February 2008 - astronomy@lists.redbrick.dcu.ie

[Astronomy Ireland] Patrick Moore, Moon Watches, Lights Out, SDAS, Armagh
by Astro Irl Director 29 Feb '08

29 Feb '08

1. Public Lecture: Shooting the Planets and Eclipse with Patrick Moore On Monday 10 March at 8pm in Trinity College Dublin, Astronomy Ireland's Carl O'Beirnes and Dave Grennan will report on their recent visit to Sir Patrick Moore to film an episode of The Sky at Night. This episode of the programme is scheduled for showing on BBC1 TV late on March 2 and on BBC 4 TV on March 3 at 8pm. This weekend's Sunday Tribune will also feature an article on Carl and Dave's trip and lecture. Carl and Dave will show us examples of their excellent photographic images of the eclipse, planets, galaxies and nebulae and how these images can be obtained using relatively modest equipment. Admission: 5 Euro (3euro to members and concessions) For those who cannot make it to the venue on the night a DVD will be produced for 5euro (order now on website below) Tickets are available at the door, on www.astronomy.ie or call Astronomy Ireland on (01) 847 0777 2. Nationwide Moon Watches On Wednesday 12 March we'll be running Moon Watches at various locations nationwide. The Moon will be very close to the Pleiades star cluster and its 32% sunlit crescent will be high in the sky so superb detail should be visible in a telescope along the terminator. Further details will be available soon on www.astronomy.ie and in subsequent emails. Let me know if you would like to run a Moon Watch in your area with your telescope. 3. Earth Hour The world wide campaign to turn out the lights for one hour on Saturday March 29th at 8 pm has been gathering support around Ireland. It is expected that many local authorities, government agencies, corporations and individuals will turn off non essential lighting for at least one hour. Environmentalists and astronomers are behind the idea and to take advantage of the potentially dark sky on the March 29th Astronomy Ireland are considering holding nationwide Star Watches that evening. Again, more details will be available on www.astronomy.ie if we go ahead with this. Also, please reply to this email if you would like to run an event with us. 4. SDAS The South Dublin Astronomical Society (SDAS) will hold their usual monthly meeting in Gonzaga College Ranelagh on Thursday March 6th at 8:00pm. Carl O'Beirnes from Astronomy Ireland (AI) will give a talk entitled "Imaging the Solar System". That man sure gets around. Admission is free and all are welcome. 5. Astronomical Science Group of Ireland (ASGI) Armagh is the venue for Ireland's professional astronomy body's Spring meeting to be held on Friday 14 March 14. Members of groups affiliated to ASGI (such as AI) are welcome to attend but please let the organisers know in advance. Note: The talks can be quite advanced and are not aimed at the general public. Email Joric at jsv(a)arm.ac.uk, or Aileen at ambn(a)arm.ac.uk for details. 6. Armagh Planetarium To mark their 40th anniversary this year Armagh Planetarium are having a bit of a 'do' on Saturday 8th March from 9:30 - 14:00. There will be short presentations and the premiere of "Mars Invaders", Armagh's first full-dome production show. Places are limited and available on first come first served basis. Email Naomi at naomi(a)armaghplanet.com for further details Astronomy Ireland www.astronomy.ie Ireland's Only Astronomy Magazine One of Europe's Biggest Telescope Shops Tel (01) 847 0777 Mon-Sat

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[Astronomy Ireland] Mother's Day Gift
by AI Secretary 26 Feb '08

26 Feb '08

Give that someone special the Sun, Moon and Stars this Mother's Day This Mother's Day Astronomy Ireland want you to give the special person in your life The Sun, Moon and Stars - not literally - but as close as one can get. Buy her a gift membership to Astronomy Ireland and she will delight in knowing that you care all year round, not just the one day. Gift membership includes a one year subscription to our full colour, monthly astronomy magazine. It is packed full of all the latest news and information from the astronomical world and has feature articles on missions, spacecraft and new discoveries, to name but a few. It also has monthly sky charts, a diary of what to see in the sky, International Space Station news and so much more. We will include your special greeting with their first magazine. Each issue is posted directly to the recipient monthly. You can also renew an expired membership and we will send a letter with the first magazine Subscribe online at www.astronomy.ie/sub and include your greeting in the comments box. Astronomy Ireland www.astronomy.ie Ireland's Only Astronomy Magazine One of Europe's Biggest Telescope Shops: Tel (01) 847 0777 Mon-Sat

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[Astronomy Ireland] DVD ready, Lectures, New Website+Eclipse+SpySat
by AI Secretary 20 Feb '08

