOON
Calls for 'negative leap second' as Earth starts to spin faster | Daily Mail Online
"The addition of a Negative Leap Second"? Eh??? What's the difference between that and subtracting a second?
A very informative interview Defending Earth against dangerous asteroids: Q&A with NASA's Lindley Johnson (msn.com)
Watch this amazing video sequence. Lunar photographer takes pictures of the moon every night during each orbit (msn.com) Of course, the Moon itself is not wobbling, nor is it getting bigger or smaller. What we see is the effect of its changing orientation relative to the Earth because of its inclined orbit, and its changing distance from us because of its elliptical orbit.
2020 tied with 2016 for Earth's hottest year, as global warming overpowered La Niña (msn.com)
In 774CE the Sun blasted Earth with the biggest CME in 10,000 years, changing the atmospheric chemistry https://www.facebook.com/1277799034/posts/10218838153606386/?sfnsn=scwspmo or
Bad Astronomy | A solar flare in 774 AD changed Earth's atmospheric chemistry (syfy.com)
Oldest traces of life found on Earth so far, dating back 3.8 billion years https://www.facebook.com/100005437627168/posts/1461985123992728/?sfnsn=scwspmo
Tunguska event caused by grazing 200m iron asteroid https://www.facebook.com/100006565414017/posts/2923272944568191/?sfnsn=scwspmo
Quite plausible. The important question - assuming it's still out there, is it coming back for another intersection? Its orbit would have been altered by the close pass, and atmospheric drag, but in which direction? We really do need to find it!
Emission of carbon ions from Moon is a problem for theories of origin https://www.facebook.com/145327659223282/posts/1146262989129739/?sfnsn=scwspmo
EXOLIFE
Astronomers Are Keeping a Close Watch on the Next Star Over (msn.com)
EXOPLANETS
It's really there! Kepler space telescope's 2nd-ever exoplanet candidate finally confirmed. | Space
A scorchingly hot, thick 'Super Earth' discovered by scientists (msn.com)
IMAGES
Largest canyon in the solar system revealed in stunning new images (msn.com)
Watch this amazing video sequence. Lunar photographer takes pictures of the moon every night during each orbit (msn.com) Of course, the Moon itself is not wobbling, nor is it getting bigger or smaller. What we see is the effect of its changing orientation relative to the Earth because of its inclined, and its changing distance from us because of its elliptical orbit.
SOLAR SYSTEM
How and when Asteroid Ryugu lost its water Remote sensing data sheds light on when and how asteroid Ryugu lost its water -- ScienceDaily
Mars's answer to the Grand Canyon probed by NASA | Daily Mail Online
A mysterious 'wobble' is moving Mars' poles around (msn.com)
Mars digger declared defunct after failing to burrow into planet (msn.com)
SPACE
Methane-based rocket fuel 'can be made on MARS in one-step process' | Daily Mail Online
Nasa building vastly expensive new space telescope to unlock the mysteries of the Big Bang (msn.com)
China's Tianwen-1 spacecraft will reach Mars orbit on February 10 (msn.com)
NASA will fire up its SLS moon megarocket in final 'green run' test this month (msn.com)
A very interesting interview Defending Earth against dangerous asteroids: Q&A with NASA's Lindley Johnson (msn.com)
Future astronauts could use methane to make rocket fuel on Mars (msn.com)
Highlights of the coming year Looking ahead at the year in space 2021 (newatlas.com)
NASA will fire up its SLS moon megarocket in final 'green run' test this month | Space
Meet Au-Spot, the AI robot dog that's training to explore caves on Mars | Space They're bound to launch a competition to name these dogs, so get your thinking caps on, and get your brilliant suggestions ready to go in first.
NASA spacecraft reveals travels of China's Yutu 2 moon rover | Space
Preserving the Apollo lunar landing sites New law is first to protect Apollo sites from future moon missions | collectSPACE
NASA will soon fire up the most powerful rocket ever built (msn.com) Oops. Someone can't do maths. 700, 000 gallons is 3,181, 800 litres, not 265,000!
Japanese asteroid-sampling probe begins long trek to next space rock (msn.com)
Bad weather on Earth delays SpaceX Dragon's return from space station (msn.com)
This transforming NASA rover can go places others could only dream of (msn.com) Next up – Optimus Prime!
Survey of the Breakthrough Starshot project Layout 1 (harvard.edu). Very poorly presented, coming from a Harvard Professor! In column 1, "habitual" should be "habitable"; in column 2, "perimeters" should be "parameters", and in column 6, end of line 4, "the" shouldn't be there at all!
Further, he gives absolutely no idea how a camera, navigation device, transmitter, power source, and beam-focussing antenna capable of sending a detailed picture back over a distance of 4.3 light years can be made with a total weight of no more than 1 gram! Yes, one gram!
On top of that, 100GigaWatts of laser energy is to be focused on a metre-size sail, also weighing no more than 1 gm, for 'a few minutes'. How is that to be done without melting it?
Semi-finally, that laser is to accelerate the spacecraft to about 60,000 kilometres PER SECOND in just a few minutes. The G-forces would be just ridiculous.
Finally, the so-called 'spacecraft' will be zooming past the planet at the said 60,000 km per second, so it will be practically impossible to get a clear close-up picture. Assuming that it will need to be within 500 km of the planet to show any detail, it will spend only 1/120 second within that range.
And as the trajectory of the 'spacecraft' will be altered by the close approach to the star, it will then have to re-orient itself to be pointing its 'antenna' back exactly at Earth. How?
And all this is to be do-able within a generation…. There's ambitious space technology, then there's science fiction, and then there's Avi Loeb!
SpaceX's upgraded Cargo Dragon supply ship makes 1st Atlantic splashdown (msn.com)
SpaceX's Starship SN9 prototype fires up rocket engines three times in one day | Space
SUN:
In 774CE the Sun blasted Earth with the biggest CME in 10,000 years https://www.facebook.com/1277799034/posts/10218838153606386/?sfnsn=scwspmo or
Bad Astronomy | A solar flare in 774 AD changed Earth's atmospheric chemistry (syfy.com)
The solar cycle just starting could be one of the strongest ever Bad Astronomy | Scientists predict the current sunspot cycle may be very strong (syfy.com)
TELESCOPES, INSTRUMENTS
Nasa building vastly expensive new space telescope to unlock the mysteries of the Big Bang (msn.com)
NASA to launch Sphere-X telescope in 2024 to study the BB and look for exolife. Nasa SphereX telescope to search space for Big Bang clues from 2024 | Daily Mail Online
Nasa SphereX telescope to search space for Big Bang clues from 2024 | Daily Mail Online
14. 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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