April 2006 - astronomy@lists.redbrick.dcu.ie

[Astronomy Ireland] Star-B-Q on! I.S.S. passes in front of Mars & Saturn!
by Astronomy Ireland 28 Apr '06

28 Apr '06

1. Astronomy Ireland's STAR-B-Q ***WILL*** go ahead this evening Friday April 28 with good clear skies forecast. The location is the GAA grounds 500 metres outside Roundwood village on the road heading to Glendalough. Gates open at 8pm with the event officially beginning at 9pm when the event kicks off with the first talk of the evening (at 9pm) and food will start being served then also. PLEASE DO NOT call our office and Shop today as we will be too busy organising the event to deal with anything other than emergencies. More details, a map to the venue, etc are on the Star-B-Q page on our website www.astronomy.ie With the new Comet, Mars, Saturn, Jupiter, talks, demos, galaxies, star clusters, nebulae, I.S.S. blazing over, telescopes galore and hot food, it should be an incredible night. Thank you for supporting our fund-raising barbecue under the stars. 2. The International Space Station continues to blaze across the sky and will do so every evening until May 5. Tonight is a special night as from Bear Island in Bantry Bay to Clonakilty on the south coast of Cork you will see I.S.S. pass in front of the planet Mars. Even more spectacularly, everyone watching from a line from Galway city to Bray on the south side of Dublin city will get to see I.S.S. pass in front of the planet Saturn! These are extremely rare events so tell everyone you know and email observe(a)astronomy.ie with what you see (send any photos there too). The predicted time is 10:34pm. For the times to see I.S.S. every night until May 5th next week call 1550-111-442 after 12 noon each day (09001 88 1950 from N.Ireland and Britain). We'll also tell you where you need to be to see I.S.S. pass in front Saturn, Mars and maybe even Jupiter and the Moon in the coming days! P.S. note the Shop will be closed at 5pm today as we're all off to the Star-B-Q now, hope to see you all there with your friends and family! -------------------------------------------- Astronomy Ireland (01) 847 0777 SUPPORT IRELAND'S BIGGEST TELESCOPE SHOP (open til 9pm Thurs & Fri) ( FREE delivery nationwide. FREE advice. 01-847 0777 Mon-Sat incl)

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[Astronomy Ireland] Funding for Irish students at Intl Space University
by Astronomy Ireland 26 Apr '06

26 Apr '06

[Here's one for EVERYONE in Ireland - well students anywhere in Ireland anyway!] Dear David/Astronomy Ireland I'm not sure if you remember me, but I gave the talk on the SpaceShip One launch at the 2004 Astrofest in DCU. I was hoping you could do me a favour, and bring the following opportunity to the attention of your members. If you have a mailing list for them, then ideally if you could send this out on the list, or if not mention it at the next meeting: It's a course I did last summer at the International Space University - they offer a summer programme which is really very interdisciplinary, covering engineering, science, business and policy aspects of space exploration. See below for the full blurb. There's funding put aside for 2 or 3 Irish students each year, but so far they've got no applications from Ireland. It is not well known about in Ireland, so I doubt many students have heard of it. But it's a great programme and I would highly recommend it. Many thanks, Paul Reilly ISU Summer Session Programme, 2006 ----------------------------------- The International Space University (ISU) in Strasbourg, France has a number of places for Irish students still available on it's Summer Session Programme (SSP), which will take place from 1st July to 2nd September 2006. I was a student at the SSP '05 in Vancouver, Canada, and I would highly recommend the programme to others. Here's a little more information about it: The ISU offers an international, intercultural and interdisciplinary programme covering all aspects of space exploration from space engineering (vehicle design, robotics) to life sciences (physiological responses to zero gravity) to politics + law (Outer space treaties, geostationary orbital slots) to business and management (venture captital, space tourism) and even philosophy. You will be taught by some of the leading experts in the field. For example, in the 2005 SSP we were taught robotics by engineers from NASA's JPL robotics group - the same group who built the Spirit and Opportunity rovers which are currently on Mars. We were taught space engineering by a russian engineer who heldped design the russian space shuttle. We were taught all about the the body's reaction to zero gravity (cardiovascular system, vestibular systems) by a NASA flight surgeon. Following the core lecture module, students then undertake a 5 week team project on a specific topic. In 2005 the projects were on Near Earth Objects and Robotic Exploration of Venus. The Team Project topics for the 2006 Summer Session Programme are on TP1 - Nanotechnolgy TP2 - Artificial Life The programme also includes professional visits to local space industry and research insititutes, and weekly panel discussions by invited speakers. The SSP brings together about 100 students from all over the world for an intensive 9 week programme. The programme is full board, so accomodation and food is included. You will eat, sleep and work together for the duration of the programme. It is a lot of hard work (lectures begin at 8am) but it is also a lot of fun, and you will get to know some amazing people and make good friends. This year's SSP takes place in Strasbourg - a pretty little French town on the river Rhine bordering Germany. The SSP will no doubt feature some trips to the surrounding wine region. Strasbourg is home to many European intitutions including the council of Europe and the European Parliament. To find out more about the ISU and the SSP, check out the programme here: http://www.isunet.edu/EN/214 Funding is available for 2 or 3 Irish students from ESA and Enterprise Ireland. The closing date is 1st May, so if you are interested you should apply as soon as possible. If you have any questions about the SSP, or need any advice on how to apply for funding, feel free to contact me. Paul Reilly paul(a)astropaul.com -------------------------------------------- Astronomy Ireland (01) 847 0777 SUPPORT IRELAND'S BIGGEST TELESCOPE SHOP (open til 9pm Thurs & Fri) ( FREE delivery nationwide. FREE advice. 01-847 0777 Mon-Sat incl)