20 Feb '08

1. DVD available - Was Einstein Right Or Wrong? LECTURE REPORT: World-leading gravitational wave astronomer Dr. Harry Ward of The Institute of Gravitational Research, University of Glasgow enthralled a packed lecture theatre on February 11th. Astronomy Ireland flew him in especially to present his lecture on "LISA" (Laser Interferometry Space Antenna) - A billion euro mission planned for 2012 which will detect gravitational waves in outer space.This mission will ultimately prove or disprove Einstein's general theory of relativity. LISA is a group of three separate spacecraft placed 5 million kilometres apart whose position is measured by lasers to an astonishing accuracy of a fraction of the width of an atom using the newest technologies. The LISA spacecraft will form a triangular shape and will be placed 50 million kilometres from Earth. Dr. Ward gave a fantastic presentation in which he described in great detail, the mission, its development and what it hopes to achieve, detecting black holes and other exotic mysteries of the universe. He dazzled the audience with pictures and even played the sound of a supermassive black hole consuming a giant star. Gravitational waves are going to revolutionise our understanding of the universe, Dr. Ward in this lecture explained how. This is an amazing lecture which we highly recommend you watch. RTE Radio 1's top rating "Mooney" show interviewed our speaker, read RTE's webpage HERE and listen to the interview HERE To order your DVD of this lecture for just 5 Euro plus 5 Euro P&P ORDER HERE 2. Two Stunning March Lectures & DVD's This coming March sees Astronomy Ireland holding two lectures. On Monday March 10th we have our very own Carl O'Beirnes and David Grennan present their lecture "Shooting The Eclipse With Sir. Patrick Moore". Carl and David have been invited to appear on the BBC's 'The Sky at Night' with Sir Patrick Moore for the second time. Their latest trip to Sir Patrick's home in West Sussex is set to coincide with the total lunar eclipse taking place on February 21st. David and Carl will finish the presentation with a report on the trip, filming and the eclipse. Go to www.astronomy.ie/lecture200803a.html for more information. On Sunday March 30th we are delighted to welcome Lars Lindbergh Christiansen, Head of Communications ESA/Hubble in Germany who will present his talk "Adventures with the Hubble Space Telescope" In this lecture he will talk about the incredible Hubble Space Telescope and how it has increased our knowledge of the Universe beyond expectations. Go to www.astronomy.ie/lecture200803.html for more information. Don't forget, everyone who attends the Hubble lecture or orders the Hubble lecture DVD will receive a FREE DVD titled "HUBBLE, 15 years of discovery" a truly delightful look at Hubble from the beginning to present day with stunning imagery and excellent narration. Book March 10th tickets HERE Book March 30th tickets HERE To order your DVD for just 5 Euro plus 5 Euro P&P ORDER HERE 3. NEW WEBSITE, ECLIPSE, SPY SAT We have changed the look of our website. Let us know what you think of it at comments(a)astronomy.ie ECLIPSE: Details of tonight's eclipse are still on our website. Please send your report and any photos to observe(a)astronomy.ie SPY SATELLITE: The U.S. military may shoot down the "USA 193" tonight while the eclipse is on. We'll keep you posted on a new webpage on www.astronomy.ie Astronomy Ireland www.astronomy.ie Ireland's Only Astronomy Magazine One of Europe's Biggest Telescope Shops: Tel (01) 847 0777 Mon-Sat

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[Astronomy Ireland] Major Lecture+DVD: Black Holes Einstein Big Bang, ISS+Shuttle, Eclipse
by AI Chairman 11 Feb '08

