Hi all,
1. Season's Greetings.
Wishing everyone a very happy and healthy New Year.
2. IAA Lecture, Wed 5 January, 7.30 p.m. Comets and their tales, by Prof Antonio Martin Carillo. Comets are very much in the news, with the recent visit by Comet Neowise. They have a much wider significance in astronomy than just providing spectacular sights in the sky, as their origin, development and composition tell us a great deal about the solar system as a whole.
Biography
Antonio Martin-Carrillo is an UCD Ad Astra fellow/Assistant Professor in the School of Physics. He graduated with a BSc and MSc in Physics with Astronomy from University Complutense Madrid. Following 2 years working at the European Space Agency as part of the XMM-Newton space observatory calibration team, he moved to UCD where he completed his PhD investigating gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) and pulsars. He is currently a member of the Space Science Group studying the transient Universe and in particular the prompt and afterglow emission of GRBs using high-energy space observatories and ground-based telescopes such as UCD's Watcher robotic telescope. His research also includes the development of software tools for advanced data analysis. As such he is an ambassador and collaborator on the Astropy project aimed at providing a wide range of software packages written in Python for use in astronomy. He is also a member of the INTEGRAL multi-messenger group searching for gamma-ray counterparts to gravitational waves, neutrino events and other transient sources; the ATHENA X-ray space observatory, an ESA large mission scheduled to launch in 2028, and the THESEUS space telescope, currently in its study phase with ESA.
More details, and joining link for ZOOM, in next bulletin.
3. JWST is on its way to L2!
Some amazing and fascinating information in this article 10 unbelievable but true facts about NASA's James Webb Space Telescope | by Ethan Siegel | Starts With A Bang! | Dec, 2021 | Medium
4. Quadrantid Meteors, 3-4 January
One of the year's best meteor showers peaks on 3-4 January. Under good conditions, we could see 50 or so meteors an hour that night. Most meteor showers are associated with comets, but the Quadrantids seem linked to the near-Earth asteroid (196256) 2003 EH1, which may be an extinct comet seen by Chinese astronomers in 1490. They are caused when tiny pieces of debris shed by the parent body collide with our atmosphere at high speed (about 40km/sec in this case) and burn away in a second or so, usually at a height of about 80km.
The radiant, or point in the sky where the shower members appear to come, is named for the former constellation, Quadrans Muralis. It actually lies in Bootes, about halfway between the end of the handle of the Plough or Big Dipper, and the head of Draco. The peak this year is predicted to occur at 20:40 GMT on 3 January. The Quadrantid peak is quite narrow, so a few hours before and after the peak, the rate is only about half the maximum.
But, the radiant will be rising in the NE as the night progresses, and the higher the radiant, the more meteors can be seen. Also, more meteors tend to be seen after midnight, when the dark hemisphere of Earth is facing the same way as the Earth's orbital motion: that means that the meteors collide with the atmosphere at a higher speed, thus making smaller ones more visible. However, it's worth observing as soon as the sky gets totally dark, even though the radiant will then be low in the North, as the activity builds up towards the peak. So, we could get reasonable rates of meteors through most of the night.
There will be no interference from moonlight, so it will be worth observing from as dark a location as possible. Use a lounger or reclining chair, wrap up really warm, and allow time for your eyes to dark adapt. Enjoy, and clear skies.
5. Perihelion. The Earth will be closest to the Sun in its elliptical orbit on Jan 04 at 06.53, so if you're still observing Quadrantids at that time, stop for a celebratory hot chocolate! The distance will be 0.9833355 AU, or 147,105,046.6km.]
6. Catch Jupiter while you can.
Jupiter is just still visible from UK & Ireland, but it's getting over closer to the Sun in the sky as it heads towards conjunction on 5 March
It's in Capricorn, mag -2.2, and with an apparent diameter of 36".
