Don't forget the social, astronomical, pyrotechnic, ballistic and culinary event of the year: the IAA + friends trip to Greencastle Planetarium for a starshow, rocket-launching, and BBQ.
Our midsummer event this year is an extra special treat! Those of you who have met or heard Ash McFadden, the Greencastle Planetarium Director and chief rocket launcher, will know that a visit there during the summer for a show and watching or taking part in the rocket launching is a real treat. (BTW, these are REAL rockets, not compressed air or water. The big one can go up to over 20,000 feet, although most launches are 'only' to about 2-3,000 feet.) The fun part is the egg-lofting competition, whereby you make your own rocket, from a kit which you buy from the Planetarium, and design it so that it will launch, and land with a parachute, a standard raw egg (supplied). The rocket that goes highest, and lands the egg intact afterwards, wins. If by any chance the weather is too bad for rocket launching, which is VERY unlikely, Ash has promised us a free laser light show (in which he specialises) in the planetarium.
Well, we're doing even better than that: we'll have a special show in the Planetarium, plus it will be exclusively open for us that day, and after the rocket launching that afternoon, Ash has invited us all to have our midsummer BBQ either at the Planetarium or at his house afterwards! Ash lives in a lovely location overlooking Kinnagoe Bay in Inishowen, a few miles from Greencastle, and has great outdoor BBQ facilities.
The Planetarium show will be at 13.00; that will be followed by the rocket launching etc. To allow time to look around the Planetarium and the Maritime Museum, of which it is part, we will aim to meet there no later than noon. More details on that later.
Our normal BBQ rules apply - no charge, you just bring ALL your own stuff for eating, drinking etc: we + Ash will supply the heat for the cooking.
There is of course a charge for the Planetarium show, and places are limited by the size of the Planetarium, so you MUST book a place by sending a cheque for £7.00 payable to the IAA to our Treasurer, John Hall, 3 Vaddegan Avenue, Newtownabbey, Co Antrim, BT36 7SP, ASAP!
TRANSPORT: There was not a big demand for the minibus, and in any case there were complications with getting insurance for the school's minibus in ROI, so we have decided not to bother with that. Instead we will try to facilitate car sharing.
PLEASE LET ME KNOW BY RETURN AS FOLLOWS:
1. If you are going and need a lift: state your location, and number of seats required.
2. If you are going and can offer a lift: state your location, and number of seats offered.
3. IN BOTH CASES, state whether you are staying over on the Sunday night, or whether you wish to return home, and if so what is roughly your preferred return departure time (allow roughly 1.5 - 2 hours to get back to Belfast.
You may of course make your own way there if you wish.
NB, It's not a big planetarium, and places are limited, so book now - first come, first served!
IAA News by Terry Moseley
Friday, 8 June 2007
Space in Art exhibition 2007
FROM DEIRDRE KELLEGHER: Announcing 50 years of Space Celebration early October 2007. As part of the IAS celebration of its 70 years involvement in Irish Astronomy, I am organising a Space Art Competition/Exhibition to be held in Gonzaga College Dublin. If you are a teacher, or are involved with a youth group here are the details.
I would like drawings, paintings, sketches, of spacecraft/planets/moons/ whatever you can do best, or models of spacecraft for the exhibition, all works to be with me by September 30th or earlier if possible.
You can spark the interest before school finishes for the summer and really go for it when school returns in September. Planets, Sputnik, Apollo, Mars Rovers, Cassini indeed any and all spacecraft or heavenly bodies are welcome in any art medium. All ages, all abilities
Send to our PO Box 2547 Dublin 14 or contact me at ias1937@hotmail.com for further information. I would like young people to explore the exploration of space through art and celebrate these wonderful robot explorers and the fabulous work they have done and are doing in space . Human space exploration celebration art would also be wonderful, ideally you would bring your work to Gonzaga and collect it afterwards if you wish it returned
We will have several talks on Space and Space exploration at this event, details to follow later as it all gels together .
Send me an e mail if you intend to take part or if you have any contribution to make in organising or helping us out with this: skysketcher@gmail.com
I would like drawings, paintings, sketches, of spacecraft/planets/moons/ whatever you can do best, or models of spacecraft for the exhibition, all works to be with me by September 30th or earlier if possible.
