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1. Science Week Lecture - Cosmic
Clocks and Little Green Men
In
the autumn of 1967, a PhD student from Northern Ireland called Jocelyn Bell
was listening to radio waves from deep space. Among the noise something stood
out: a highly-regular series of clicks. This continuous beat echoed through
space and arrived at Earth, and nothing like it had ever been heard before. In
fact, it was believed that the noise was created by an extraterrestrial beacon
built by an intelligent
civilisation, and thus the phrase "little green
men" was born.
Over 40
years later, many more of these objects have been discovered, and although we
now know that the source of these clicks are exotic dead stars called
pulsars, we still do not
know how they work. On November 8th, Dr Andy Shearer of NUI
Galway will give Astronomy
Ireland's public lecture, where he will investigate these strange objects
and how they are formed. Pulsars are the small remnants of a dead star, crushed
into a volume as large as a city. A spoonful of "pulsar-material" would weigh as
much as a house! These objects rotate rapidly, shooting out beams of radio
waves, like a lighthouse. Some of these beams cross Earth, and astronomers are
afforded an opportunity to investigate some of the strangest objects in the
Universe.
The
"beats" caused by the beams from the pulsars are so regular that they are the
most accurate clocks in the Universe. Such precision allows scientists to
investigate some of Einstein's theories, including time-warping and
relativity.
The
lecture takes place at 8pm in the Fitzgerald Building, Trinity
College
Dublin. For more information click HERE.
After
the lecture there will be a social reception in The
Lombard. All
guests are welcome to attend and you will have the opportunity to chat with
Dr Andy Shearer, other guests, and Astronomy Ireland staff and volunteers.
A DVD is
available to order online for anyone who cannot make the talk on the night.
2. Science
Week Events
Discover Science and
Engineering - Ireland’s national science promotion programme and key partner of
the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition, and the organisers who bring
you Science Week have requested Astronomy Ireland’s assistance in hosting events
throughout this year’s Science Week. Astronomy Ireland have agreed to host a
plethora of events over the month of November including:
·
free nationwide
telescope watches
·
Special science week
lectures
·
Nationwide light
pollution survey
·
Schools'
talks
·
And of course our
annual ‘Astro Expo’
Science week takes
place from November 7 - 14, the theme this year is ‘our place in space’,
be sure to keep checking Astronomy Ireland's website for Science Week event
listings. For more information on science week visit www.astronomy.ie or www.scienceweek.ie
3. Evening
Classes
Don't forget, it's
not too late to register for Evening Classes in any of the following locations:
Dublin,
Cork,
Athlone
and Letterkenny.
As the Classes are now in the second (Athlone and Letterkenny) or third (Dublin
and Cork) week, you will receive a 20% late registration discount on the
original class fee. Call us on (01) 847 0777 or visit www.astronomy.ie/class to
register.
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