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[Astronomy Ireland] I.S.S., TCD Lecture, Cork Meeting, Star-B-Q weather prospects good!
by Astronomy Ireland 26 Apr '06

26 Apr '06

1. The International Space Station will blaze across Irish skies every night this week and next week until May 5th. It looks like the brightest 'star' in the sky for the 1 or 2 minutes that it takes to cross the sky travelling, as it does at 28,000 km/hour On board I.S.S. are two astronauts, Pavel Vinogradov and Jeffrey Williams. They will stay on board for 2 months having arrived on March 31st for a 6 month tour of duty that will see them make two space walks and welcome two space shuttle flights. The time to see I.S.S. every evening until May 5th is different every night so we will update our premium rate Newsline each day with the exact time to go out and watch and other details. (Not everyone has access to the net so we still do it this way! It's only a short call and the minor proceeds we receive help us promote astronomy in Ireland anyway): Call 1550-111-442 (calls cost 95 cent per minute from landlines) each day after 12 noon for the time to watch that evening. (call 09001 88 1950 in U.K. for 60p/min) As seen from Ireland I.S.S. will pass very close to bright planets in the sky this time round and the Newsline will tell you where you need to be to see this. I.S.S. looks like an extremely bright star in the sky for just 1 or 2 minutes. It's so bright you don't need to know where to look, just go outdoors at the time given on the Newsline and you' will not miss it. See the I.S.S. page (left hand menu) on our website for background info on I.S.S. www.astronomy.ie 2. The following talk organised by Prof Petros Florides and John Stalker from Trinity College Dublin should be a very good talk. I'll be there! (Sorry it's in Dublin but that is beyond AI's control - see Cork event next!) THE EIGHTH J L SYNGE PUBLIC LECTURE entitled GRAVITATIONAL WAVES: GEOMETRY IN MOTION by Professor BERNARD SCHUTZ (Director of Astrophysical Relativity at the Albert Einstein Institute of the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics, Potsdam) The MacNeill Lecture Theatre 3, Hamilton Building, Trinity College, Tuesday, 2nd May, 2006, at 8.00 p.m. Petros kindly notes "Any member of Astronomy Ireland would, of course, be welcome to attend the lecture." 3. Cork Astronomy Meeting The next ASGI (Astronomical Science Group of Ireland) meeting will take place in University College Cork on May 3rd and 4th. Details at http://astro.ucc.ie/asgi2006spring/ This event will be of great interest to anyone interested in studying astronomy, especially those already at third level. While ASGI events are primarily aimed at serious researchers, amateurs such as most Astronomy Ireland members (AI is a paying member of ASGI) are welcome as long as the research nature of the event is respected (i.e. you're welcome to sit in and watch). 4. Star-B-Q The annual "barbecue under the stars" for everyone in Ireland - fun, food, talks and see the wonders of the universe up close. See the new comet first! (due to reach naked eye visibility next week - see May issue of our magazine www.astronomy.ie/sub) See Mars, Saturn and Jupiter up close in powerful telescopes. All the food and soft drinks you can eat. It's Ireland's largest annual gathering of telescopes for the general public! So don't miss it! I.S.S. will blaze over that night, passing very close to Saturn as it does! The weather forecast looks good for Friday, so remember you must book tickets in advance Joins lots of others who have already booked and go to www.astronomy.ie to book before Friday! -------------------------------------------- Astronomy Ireland (01) 847 0777 SUPPORT IRELAND'S BIGGEST TELESCOPE SHOP (open til 9pm Thurs & Fri) ( FREE delivery nationwide. FREE advice. 01-847 0777 Mon-Sat incl)