7. ISS:
The ISS continues its series of morning passes until 5 January. It will commence a new series of evening passes on 19 January. Full details for your location on www.heavens-above.com, and on various Smartphone Apps
8. Public Engagement Officer at DIAS Dunsink Observatory
We are delighted to accept applications for the position of Public Engagement Officer in Data and Space Science at DIAS Dunsink Observatory. We are seeking an enthusiastic and creative person to run public-facing events including Ireland's first space-themed escape room, and to develop and deliver new content around the themes of Data Science and Space Science, reflecting the modern, cutting edge work of the DIAS Astronomy and Astrophysics Section.
Interested candidates should submit an application on our online recruitment system by 5pm on January 20th 2022. For more information visit http://dias.ie/public-engagement-officer
9. ESO Summer Research Programme 2022, ESO-HQ, Garching b. München, Germany / or virtually* 4th July - 12th August 2022 Applications open: 8th December 2021; Application deadline: 4th February 2022
The ESO Summer Research Programme provides a unique opportunity to students not yet enrolled into a PhD programme, to carry out a 6-week long research project at the ESO Headquarters in Garching (Germany)*. This fully-funded programme will allow the participants to choose between a wide range of research projects covering many areas of astronomy, from planet formation to cosmology. The ESO Summer Research Programme will also provide opportunities beyond research, including lectures, a mini-workshop, and social activities.
| * The ESO Summer Research Programme will be hosted in Garching if all accepted students are able to travel to ESO HQ. If the COVID-19 pandemic does not allow an in-person visit, the programme will be held virtually as it was done in 2020 and 2021. Website: http://eso.org/summerresearch/ ESO - SummerResearch2021 ESO is the European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere. It operates the La Silla Paranal Observatory in Chile and has its headquarters in Garching, near Munich, Germany. |
Poster: http://eso.org/sci/meetings/2022/SummerResearch2022/SummerProgramme2022-poster.pdf. Enquiries: summerresearch@eso.org
10. 'Easy' Teaser answered.
To what was I referring? – "Father confused with eternal city".
Cate Murphy was quick off the mark with this one: Rome is known as the Eternal City; Father is Da, 'with' gives us 'and': De-confusing them all gives Andromeda. Well done Cate, at her first attempt – welcome to the winners enclosure!
11. DIFFICULT TEASER Answered Too
That one didn't last long either! Previous winner Peter Millar was first to get it right.
The question was: What's next in this sequence, and why: Saturn, Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune, Mars ? The answer is Earth – the list is that of the planets in decreasing order of oblateness or flattening. The official oblateness figures are: Sat = 0.098; Jup = 0.065; U = 0.022; Nep = 0.021; Mars = 0.009; Earth = 0.0034; Venus and Mercury – negligible.
Two responders said – Earth, but for the wrong reason, saying that the sequence is 'decreasing number of satellites'. Firstly, that would have been too easy, and secondly, it's not strictly correct. Jupiter and Saturn have exactly the same number of officially named moons - 53 each. (The other 16 and 19 respectively are awaiting official ratification.) So I would have had to put Saturn and Jupiter as 'First equal;' rather than first and second.
12. New EASY Teaser
What record does the 5m Hale telescope on Mt Palomar still hold?
13. NEW DIFFICULT TEASER
What does the number 695 represent?
14. Non-Astronomical Teaser for the holiday period – so non-astro spouses and partners can have a go: What have counties Cavan, Dublin, Tipperary and Wexford uniquely got in common?
No answers for this one yet, so here's a hint: it's to do with their names.
