Hi all,
Please note: send all correspondence to me only at terrymosel@aol.com
1. IAA DOUBLE LECTURE, Wed 24 January, 7.30 p.m
A. Josh Pollin - How Stars Go Boom: A Guide to Type Ia Supernovae, and
B. Toby Rodel: The Exoplanet Story: A Brief History
Bio: Josh Polin
Originally from Belfast, Joshua completed his master's degree in physics at Queens University Belfast in 2022. His master's research used a rapid spectral synthesis code to investigate peculiar Type Ia supernovae. Subsequently, Joshua joined the QUB astrophysics research department in October 2022, where he started his PhD with Dr Stuart Sim. Joshua's ongoing research uses the radiative transfer code ARTIS, a tool developed by members of ARC to investigate theoretical models of Type Ia supernovae.
Synopsis:
Type Ia supernovae represent complex and powerful astrophysical events, holding significant relevance across various disciplines like stellar evolution, nucleosynthesis, and cosmology. Despite nearly a century of measurements and theoretical models, the progenitors of Type Ia supernovae continue to elude our complete understanding. However, in the last two decades, advancements in theoretical models and extensive all-sky surveys have enhanced our knowledge of Type Ia supernovae. In this talk, we will explore how the new leading theoretical explosion models can be used to understand the zoo of potential Type Ia transients.
Bio – Toby Rodel: After growing up in Nottingham, Toby completed a BSc in Physics in 2022 and an MSc by research in late 2023 - both at the University of Warwick. Recently he moved to Belfast to pursue a PhD in Astrophysics at Queen's University Belfast. Their research focusses on the discovery of exoplanets - planets outside of our own solar system - using the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) and Next Generation Transit Survey (NGTS) telescopes. They have a particular interest in harder to find long-period and/or low-density exoplanets.
Talk Synopsis: The study of exoplanets (planets outside the solar system) is one of the newest and fastest developing fields in astronomy with over 5000 confirmed discoveries in just over 30 years. But how did we get here? This talk will cover the history of exoplanets, following the development of ideas from the ancient Greeks through early enlightenment astronomy to the first discoveries in the 1990s before finishing with a look at the future of the field.
2. Astronomy outreach event, 17 February, LNDC for NISF: 16,00 to 20.00.
As usual, we will have Stardome shows, observing (Jupiter and a nice First Quarter Moon) if clear, displays of telescopes and meteorites etc. More details soon.
3. January Sky Guide: This very helpful guide, produced by Paul Evans and Sinead Mannion, is available free at: Spotify
https://open.spotify.com/episode/5TXIFMjI6NdDX2KfOipudD?si=i82-ZfgyS52Y5eHXKmzuPQ and
Apple Podcasts
https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/cosmic-corner/id1705184817?i=1000640223436
4. ISS. The ISS started a new series of evening passes on 16 January.
5. VENUS
Is still currently visible as a morning star, low in the SE just before dawn, but it's gradually sinking into the morning twilight.
6. Astronomy Calendar now available online
John Flannery has now got his new 2024 astronomy calendar completed and it's now available online free as a 2.5Mb pdf download at tinyurl.com/3ytt2v55.
Thanks John – great work as always!
7. SATURN – Catch it while you can.
Saturn is in Aquarius, now sinking into the evening twilight, now faded to mag 0.9 The rings are now closing rapidly from our perspective, with an angle of only about 9 degrees, which explains why it's no longer so bright when at opposition. The apparent diameter is 15.7." equatorial, and 14.1" polar, which shows that the disc is noticeably oblate. The rings have a diameter of 35.7", but only 5.2" on the minor axis. Of the satellites, Titan is very easy, and Rhea is usually visible even in a small telescope. The other satellites are now too faint to see easily in most telescopes, but they 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.
8. JUPITER still dominates the sky!
Our largest planet 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 for observing as soon as the sky darkens, in Aries, and at mag -2.5 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. AOP; Stargazing evening, 26 January. 6.30 - 9.00 pm, Book now, via their website.
10. Galway Astronomy Festival: Saturday 27 January 2024. Venue: the Menlo Park Hotel. Menlo Hotel are allowing attendee's a discounted rate for the Sat night of the festival but it's not possible to book it online, so see below the info that hotel sent out to us and you also need to say you are booking for the AstroFest.
You can book a 1 night stay with us by booking directly over the phone 091-761122 or by email reservations@menloparkhotel.com or info@menloparkhotel.com for Saturday 27th January.
We can offer the rate with a discount included Single room €145.00 bed & breakfast, double or twin room €165.00 bed & breakfast.
11. N.I. Science Festival 15 – 25 February – various events and venues.
12. Send your name to the Moon: Thanks to Derek Heatly for this: You can send your name to the Moon via NASA's VIPER Mission: www.nasa.gov/send-your-name-with-viper VIPER is the next lunar rover going to the Moon's South Pole. The offer lasts until March 15.
13. IRISH ASTRONOMY WEEK: March 9-16, 2024. More details later
14. COSMOS STAR PARTY, 23 March, at Clonown Rovers FC, Teach Leatha, Lea Berg, Blue Ball, Co Offaly. More details soon.
15. 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 – 28 June 2024, in-person at Cité de l'espace, Toulouse, France and online.
16. EASY TEASER:
What won't happen in 2037?
Clue: It's something that usually happens regularly.