11 Feb '08

1. MAJOR PUBLIC LECTURE & DVD Hi, David Moore here, Chairman of Astronomy Ireland. I want to tell you about a very important event you should not miss: A few years ago Kip Thorne (America's answer to Stephen Hawking) gave a lecture in the RDS about Gravitational Wave Astronomy. He left the audience stunned that the plans to prove theories about the universe would be answered by major space and ground based missions. I was enthralled. It was as if every Nobel Prize would probably come from this area! Well almost. Tonight, Monday Feb 11 in Trinity College Dublin (Physics Building at 8pm) we have been given a large grant to bring in an amazing speaker all the way from Scotland to talk on this subject. This is no ordinary lecture so I wanted you all to be there. If you're in the Dublin area note that doors open at 7:30pm. If you're outside Dublin order the DVD (which you can keep) for the same price as a ticket(5euro): www.astronomy.ie/lecture200802.html See what Sky News said about the lecture here when they interviewed me: http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,91221-1304527,00.html Listen to our speaker on RTE RADIO 1 "Mooney Goes Wild" show: www.astronomy.ie/audio Our Speaker, Dr Harry Ward from the Institute for Gravitational Research (University of Glasgow, Scotland) was also on the Astronomy Ireland Radio Show (AIRS) last Tuesday: www.astronomy.ie/AIRS Click on Feb 5 and go 55 seconds into the recording! See you there, or order the DVD David Moore. 2. ISS and Shuttle Dock Atlantis docked with the International Space Station on Saturday to make the biggest man made object ever assembled in space - over 300 tonnes! You can get times to see them blaze across Irish skies as an extremely bright 'star' high up at various websites of text the word SPACE to 57003 and we'll send a reminder each day for 1euro (proceeds help us promote interest in astronomy so tell your friends). You can also call our Newsline each afternoon for the time to watch that evening: 1550-111-442 (costs 95cent/minute). 3. Total Eclipse of the Moon Feb 20/21 A special webpage has been set up on Astronomy Ireland's website for the last Total Eclipse of the Moon we will see from Ireland for 8 years. See www.astronomy.ie You should also order our February magazine (this week please so we can post it to you in time!) as souvenir of this beautiful event: www.astronomy.ie/sub Only costs 5 euro including P&P and proceeds help us promote interest in astronomy. Astronomy Ireland www.astronomy.ie Ireland's Only Astronomy Magazine One of Europe's Biggest Telescope Shops: Tel (01) 847 0777 Mon-Sat

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[Astronomy Ireland] Gravity, ISS, Valentines Day and Lunar Eclipse
by AI Director 08 Feb '08

08 Feb '08

1. Public Lecture: LISA - Gravity Wave Mission On Monday 11 Feb at 8pm in Trinity College Dublin, Dr. Harry Ward will present a public lecture about his work on Gravity Waves. Gravity as a form of wave energy was first proposed by Albert Einstein in his General Theory of Relativity. The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna, or LISA is a series of 3 spacecraft flying in a triangular formation 5 million kilometres apart and 50 million kilometres away from the influences of Earth gravity. The mission, an ESA and NASA collaboration, will be able to detect the motions of neutron stars, white dwarfs, ordinary stars, or black holes in our Galaxy, and the merging of black holes where distant galaxies have collided. These massive black holes are thought to exist in the centres of most galaxies and may be more than a million times the mass of our Sun. The answers to these questions may also help us understand if time has a beginning and an end and if space has edges. Dr. Harry Ward is a Senior Lecturer in Physics at the University of Glasgow. An experimental physicist, he has worked in the field of gravitational wave detection for over 30 years. After many years of contributing to the development of long-baseline ground-based instruments, he has moved over the last few years to working on interferometry developments aimed at LISA. He currently leads the Glasgow team responsible for building the flight model Optical Bench that is a key component of the LISA Pathfinder mission. For those who cannot make it to the venue on the night a DVD will be produced for 5euro (order now on website below) Details: Event: Astronomy Ireland Public Lecture "LISA - Gravitational Wave Mission" Date: 8pm February 11 (Monday) Venue: Physics Building, Trinity College Dublin (map on website) Admission: 5 Euro (3euro to members and concessions) Tickets are available at the door, or on www.astronomy.ie or call Astronomy Ireland on (01) 847 0777 2. International Space Station visible until Feb. 17 On board the ISS are 3 astronauts. The space shuttle Atlantis was launched towards the ISS yesterday with a crew of seven and the European Columbus Laboratory in the cargo hold. The laboratory will be attached to the space station over the next two weeks during a number of space walks. Tonight and tomorrow we should see the shuttle chase ISS across the sky. You do not need binoculars or telescope to see the ISS or Shuttle. You just need to look up at the right time. You can get predictions of the times when both spacecraft are visible on the Newsline or TEXT service. We're going to follow this story daily on our Newsline 1550-111-442 (calls cost 95cent/minute) And also on our TEXT service: text SPACE to 57003 (each prediction costs 1euro and is sent about 1 hour before ISS flies over). Proceeds from these services help us promote interest in astronomy in Ireland so please tell all your friends! 3. Valentines Day Gift Idea Don't know what to get your loved one to show him or her how much you appreciate them ? Buy a gift membership online here www.astronomy.ie/valentinesgift.html before 6pm on Feb 12th to ensure delivery for Valentine's Day. Just put your personalised message in the comments box at the bottom of the page with clear instructions as to whether you want to be known to your sweetheart or remain anonymous 4. Total Lunar Eclipse The last Total Eclipse of the Moon before December 2010 will begin on the night of Wednesday 20 February with totality taking place in the early hours of Thursday 21 February. See the February issue of Astronomy and Space magazine for further details of this and other things to see in the sky this month. See www.astronomy.ie Astronomy Ireland www.astronomy.ie Ireland's Only Astronomy Magazine One of Europe's Biggest Telescope Shops Tel (01) 847 0777 Mon-Sat

