[Thursday 6pm March 3] NATIONAL SATURN WATCH DAY Nationwide on Friday March 4th at 8pm Astronomy Ireland members all across Ireland will be setting up telescopes so the general public can go and get a 'live' close-up view of Saturn and its moons. A full list of venues is given below. For the media we have set up a special webpage with a few of the recent Cassini-Huygens images from Saturn and links to full lists of images and stories at: www.astronomy.ie/press/saturn.html everyone is welcome to take a look. There was record breaking interest in Saturn last month when Prof Carl Murray came from London to talk to Pat Kenny on his radio show and then give a public lecture about the Cassini mission to Saturn to 500 people at our lecture in D.C.U. - the biggest crowd we've ever had! We're expecting a lot of interest in the Saturn Watches too and you can help by passing this notice on to anyone you think might want to look through a good telescope at Saturn with its beautiful rings and moons, especially Titan. Who can resist a chance to see a sight like that! We have a simulation of what the view will look like at http://www.astronomy.ie/satwatch.gif Saturn is 800 million miles away but the general public will easily be able to see the planet as a large bright disk with its superb system of rings encircling the planet. Moreover, everyone will be able to see Saturn's biggest Moon, Titan which was the scene of the historic landing of the European built Huygens probe which landed on January 14 - the most distant landing ever attempted in history, and part of the 3 billion dollar Cassini-Huygens mission. Irish scientists contributed to the mission, but now the probe lies dead, frozen solid at -180C, but not before completing its 2 hour mission on the surface to photograph, smell and taste the landscape and Titan's 'air'. ROSETTA GETS IN ON THE ACT! On the very evening that Astronomy Ireland had declared National Saturn Watch Day in Ireland the Rosetta spacecraft that was launched a year ago is to swoop back towards Earth and rob some of our planet's energy to slingshot it out to a distant comet in the year 2014. On top of this, as seen from Ireland, the Rosetta spacecraft will pass just below Saturn while the National Saturn Watches are taking place. It is hoped to view the returning spacecraft (that will land on a comet in 2014) at the Saturn Watches. We cannot guarantee success as the craft is quite small, although ESA plans to spread the 30 metre wide solar panels to make it brighter. It will be closest to Earth (1900km) around 10pm. Rosetta will pass below Saturn according to my calculations at 9:37pm. It will be magnitude 8 or 9 and so quite dim, near the limit of 10x50 binoculars, especially as it is a moving target! A list of positions (for Dublin) for plotting on a star atlas is available on our website at: http://www.astronomy.ie/rosetta.txt and we hope to put a star map on our website later at: http://www.astronomy.ie/rosetta.gif VENUES: The main Saturn Watch will take place in: DUBLIN'S PHOENIX PARK, AT THE CAR PARK AT THE PAPAL CROSS. All Saturn Watches will take place at 8pm. A full list is available at www.astronomy.ie and include: Carlow, Clare(Kilmihil) Cork Donegal(Letterkenny) Louth(Dundalk) Mayo(Castlebar) Tipperary(Clonmel) Wexford(Rosslare Strand) Everyone is welcome. Why not bring the whole family? Remember all telescopes are private property of the AI member(s) running the watch so please treat them kindly. Donations appreciated. Details on (01) 847 0777 or visit www.astronomy.ie PICTURES at www.astronomy.ie/press/saturn.html *** OTHER NEWS, BRIEFLY *** Latest AI Radio Show online since 9pm Tuesday www.astronomy.ie/radioshow.html Our Newsline was updated Monday morning for this week, call 1550-111-442 ***NEW*** Listen to PAT KENNY interview DAVID MOORE www.astronomy.ie/PKDM.html MERCURY NOW AT ITS BEST!!! See March magazine for details www.astronomy.ie/sub WIN a fabulous hotel break for 2 by joining AI now, see www.astronomy.ie - David Moore, Chairman, Astronomy Ireland Tel: (01) 847 0777 Visit www.astronomy.ie Please support our club, magazine, and Shop Visit the ASTRONOMY SHOP at Unit 75, Butterly Business Park, Kilmore Road, Artane, Dublin 5. ONE OF EUROPE'S BIGGEST TELESCOPE SHOPS.