You can spark the interest before school finishes for the summer and really go for it when school returns in September. Planets, Sputnik, Apollo, Mars Rovers, Cassini indeed any and all spacecraft or heavenly bodies are welcome in any art medium. All ages, all abilities
Send to our PO Box 2547 Dublin 14 or contact me at ias1937@hotmail.com for further information. I would like young people to explore the exploration of space through art and celebrate these wonderful robot explorers and the fabulous work they have done and are doing in space . Human space exploration celebration art would also be wonderful, ideally you would bring your work to Gonzaga and collect it afterwards if you wish it returned
We will have several talks on Space and Space exploration at this event, details to follow later as it all gels together .
Send me an e mail if you intend to take part or if you have any contribution to make in organising or helping us out with this: skysketcher@gmail.com
Noctilucent Clouds
The short summer nights bring few benefits for the amateur astronomer, apart from the warmer temperatures of course.
But one is that this is the best time of year to see Noctilucent Clouds, or NLCs for short. 'Noctilucent' means 'night-shining', and these beautiful high-altitude clouds do indeed 'shine at night', often being at their best around local midnight, which in Ireland, allowing for Summer Time, is usually around 01.20 - 01.40 on your watch. But they can be seen any time from about 00.30 to 02.30, if the sky is dark enough, although very near local midnight the Sun may be just too far below the horizon to illuminate them all fully, especially for those living further South.
They are thought to be caused by ice crystals condensing on meteoric dust, i.e. the very fine dust left behind as meteors burn up on entry high up in the atmosphere, or possibly even just extremely fine particles 'wafting in' from space.
The reason that they can be seen is that they are so high up (about 80-85 km) that the Sun still illuminates them even when it is too far below the local horizon to illuminate ordinary tropospheric clouds. And this is the best time of year to see them because the Sun never dips very far below the N horizon, even at local midnight, giving the best conditions for seeing them. They can only be seen when the Sun is between 6 and 16 degrees below the horizon.
They appear low down near the N horizon, often in the vicinity of Capella, and appear as wispy silvery or sometimes bluish streaks, often parallel to the horizon. Some 'curls' and 'billows' are also occasionally visible. They can be seen anywhere in Ireland or Britain if you have a fairly clear N horizon, but because they occur mainly at latitudes of 60 degrees to 80 degrees, those in the far South don't see them as well or as often.
This year may have greater NLC activity than usual, because they are seen more often around sunspot minimum, so do have a look on clear evenings. They are quite easy to photograph, with exposures of 1" - 4" on 400 ISO film (or 2" to 8" on ISO 200 film, etc); or just experiment with your digital camera and see what you get with each trial. Successive photos over a period of half an hour or so may show changes in structure and motion.
Do not be fooled by ordinary wispy cirrus-type clouds visible late on a summer evening: the sky needs to be dark enough for you to see the first few brightest stars in order for NLCs to be properly visible.
But one is that this is the best time of year to see Noctilucent Clouds, or NLCs for short. 'Noctilucent' means 'night-shining', and these beautiful high-altitude clouds do indeed 'shine at night', often being at their best around local midnight, which in Ireland, allowing for Summer Time, is usually around 01.20 - 01.40 on your watch. But they can be seen any time from about 00.30 to 02.30, if the sky is dark enough, although very near local midnight the Sun may be just too far below the horizon to illuminate them all fully, especially for those living further South.
They are thought to be caused by ice crystals condensing on meteoric dust, i.e. the very fine dust left behind as meteors burn up on entry high up in the atmosphere, or possibly even just extremely fine particles 'wafting in' from space.
The reason that they can be seen is that they are so high up (about 80-85 km) that the Sun still illuminates them even when it is too far below the local horizon to illuminate ordinary tropospheric clouds. And this is the best time of year to see them because the Sun never dips very far below the N horizon, even at local midnight, giving the best conditions for seeing them. They can only be seen when the Sun is between 6 and 16 degrees below the horizon.
They appear low down near the N horizon, often in the vicinity of Capella, and appear as wispy silvery or sometimes bluish streaks, often parallel to the horizon. Some 'curls' and 'billows' are also occasionally visible. They can be seen anywhere in Ireland or Britain if you have a fairly clear N horizon, but because they occur mainly at latitudes of 60 degrees to 80 degrees, those in the far South don't see them as well or as often.
This year may have greater NLC activity than usual, because they are seen more often around sunspot minimum, so do have a look on clear evenings. They are quite easy to photograph, with exposures of 1" - 4" on 400 ISO film (or 2" to 8" on ISO 200 film, etc); or just experiment with your digital camera and see what you get with each trial. Successive photos over a period of half an hour or so may show changes in structure and motion.
Do not be fooled by ordinary wispy cirrus-type clouds visible late on a summer evening: the sky needs to be dark enough for you to see the first few brightest stars in order for NLCs to be properly visible.
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