17. DIFFICULT TEASER – More or less answered!!!
Q. What have the constellations Lepus and Apus uniquely got in common? Lindsay Green (a several-times previous winner) has got this almost right, but I'll leave it open for another while in case anyone gets it completely right.
OK, no other answers, so I'll give it to Lindsay – well done again! The answer is: The genitive form is longer than the nominative.
A. There are 18 (out of 88) constellation names ending in -us, for which the rule is that the genitive is shorter than the nominative (normal) form, e.g. Taurus – Tauri; Cygnus - Cygni; Thus Aldebaran is Alpha Tauri, and Albireo is Beta Cygni. Others are Centaurus, Cepheus, Cetus, Circinus, Corvus, Delphinus, Equuleus, Eridanus, Hydrus, Ophiuchus, Pegasus, Perseus, Sagittarius and Scorpius. EXCEPT for Lepus and Apus, for which the genitives are: Leporis and Apodis, the only two constellations where the genitive is longer than the nominative.
18. NEW DIFFICULT TEASER
What's next in the sequence 89, 13, 95, 51 ?
19. 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.
ARCHAEOASTRONOMY:
Archaeologists stunned by discovery of European megalith 2,000 years older than Stonehenge (msn.com) w
Ancient carved map of sky from 2,500 years ago contains mystery star that isn't on records (msn.com)
ASTROPHYSICS:
Giant Ultrafaint Galaxy Could Offer Dark Matter Clues | Scientific American
Mysterious new object found in Milky Way could unlock secrets of black holes (msn.com)
Astronomers discover a mysterious object in the Milky Way (msn.com)
'Barbenheimer Star' that blew up 13 billion years ago defies explanation, baffling scientists (msn.com)
NASA picks up mysterious signal from outside our galaxy (msn.com)
Early galaxies were shaped like surfboards and pool noodles, James Webb Space Telescope finds (msn.com)
Strange, unidentified object spotted in our galaxy (msn.com)
Astronomers detect oldest black hole ever observed – study (msn.com)
Ancient universe relic: most sensitive radio image of star relic captured by astronomers (msn.com)
Bizarre Galaxy Discovered With Seemingly No Stars Whatsoever : ScienceAlert This is fascinating. It's in Auriga, at R.A. 06h 13m, Dec N52 deg, and the bright blue star which is in the centre of the area where the galaxy lies is Tycho 3387-471-1; it's mag 7.4. The spectrum is actually F2, so it's yellow rather than blue as shown here. It would be a challenge for anyone here to image it! For comparison, the faintest stars shown in that photo are about mag 16.
Hubble tracks farthest and most powerful fast radio burst back to 'blob' of 7 galaxies (msn.com)
Discovery of gargantuan ring structure 'challenges understanding of universe' (msn.com)
James Webb Space Telescope Discovers Mysterious Methane Glow on Cold Brown Dwarf (msn.com)
EARTH & MOON
Not dead yet: Japan prepares for possible recovery of SLIM moon lander (msn.com)
Space mysteries: Why do Earth's magnetic poles flip? (msn.com)
Earth's water might have come from ancient space rocks, meteorite discovery suggests (msn.com)Hassell designs inflatable moon base for the European Space Agency (msn.com)
Nasa hit by giant step backwards as moon landing pushed back by years over 'concerns' (msn.com) EXOPLANETS:James Webb telescope spots bizarre 'cat tail' flowing out of nearby star, and scientists can't fully explain it (msn.com)Dozens of new planets spark major breakthrough in search for alien life (msn.com) This huge exoplanet's comet-like tail is 350,000 miles long and scientists are thrilled (msn.com) Nearby exoplanet may be rich in life-giving water, study finds (msn.com) IMAGES:New image of supermassive M87 galaxy black hole released (msn.com) SOLAR SYSTEM Massive subsurface frozen sea discovered on Mars (msn.com)Ingenious Flying Robot Phones Home From Mars (marsdaily.com)Mars Express unveils potential water resource for future Mars missions at equator (marsdaily.com)Nasa has finally cracked its way into $1 billion asteroid sample (msn.com)If life exists on Mars, don't count on sample-return missions to find it, scientists say (msn.com) Scientists discover that tabletop condiment is key to planetary features (msn.com) How giant impacts shaped the formation of the solar system's planets | Space SETIChina ramps up search for alien life as Beijing attempts to make first contact (msn.com)SETI scientists begin huge new hunt for intelligent aliens | Space SPACE Mars Express unveils potential water resource for future Mars missions at equator (marsdaily.com)
If life exists on Mars, don't count on sample-return missions to find it, scientists say (msn.com)
SpaceX Launches First All-European Commercial Crew to Space Station | Watch (msn.com)
Hassell designs inflatable moon base for the European Space Agency (msn.com)
Peregrine moon lander aims for 'safe' crash into Earth on Jan. 18 | Space and
Nasa's moon lander now rapidly plunging towards Earth after mission failure (msn.com)
NASA Selects Bold Proposal to "Swarm" Proxima Centauri with Tiny Probes - Universe Today
Watch a gigantic 'slingshot' hurl a satellite into the stratosphere (msn.com)
NASA awards another $100 million for private space stations (msn.com)
Nasa hit by giant step backwards as moon landing pushed back by years over 'concerns' (msn.com)
20. 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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