Hi all,
Please note: send all correspondence to me only at: terrymosel@aol.com
1. IAA LECTURE, Wed 7 February, 7.30 p.m. Dr Laura Scott, Armagh Observatory & Planetarium: "Heavy Metal Stars"
SYNOPSIS:
Most stars are made of hydrogen and helium, with only tiny amounts of other elements. The 'heavy metal stars' are different - their atmospheres appear to be enriched in exotic heavy elements such as lead, zirconium and others. I will explain how the heavy metal stars differ from the norm, and what causes these elements to accumulate in their atmospheres.
Biography:
Laua is from England and did her masters in astrophysics at the University of Birmingham, before moving to Keele to do a PhD on convection in massive stars. Now she lives in Armagh and works at the Observatory, researching stellar atmospheres.
VENUE: Larmor Lecture Theatre, Astrophysics Research Centre, Physics Building, QUB.
Admission free, including light refreshments, All welcome.
2. Astronomy outreach event, 17 February, LNDC for NISF: 16,00 to 20.00.
Unfortunately, for various reasons, this event has had to be cancelled.
3. February Sky Guide: This very helpful guide is available free at: Spotify & Apple podcasts
What's in the Night Sky for February? Cosmic Corner is presented by Paul Evans, Sinéad Mannion, and Graham Sales. Highlights for February's podcast include details on upcoming Irish Astronomy Week, more on irishastronomyweek.ie, see dancing morning planets in our winter sky, Orion is still on display, Paul tells us about the Artemis slippage and find out how this week is historically a sad week for NASA. We discuss the sad demise of Ingenuity but how much it achieved going beyond its initial remit. Finally, Paul makes us super jealous of his new toy, the Seestar S50. ... Keep Looking Up!... Paul, Graham & Sinéad
Spotify https://open.spotify.com/episode/23Ind8R5DzZAqnKVz4C1d1?si=NfskWAtrTtOQiCIjqp45lg
Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/cosmic-corner/id1705184817?i=1000643912445
4. ISS. The ISS will star a new series of morning passes on 17 February
5. VENUS
Is still just visible as a morning star, low in the SE just before dawn, but it's quickly 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 – last chance!
Saturn is still just visible low in the West after subset, but will soon be lost in the evening twilight,
8. JUPITER still dominates the sky!
Our largest planet is still by far the brightest starlike object in the evening sky. It's high enough up in the South as soon as the sky darkens, in Aries, at mag -2.3. 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. The Moon will pass close by it on the evenings of `4 & 15 Februiary
9. N.I. Science Festival 15 – 25 February – various events and venues.
10. 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.
11. IRISH ASTRONOMY WEEK: March 9-16, 2024. Organised by Ronan Newman, the first event last year was very successful!
Various events throughout the whole island. More details later.
This event does not run itself, so please help by making a donation via the new go fund me page https://gofund.me/a5b22223
12. COSMOS STAR PARTY, 23 March, at Clonown Rovers FC, Teach Leatha, Lea Berg, Blue Ball, Co Offaly. More details soon.
13. 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.
14. EASY TEASER:
What won't happen in 2037?
Clue: It's something that usually happens regularly.
Another clue: It's connected to our calendar.
15. NEW DIFFICULT TEASER
What's next in the sequence 89, 13, 95, 51 ?
No answers yet, so I'll add one more, thus: 89, 13, 95, 51, 18 ….?
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:
Mystery radio signal https://www.facebook.com/share/c57tgQud926UcpGu/
A new look at Newton's Laws of motion. https://www.facebook.com/share/EKnxCG4guBBxamYx/ Something 'fishy' is happening with the Milky Way's dark matter halo (msn.com)
Mysterious new star that 'puffs out clouds of gas' discovered in the middle of our galaxy (msn.com)
Mission to detect cosmic ripples gets the green light (msn.com)
Huge stars are born as twins, triplets and more, new images confirm (msn.com)
A Star Cluster Is Born: NASA's Webb Telescope Captures Massive Space Discovery (msn.com)
Astronomers spot 'old smokers' and 'squalling newborns' among hidden stars (msn.com)
Oldest ever black hole discovered - and it dates back to the dawn of the universe (msn.com)
COSMOLOGY:
Mystery Solved: Antimatter Falls Downward Just Like Regular Matter (msn.com)
The universe might be younger than we think, galaxies' motion suggests (msn.com)
EARTH & MOON
SpaceX gearing up to launch private moon lander in February | SpaceMoon is actively shrinking and crumbling, scientists say (msn.com). The Earth must be doing the same, as it gradually loses the internal heat caused by the initial kinetic accretion energy, and the slowdown of radioactive decay.Japan says Moon lander 'resumed operations' after power restored (msn.com)Belgium signs Artemis Accords for responsible moon exploration | Space The moon could be perfect for cutting-edge telescopes — but not if we don't protect it (msn.com)Newly discovered asteroid the size of an airplane will have 'very close encounter' with Earth on Saturday — and you can watch it happen (msn.com) Japan's high-precision 'Moon Sniper' spacecraft hit its target, but it landed upside down (msn.com)On China's space station, scientists will study some of Earth's earliest organisms (msn.com) EXOPLANETS: An Earth twin: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/n9CLXxeZsJSCtmD2/
NASA finds 'super-Earth' 137 light-years away that could be a promising candidate for alien life (msn.com)Which telescope will be 1st to find alien life? Scientists have some ideas (msn.com)A Breakthrough in Exoplanetary Research: Hubble's Revelation of a Water-Bearing Exoplanet (msn.com) Astronomers find 85 possible planets which may be cool enough to sustain life (msn.com) IMAGES:The Best Images of Earth Taken From Space (msn.com) SOLAR SYSTEM How Haumea got its odd shape https://www.facebook.com/share/bqCbPKrcYDowYMKU/
Last Blast: NASA Releases Final Photo Taken by Mars Helicopter Above Red Planet Desert (msn.com)NASA's Perseverance rover confirms presence of ancient lake on Mars and it may hold clues to past life | SpaceMars helicopter will make no more flights after rotor damage – Nasa (msn.com) andNASA's Mars helicopter Ingenuity has flown its last flight after suffering rotor damage (msn.com)NASA Juno spacecraft picks up hints of activity on Jupiter's icy moon Europa (msn.com)Mars terraforming hopes boosted as NASA announces pioneering solar plane mission (msn.com) 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 US military gives Lockheed Martin $33.7 million to develop nuclear spacecraft | Space
China puts models of its future crewed moon landing spacecraft on display (video) | Space
SpaceX gearing up to launch private moon lander in February | Space
Mars terraforming hopes boosted as NASA announces pioneering solar plane mission (msn.com)
On China's space station, scientists will study some of Earth's earliest organisms (msn.com)
STARGAZING APPS:Best stargazing apps 2024: AR Apps and Virtual Star Maps | Space SUN1st-of-its-kind European spacecraft duo will create mini eclipses in space, transforming how we study the sun (msn.com)
TELESCOPES & EQUIPMENT
Chile's car-sized mega camera explores the universe (msn.com)
Which telescope will be 1st to find alien life? Scientists have some ideas (msn.com)
Mission to detect cosmic ripples gets the green light (msn.com)
The moon could be perfect for cutting-edge telescopes — but not if we don't protect it (msn.com)
17. 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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