Hi all,
N.B. Subs for the coming session of the IAA are now overdue. See last Item below for details of how to pay.
Please note: send all correspondence to me only at terrymosel@aol.com
1. IAA PUBLIC LECTURE, Wed 29 November, "Toward the discovery and characterisation of Earth-like planets" by Dr Jean Costes, Astrophysics Research Centre, QUB
Abstract: More than 25 years after the first discovery of an exoplanet around a main-sequence star, more than 5000 exoplanets have been detected and confirmed. These new discoveries have shown us the great diversity of exoplanets present in our galaxy. In the next decade, one of the major scientific challenges will be the discovery of habitable Earth-like worlds. For example, the next European Space Agency mission PLATO (due to launch in 2026) is specifically tasked with finding Earth-analogue transiting planets. After describing basic concepts on the discovery of exoplanets, I'll present during this talk some of the latest updates on the detection and characterisation of exoplanets. My focus will be on the remaining challenges that we are facing in order to detect our Earth 2.0.
Biography: Dr Jean Costes is a Research Fellow at Queen's University Belfast, mainly working on the detection of exoplanets, focusing on the mitigation of stellar activity. As part of the HiRISE core team (a new instrument that we installed last summer at ESO Paranal in Chile) he is also looking into exoplanet atmospheres.
Venue: Larmor Lecture Theatre, Physics building, Queen's University Belfast, 7.30 p.m.
Admission free, including light refreshments. All welcome.
2. GEMINIDS:
The best meteor shower of the year, the Geminids, coincides with New Moon this year, so conditions are very favourable. The shower is active from Dec 4, but rates are low at first, building up slowly. By December 10, the activity level should exceed that of the maxima of all the other showers except for the Perseid and Quadrantids. Maximum will be on the night of 13/14 December (20h on Dec 13). The ZHR is expected to be 100+, so in good conditions you could average more than 1 meteor per minute! The radiant is near Castor, and the shower produces a fair number of fireballs.
If there's a clear sky, it's worth travelling some distance to get a dark site with a good view all round, and letting your eyes totally dark adapt, to enjoy the free celestial firework show!
Rates should be quite high on the few nights before maximum, and on the night of 14/15 as well, so if it's cloudy on the 13th, you have other opportunities. There's very little activity after Dec 16.
The Zenithal Hourly Rate (ZHR) is the rate which would be seen by an experienced observer, in a VERY dark sky, and with the radiant in the zenith: actual observed rates very rarely reach the nominal ZHR for various reasons.
3. December Sky Guide Podcast, by Paul Evans and Sinead Mannion.
Spotify
https://open.spotify.com/episode/1GrL9GzleWuA77666gfknn?si=a1b1OJMvQXO1ICdkhcL_aw
Apple podcast
https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/cosmic-corner/id1705184817?i=1000636660127
4. ISS
The ISS continues its series of evening passes until 7 December. Details for your location on various sites, including www.heavens-above.com
5. VENUS at its best in morning sky
Is visible as a morning star throughout this quarter. It's now magnitude -4.2, and has an apparent diameter of 17.1". The phase is around 68%.
6. Mercury
The innermost planet will slowly creep out into the evening twilight in the second week in December, but it's very low down and you'll probably need binoculars to spot it. On the evening of the 15th it will lie 21 degrees (about the length of the 'Northern Cross', or a bit less than the length of the 'Plough') to the right of the crescent moon, but even lower down.
7. SATURN – catch it while you can.
Saturn was at Opposition on August 27 in Aquarius, at mag 0.4. The rings are now closing rapidly from our perspective, with an angle of only 9 degrees, which explains why it's no longer so bright when at opposition. The apparent diameter is 17.6" equatorial, and 15.7" polar, which shows that the disc is noticeably oblate. The rings have a diameter of 40", but only 7.3" on the minor axis. Of the satellites, Titan is very easy, and Rhea is usually visible even in a small telescope. Tethys and Dione are closer in, and fainter, and may need an aperture of 150mm to be seen. Even closer in, and fainter still, are Enceladus and Mimas, which will be easier to spot next year when the rings are almost edge-on, and thus much fainter, so their light doesn't drown out the faint inner satellites. Iapetus, one of the outer Moons, is brightest and easiest to see when at W elongation, which occurs on November 28.
8. JUPITER dominates the sky!
Our largest was at opposition on 3 November, and is by far the brightest starlike object in the evening sky. It's high enough up in the East by about 7.00 for observing, in Aries, and at mag -2.9 it's much brighter than Saturn. Look for the 4 Galilean moons as they do their stately dance around the giant planet. Ganymede, Callisto and Io are bigger than our Moon; Europa is a bit smaller, but it's brighter than Callisto because of its bright ice-covered surface.
9. Halley's Comet at Aphelion, 8/9 December
Soon, our best-known comet will be at its farthest point from the Sun in its 76 year orbit, and after that it will begin its long, slow, plunge back into the inner Solar System, with next perihelion due on 28 July 2061, when it will be better positioned for observation than during the 1985–1986 apparition, as it will be on the same side of the Sun as Earth. The closest approach to Earth will be one day after perihelion. It is expected to have an apparent magnitude of −0.3, compared with only +2.1 for the 1986 apparition. Mark your diaries. (I shall be VERY lucky to see it!)