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[Astronomy Ireland] Re: Astronomy Dublin
by Astronomy Ireland 20 Apr '06

20 Apr '06

[This is not the sort of email we normally send to our mailing list but I thought I would share it with you once off. More 'astronomical' coming soon, what with the I.S.S. due next week and that naked eye comet that is featuring at the Star-B-Q! - David Moore, Chairman A.I.] ----- Original Message ----- From: "John O Sullivan" <mercuryboy(a)hotmail.com> To: <info(a)astronomy.ie> Sent: Thursday, April 20, 2006 11:36 AM Subject: Astronomy Dublin > Why do you call your organisation Astronomy Ireland when in fact it should > be called Astronomy Dublin. I joined in January, but since I don't live in > the capital I don't get to enjoy any of the lectures, open events, etc. > > I won't be joining again next year. > > John O Sullivan Hi John, Thank you for your letter which raises an issue that I always tell our large volunteer force is one of the most important aspects of the society, and one that we can never address sufficiently. It is an ongoing problem for us, but we address the 'national' issue in the following ways, and I want you to know that we take it very seriously. I often think we should tell the members these 'internal issues' more often: The main 'cost' of membership is producing and posting the magazine - everyone in Ireland gets this at the same time. We have about a dozen branches around Ireland (you should have got a list when you joined?). The Dublin branch (having over 1 million people in its catchment area) is obviously the largest and so organises regular MONTHLY meetings. Cork is next, the next meeting there in June. We also ask any members in Ireland to start up a Branch in their area and we will assist them. As AI grows in size we are planning to put much more money in to this venture. Every time we run a 'viewing event' in Dublin's Phoenix Park we ask all of our Branches to run an event in their area in conjunction with the Dublin Branch, and most do, so we had dozens of such events last year all around Ireland for instance (see our website for details and reports in the magazine). All the Dublin events raise funds (admission charges etc) and this reduces the full cost of membership (estimated to be approx 100euro a year) to the 40euro we charge. And, not all events run in Dublin. Our last big event was in Turkey! (eclipse trip - some people even came in from the UK for that one!) Our next big event is in county Wicklow (again I know of 1 person flying in from UK for this). People come from all around Ireland for Star-B-Q each year. As for the Dublin lectures, several (Dublin) volunteers go to the effort of video taping and producing DVDs of the lectures, at roughly the same cost of admission (but of course u then have a permanent copy of the DVD which the 'dubs' do not). A lot of work we do is promoting interest in astronomy. I must do 500 interviews with the media each year about astronomical events, and most of these are for local radio stations and the national media i.e. not Dublin specific. Our weekly radio show can be heard on the internet live anywhere in the world, and we have go to a lot of trouble to put the show recordings online on our website (the online archive goes back over a year now) so every member nationwide can get a huge amount of very up to date information every week. Of course, our emailing list goes out to everyone in Ireland. I give lectures all around Ireland and welcome the opportunity to do so as I enjoy travelling this island. I think that's a reasonably impressive list, especially for the relatively small budget that Astronomy Ireland has to work with. It's just off the top of my head. There's much more. We always stress at planning meetings that we need to keep in mind the 70% of our members that do NOT live in Dublin and keep thinking of what more we can do for them. We are open, and I mean VERY open, to further suggestions that you may have? Your own personal circumstances may not allow you to give much time to organising things, but if you would like to organise a local Branch in your area then we would like to help you do this. In the meantime I hope you enjoy the magazine each month, it is, after all, the main 'product' that your membership is paying for. Thank you for writing, I will be passing on your letter to everyone involved in the running of Astronomy Ireland so we can expand our activities even further. It is not an easy issue to address as Ireland has the lowest population density of any E.U. country, and most of them are in the Dublin area, meaning the rest of our members are very scattered making it harder to organise events in everyone's home town, but we will still try our hardest to do this rest assured. In the meantime, we really do need your support if we are to make a difference nationwide, so I hope you will re-consider and stay with us next year, helping in any way that you can. We always need more members so please send people (be they new members or lapsed members) to www.astronomy.ie/sub or call (01) 847 0777. Regards and clear skies, ===== David Moore BSc FRAS, Chairman, Astronomy Ireland, P.O.Box 2888, Dublin 5. Editor, "Astronomy & Space" magazine. ASTRONOMY SHOP: open Mon.-Sat. and late nite Thu&Fri til 9pm Tel (01) 847 0777. Fax (01) 847 0771. www.astronomy.ie (Subscribe to AI's FREE emailing list) info(a)astronomy.ie

