On Monday, June 8, David Grennan and David Mc Donald, Ireland's leading asteroid hunters, and long-standing members of Astronomy Ireland, will deliver the first of our June lectures in Trinity College Dublin. At this remarkable lecture, David Mc Donald will document the events which led to him become the first Irish man, in over 160 years, to discover an asteroid - Ireland's second ever asteroid discovery. Then David Grennan will discuss his first asteroid discovery which came in close succession to that of David Mc Donald's, just two weeks later. Join the two Davids and find out how you too can become a planet hunter.

On Monday, June 15 Hanny Van Arkel will treat lecture goers to the story of her amazing discovery in space. Hanny, a school teacher, joined an online project known as 'Galaxy Zoo' after its launch in July 2007. Galaxy Zoo allows members of the public to log in and help classify galaxies by answering a few simple questions. Shortly after this, Hanny came across an image of a galaxy that also had an unusual 'blob' placed next to it. The 'Voorwerp' as it is known in Dutch (which simply means 'object'), caused a storm of interest among members and scientists, gaining a lot of media coverage along the way. Currently, Hanny's Voorwerp is thought to be an ancient "light echo", and at the lecture on June 15, Hanny will give us an insight into the 'blob', the theories behind its existence, and how citizen science plays an important part in developing our understanding of the universe.

For more information about these exciting lectures visit www.astronomy.ie.

Tickets are 7euro (non-members) or 5euro (members and concessions).

A DVD of each lecture will be available for purchase for everyone all over Ireland at a cost of 7euro (plus 5euro p&p).

To book your tickets click HERE

To order a DVD click HERE

There are several special events in Irish skies for the next few days:

Venus and Mars are close to the Moon on Thursday morning (May 21), low in East. View between 4:30am-5:00am.
Jupiter (with Neptune nearby, closest May 26) is 45 degrees to upper right of Venus i.e. low in Southeast before dawn.
Saturn is well placed for evening viewing high in the South.
Its moons are putting on spectacular once-in-15-year displays right now. See magazine Sky Diary for times to watch!
New Moon on Sunday May 24.

For diagrams and lots more details all month long, see Sky Diary pages of our magazine (only 5euro inc. p&p).

IMPORTANT: Email what you see to observe@astronomy.ie for our monthly magazine report.

The International Space Station (ISS), visible in Irish skies until May 24, will transit Saturn from Castlebar to Dublin, and all points in between tonight, May 19. To see the path ISS will follow, there is a zoom-equipped map available HERE. We have received many ISS sightings so far, to send us a report of your sighting, email observe@astronomy.ie. For more information about ISS go to www.astronomy.ie/iss. Various websites give predictions, but if you want the exact time sent to your mobile phone every day, a couple of hours before ISS passes over, just text SPACE to 57003. Each text costs 1euro and proceeds help us to promote astronomy.

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