10. OCCULTATION OF BETELGEUSE, Dec 12.
This occultation will only be visible in S. Spain – see map, and links. Asteroid Will Cover Betelgeuse, May Reveal Its Visible Surface - Sky & Telescope - Sky & Telescope (skyandtelescope.org)
11. AOP Events, 16 & 29 Dec. Booking essential for all events
Our World from Space
Saturday Family Club: 16 Dec 10am - 12noon
Stargazing Evening
29 December 6:30pm - 9pm.
Join us at Armagh Planetarium for a Stargazing evening.
12. Galway Astronomy Festival: Saturday 27 January 2024
13. IRISH ASTRONOMY WEEK: March 9-16.
14. The Communicating Astronomy with the Public (CAP) Conference is the only large-scale international conference for astronomy communication. The next CAP conference will be held in hybrid mode from 24 Р28 June 2024, in-person at Cit̩ de l'espace, Toulouse, France and online.
15. NEW EASY TEASER:
Which current car make or marque (not an individual model!) has a connection with a planet in the solar system, and what is it?
16. Difficult Teaser Answered: Well done to Peter Millar, yet again!
Q. Apart from being the closest planets to the Sun (and thus only visible as 'morning' or 'evening' stars), what other record among the planets is jointly held by Mercury and Venus? Gordon Lalor has pointed out that they are the only planets without Moons, but that would be too easy! So it's not that.
The answer is that they are both officially classed as 'spherical', i.e. with zero oblateness. That's ignoring minor surface irregularities like craters, of course. All other planets have some degree of oblateness.
17. New Difficult Teaser
A star with a calm interior?
18. 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:
Did the Local Void shoot a monster extreme-energy cosmic ray our way? (newatlas.com)
I haven't taken the time to watch this, so can't comment on its quality Game Changer! A Mysterious Galaxy That Emits No Light Has Been Found | Watch (msn.com)
Development of the Milky Way https://www.facebook.com/100059420804643/posts/720728369917850/?sfnsn=scwspmo
James Webb telescope reveals gargantuan 'Mothra' star in most colorful image of the universe ever taken (msn.com)
Astronomers detect mysterious high-energy particle falling to Earth from space (msn.com) and High-energy 'sun goddess' particle opens possibilities for new physics, exciting scientists | Space
Two BHs are merging to form a SMBH. https://www.facebook.com/groups/452943879715453/permalink/868713424805161/?sfnsn=scwspmo&ref=share James Webb telescope discovers 2 of the oldest galaxies in the universe | Live Science
Be sure to have the sound on. Journey to the Center of the Milky Way Galaxy Like Never Before (4K) | Watch (msn.com)
Milky Way galaxy stealing stars from neighbour being consumed by supermassive black hole (msn.com)
11 of the strangest objects in the universe (msn.com)
Scientists have revealed the oldest black hole ever discovered – and it's huge (msn.com)
James Webb Space Telescope sees major star factory near the Milky Way's black hole (image) | Space
EARTH & MOON
4.5 billion-year-old asteroid could reveal the origins of life on Earth (msn.com)
Earth facing blackouts from 120,000-mile wide angry sunspots firing solar storms (msn.com)
Get your hard hat now! 'Lost' asteroid could strike Earth in 2024, Nasa warns as chance of deadly impact set out (msn.com)
Solar superstorm could wipe out internet for months, scientist claims (msn.com)
EXOPLANETS
Wow. JWST Just Found Methane in an Exoplanet Atmosphere - Universe Today
SOLAR SYSTEM 4.5 billion-year-old asteroid could reveal the origins of life on Earth (msn.com)
Life on Mars: UK to join ESA to build new instrument in search of extraterrestrial life (msn.com)
Super-hot Mercury may have glaciers at its pole (newatlas.com)
Clearest ever image of equatorial ridge on Iapetus https://www.facebook.com/groups/IrishAstronomy/permalink/7493692307326043/?mibextid=uJjRxr
Send a message to Europa (3) Tracy Prell - NASA's Virtual Guest Program invites YOU to join the... | Facebook
Better rotors, higher heights thanks to NASA's dual-planet presence (newatlas.com)
SPACEDeep space travel may mean astronauts can't get it up back on Earth (newatlas.com)More British rockets will take off after £121m boost (msn.com) Scientists find hydrogen in Apollo moon rocks, suggesting astronauts can harvest lunar water | SpaceNASA's Psyche spacecraft just fired a laser 10 million miles away | SpaceNASA's biggest breakthrough in 2023 helps astronauts recycle more pee (msn.com)SpaceX's Starship should be ready to fly again before Christmas, Elon Musk says | SpaceNASA fires communication laser 10 million miles in breakthrough for space travel (msn.com)A British astronaut could walk on the surface of the moon as early as 2025, NASA claims (msn.com)Better rotors, higher heights thanks to NASA's dual-planet presence (newatlas.com)
SUN
'It's a pretty significant change': Solar maximum will arrive sooner (msn.com) Or perhaps the activity level will go on increasing for a bit longer, giving an even higher maximum? Who knows?
Solar superstorm could wipe out internet for months, scientist claims (msn.com)
Astronomers spot aurora on the sun for the 1st time | Live Science
TELESCOPES, EQUIPMENT, etc
Deformable Mirrors in Space: Key Technology to Directly Image Earth Twins (spacedaily.com)
SPHEREx, a new NASA space-based observatory will map over 450 million galaxies in addition to 100 million stars https://www.facebook.com/100059420804643/posts/717111680279519/?sfnsn=scwspmo
19. JOINING the IRISH ASTRONOMICAL ASSOCIATION. This link gives options to join the IAA.
https://irishastro.org/join-the-iaa/ If you are a UK taxpayer, please select 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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