Please send all answers to me at my aol address terrymosel@aol.com
15. Davagh Dark Sky Park and Observatory is open, with pre-booking, and some restrictions.
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
This record-breaking black hole eruption could cover 16 full moons in the sky | Space
COSMOLOGY:
Brian Cox's science 'creation story' cracks question of origins of existence (msn.com)
EARTH & MOON
MIT engineers develop 'flying saucer' that could hover across the moon (msn.com)
8 ominous climate milestones we reached in 2021 | Live Science
IMAGES
The 10 strangest space structures discovered in 2021 | Live Science
SETI
Seti to build 'unprecedented' network to detect lasers from alien civilisations (msn.com)
SOLAR SYSTEM
Could acid-neutralizing life-forms make habitable pockets in Venus' clouds? -- ScienceDaily
Floating "Aerobats" Could be the Best way to Explore the Cloud Tops of Venus - Universe Today
Now We Know Why Pluto has These Strange Features on its Surface - Universe Today
The Bottom of Valles Marineris Seems to Have Water Mixed in With the Regolith - Universe Today
Asteroid Ryugu contains darkest material in the known solar system (msn.com)
Mars Perseverance rover finds 'something no one's ever seen' in its search for alien life (msn.com) That implies that the surface that hadn't been removed HAD been seen before! AFAIK, none of what's on the surface of Mars, apart from on the gross macro scale, has ever been seen before!
Nibiru: The Nonexistent Planet (msn.com)
The Spanish astronomer set to explore the largest and most mysterious reaches of the Solar System (msn.com)
SPACE
This is from the Express… Galileo blow as Brexit Britain 'well ahead' of EU in revolutionary satellite technology (msn.com)
NASA's DART Spacecraft Opens Its "Eye" and Returns First Images From Space (scitechdaily.com)
Floating "Aerobats" Could be the Best way to Explore the Cloud Tops of Venus - Universe Today
SpaceX is Hoping to Turn Atmospheric CO2 Into Rocket Fuel - Universe Today
NASA clears Axiom crew for 1st private mission to International Space Station (msn.com)
Russia launches biggest space rocket since fall of the Soviet Union (msn.com)
https://www.space.com/14526-dead-mars-spacecraft-photos-spirit-phoenix.html
Russia's 'space war' rocket may catapult back to Earth after failing to reach full orbit (msn.com)
Space junk orbiting Earth such as crystallised human wee could become our biggest pollution disaster (msn.com) That's no joke.
Leveraging space to advance stem cell science and medicine -- ScienceDaily
Russia launches heavy-lift Angara rocket on 3rd test flight, but misses intended orbit: reports | Space and Russia's 'space war' rocket may catapult back to Earth after failing to reach full orbit (msn.com)
China has moon's south pole in its sights with 3 missions launching this decade | Space
1st orbital test flight of SpaceX's Starship Mars rocket pushed to March at the earliest | Space
Experts say humans settling on far away planets could end up cannibals (msn.com) I can think of a few tasty morsels if I was stuck…. The problem is that they'll all be skinny as heck by the time you have to resort to eating each other.
SUN
Measuring the solar radius during the 2023 annular-total solar eclipse | Experiment It would be even more important to measure if the solar radius is secularly increasing!
Telescopes, Instruments, Techniques.
James Webb Space Telescope: how our launch of world's most complex observatory will rest on a nail-biting knife edge (theconversation.com) Quite a good video of the deployment sequence, but it's actually grossly simplified!
James Webb Space Telescope successfully deploys antenna | Space
James Webb Space Telescope begins unfolding delicate, massive sunshield | Space Actually, it's not massive at all – everything on the telescope has as little mass as possible. However, it does extend over quite a large area.
Nasa's alien-hunting James Webb Space Telescope gets first surprise breakthrough as its lifetime 'significantly' extended (msn.com) Excellent news - assuming that everything deploys and works as planned!
James Webb Space Telescope uncovers massive sunshield in next step of risky deployment | Space
Why the James Webb Space Telescope's sunshield deployment takes so long (msn.com)
Where is NASA's James Webb Space Telescope? Here's how to follow its progress. | Space
JWST's journey and deployment sequence https://www.facebook.com/100044501376615/posts/459654278861281/?sfnsn=mo James Webb Space Telescope unfurls massive sunshield in major deployment milestone (msn.com)
https://scitechdaily.com/james-webb-space-telescopes-aft-momentum-flap-deployed/
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
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