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[Astronomy Ireland] unsubscribe
by Peter J Conlon 07 Feb '08

07 Feb '08

Please remove my name from your mailing list. I am just getting too much material. conpj(a)eircom.net -- I am using the free version of SPAMfighter for private users. It has removed 76 spam emails to date. Paying users do not have this message in their emails. Get the free SPAMfighter here: http://www.spamfighter.com/len

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[Astronomy Ireland] Valentine's Day Gift Idea
by AI Secretary 05 Feb '08

05 Feb '08

The Ultimate Gift This Valentine's Day. For centuries lovers have enjoyed the romance of Moonlit Walks, Being serenaded beneath a blanket of stars, The sheer delight of seeing a falling star and making a wish for true love on it and lets not forget the power of the mythical stories of lovers whose hearts have been broken by tragedy only to be rewarded by the gods by being placed among the stars in the night sky next to their beloved ones for all eternity. Think of all those love songs where the stars and the moon feature prominently. Let's face it, astronomy can be very romantic. Introduce your loved one to the wonderful world of astronomy this Valentine's day and see their eyes twinkle as the beauty of the universe unfolds before them, they will not forget their embarkment on this wonderful voyage of discovery and you will delight in knowing that you have given a special gift that will always be remembered. Astronomy Ireland want you to woo your sweetheart this Valentine's day by giving them a gift membership to the society with your very own personalised message attached. Tell someone how much you care or remain anoymous and keep them in suspense (we wont tell on you). Membership includes a one year subscription to our highly praised, full colour, 48 page astronomy magazine which is published monthly and will arrive right on their doorstep, reminding them that you care all year round, not just one day. It also includes discounts to all our events nationwide, our lectures and our very popular Evening Classes. We send free weekly email updates on the happenings in the society and the wonderful world of astronomy to our members too. Membership costs 48 euro, a lot less than flowers that will lose their allure in a week and certainly a lot better for you than chocolates and sweets. It won't clutter up your house and unlike a sweater that you dislike, you don't have to wear it, ever! Don't have a valentine? Why not join the society yourself and who knows, you could meet that someone special at one of our many events. Buy your gift membership online here www.astronomy.ie/sub before 6pm on Feb 12th to ensure delivery for Valentine's day. Just put your personalised message in the comments box at the bottom of the page with clear instructions as to whether you want to be known to your sweetheart or remain anonymous. Having problems or just unsure how to do it? Call our office (01) 8470777 with your card details and we'll be very happy to do it for you. Hope you have a great Valentine's day! >From the team at Astronomy Ireland. www.astronomy.ie -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.516 / Virus Database: 269.19.15/1249 - Release Date: 1/29/2008 9:51 AM

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[Astronomy Ireland] Cork on NASA TV!, ISS visible too!
by AI Chairman 04 Feb '08

04 Feb '08

1. Irish Link to International Space Station! We only just found out about NASA TV linking up with Cork on Monday Feb 4 at 12:30pm (our time). The reason? The astronaut Dan Tani who has been on board the International Space Station since last October is married to an Irish woman from Cork. NASA TV will carry a live link up from ISS to Blackrock Castle Observatory in Cork which you can watch on the net at www.nasa.gov/ntv If you miss it we hope to put a recording on our "video archive" page on our website: www.astronomy.ie/video Lots more details of this story are on http://breakingnews.ie/ireland/mheyqlcwqlcw (highly recommended) NASA will also celebrate its 50th anniversary by transmitting the Beatles song "Across The Universe" at midnight (our time) on the night of Feb 4th to the star Polaris (the North Star) 431 light years away! There's a good story about this at www.tinyurl.com/3xqn5z Play the song here www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rj-4t9drUlM 2. International Space Station visible until Feb. 17 Speaking of ISS, you can see it blaze across the sky every evening from Feb 4 until Feb 17. On board are 3 astronauts. Amazingly the next space shuttle mission is due for launch on Thursday Feb 7 and we should see it chase ISS across the sky around 8pm! We're going to follow this story daily on our Newsline 1550-111-442 (calls cost 95cent/minute) And also on our TEXT service: text SPACE to 57003 (each prediction costs 1euro and is sent about 1 hour before ISS flies over). Proceeds from these services help us promote interest in astronomy in Ireland so please tell all your friends! Astronomy Ireland www.astronomy.ie Ireland's Only Astronomy Magazine One of Europe's Biggest Telescope Shops Tel (01) 847 0777 Mon-Sat