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[Astronomy Ireland] Star-B-Q next week!
by Astronomy Ireland 20 Apr '06

20 Apr '06

Ireland's biggest annual star-gazing event "Star-B-Q" takes place next week, April 28/29 (Fri/Sat) Ireland's largest portable telescope, the 21-inch diameter Millennium Telescope will be there, and loads more. See Jupiter with its moons and cloud belts (Mars and Saturn too) and the wonders of the universe. TWO special attractions will be: 1. The comet due to reach naked eye visibility (see our May magazine) Comet SW3 - don't miss this! 2. The International Space Station will blaze across the sky There will be loads of talks, demos, etc - see www.astronomy.ie for more details. Hot food served all night from our barbecue at 1,000 feet above sea level in the dark skies of the mountains just south of Dublin Nowhere else in the world do the general public get to see through such large telescope in a dark sky! Please Book tickets now for our annual fund raiser and support Astronomy Ireland: www.astronomy.ie or call (01) 847 0777 Mon-Sat (please forward this email on to everyone you know - thank you)

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[Astronomy Ireland] Public Lecture Monday April 10, Eclipse Trip, Star-B-Q
by Astronomy Ireland 07 Apr '06

07 Apr '06

1. PUBLIC LECTURE Astronomy Ireland's April Public Lecture will take place in Dublin City University at 8pm on Monday April 10 Dr. Brian Espey (from Trinity College Dublin) will give the lecture: "Star Death: Cosmic Pollution and Cosmic Recycling" Dr Espey writes: Where did the Sun come from? What will happen when it dies? Where does most of the material in the interstellar medium come from? If you thought that supernovae were the answer to all of the above, then you're missing out on the detail. It is, in fact, the more humble stars with masses similar to that of our Sun that account for the bulk of the material in the interstellar medium and for the majority of the elements so essential to life (the carbon, nitrogen, oxygen etc.). I shall show that the different lifestyles pursued by stars are determined by their initial masses and illustrate, with examples, their different endpoints. I shall show that some forms of pollution are beneficial and lead to recycled material such as you and me! Further details (including maps, buses etc) are at: www.astronomy.ie/lecture0604.html As a service to those outside the Leinster area, a DVD of this talk will be made. Please order it at www.astronomy.ie/lectureDVD.html after the lecture takes place. 2. Eclipse Trip Our trip to Turkey to see the Total Eclipse of the Sun on March 29 was a huge success with clear skies giving amazing views of this incredible spectacle. Images of the eclipse, and the trip, are being regularly added to our website. There are dozens of images already online documenting the trip Please check www.astronomy.ie every day over the next few weeks. This is the BIGGEST EVENT that Astronomy Ireland has ever organised, and the eclipse did not disappoint. If you were on the trip, please send your images and comments to eclipse(a)astronomy.ie 3. STAR-B-Q Our next MAJOR EVENT is our annual barbecue under the stars with Ireland's most powerful telescopes in the dark skies of County Wicklow. Book your tickets now for Ireland's biggest annual telescope-get-together "Star-B-Q" at www.astronomy.ie/sbqapr06.html Astronomy Ireland www.astronomy.ie Call our Shop on (01) 847 0777 Monday to Saturday

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