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[Astronomy Ireland] Secretary Vacancy, U.K. Lecturer+DVD, C14 demo+BBC, NASA Classes, Viewing
by AI Director 01 Feb '08

01 Feb '08

1. Vacancy: Executive Secretary Astronomy Ireland requires a full time Executive Secretary to assist in the day to day running of the organisation. The duties in this exciting and challenging post include: General secretarial type office work: Processing membership applications: Magazine distribution: Handling telephone queries: Invoice processing. Helping to promote Astronomy Ireland events e.g. Lectures, Star-B-Qs, Evening Classes etc by sending our notices of events: Full training will be given. If you would like to be considered for this post then send your CV to director(a)astronomy.ie immediately. Attractive salary offered. 2. Major Public Lecture & DVD (International Speaker) On Monday 11 February Astronomy Ireland presents its latest public lecture in the Physics Building, Trinity College Dublin at 8pm which will be recorded on DVD for everyone in Ireland. We are flying in Dr. Harry Ward, of the Institute for Gravitational Research, University of Glasgow to tell us about LISA - the first spaceborne gravitational wave observatory which promises to revolutionise our understanding of some of the most exotic objects in the Universe like black holes. The three LISA spacecraft will have unprecedented precision of measurement. Movements of just a fraction of the width of an atom over five million kilometres will be measured! In this talk the LISA mission will be presented, focusing on the anticipated results, the incredible measurement techniques, the current status of the mission design and progress, and on the LISA Pathfinder technology-demonstrator mission that will fly in 2010. For those who cannot make it to the venue on the night a DVD will be produced for 5euro (order now on website below) Details: Event: Astronomy Ireland Public Lecture "LISA - Gravitational Wave Mission" Date: 8pm February 11 (Monday) Venue: Physics Building, Trinity College Dublin (map on website) Admission: 5 Euro (3euro to members and concessions) Tickets are available at the door, or on www.astronomy.ie or call Astronomy Ireland on (01) 847 0777 3. Giant Telescope Demo & Patrick Moore's Sky At Night Our newly revamped telescope showroom now has a massive CGE 1400 telescope on display until February 20th when Carl O'Beirnes will take it to Sir Patrick Moore's home in the U.K. to film the next episode of The Sky At Night on the BBC. Carl has been invited on to the show to explain how he uses it to take his pictures of the planets which you will have seen in our magazine. If you want to drop in to see the telescope and Carl please do so in the next couple of weeks. Map and opening times are at www.astronomy.ie/shop You will also see the CGE 1400 telescope in the free catalogue you can download at that webpage. The CGE 1400 is a 14-inch compact telescope on a superbly engineered high precision computerise CGE mount which are available from our Shop. Congratulations to Carl for this great honour! 4. NASA scientist giving Evening Classes You can still register for our beginners Evening Classes in Athlone, Cork and Dublin at www.astronomy.ie/eveningclass.html The Dublin classes are being given by NASA scientist Dr James McAteer. If you don't mind missing the first introductory talk there are still 7 more classes to go with the next being Wednesday February 6th so sign up now and join over a hundred other beginners around Ireland. 5. Telescope Nights and Things to see: Members in the Leinster area go to the Wicklow mountains for dark sky viewing on clear Moon-free Friday and Saturday nights. If you want to come along call the Shop on (01) 847 0777 strictly between 4pm and 5pm each day for the latest decision. Bring your telescope if you have one. Things for everyone in Ireland to see include: Mars - closer now than it will be until 2016. On view for several more months. Saturn - rising in the East by 8pm this week and visible until June. Venus & Jupiter - very close in morning skies this weekend Comet Holmes - high up and still visible to naked eye I.S.S. - visible next week, more then. (text SPACE to 57003 in meantime) TOTAL ECLIPSE OF MOON Feb 20/21 - see magazine Full details of all these and more in our February "Eclipse" magazine: order for just 5euro including postage at www.astronomy.ie/sub and get ready for the last Moon Eclipse we'll see for 8 years!!! Astronomy Ireland www.astronomy.ie Ireland's Only Astronomy Magazine One of Europe's Biggest Telescope Shops Tel (01) 847 0777 Mon-Sat

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