Astronomy Ireland  ·   www.astronomy.ie   ·   (01) 847 0777   ·   info@astronomy.ie
 
 
1. NLCs
On Thursday morning just after 2:30am Leo Enright called to alert us to what appeared to be a strong display of the aurora visible from O'Connell bridge in Dublin City Centre! A quick check of the northern sky revealed it was in fact a very strong display of Noctilucent Clouds (NLCs) lighting up the northern sky like dawn. There were 'rays' in the cloud, particularly to the East (right) that did indeed make it look like an aurora. Daniel Lynch in Dundrum spotted it too and sent in this photo he snapped with his Canon D20: www.astronomy.ie/NLCdlynch.jpg
 
NLCs are clouds at very high altitudes (85km) and are thought to be composed of ice crystals, though their exact origin is uncertain. At this height they are still lit up by the Sun and so appear bright in the North when it is dark down here on the ground. See http://lasp.colorado.edu/noctilucent_clouds for more details. You should keep an eye on the North sky every clear night this summer for more displays.
Please send reports and photos to observe@astronomy.ie
 
 
2. Triple Planet Conjunction
On Monday Venus and Mercury will be extremely close, low in the West to Northwest sky - just 5' apart! Saturn will be 2 degrees below this (see page 23 June issue A&S) . All this weekend, and early next week, the trio will be visible in the same binocular field of view. Look soon after sunset though. I saw them on Wednesday evening and although Venus could be seen with the naked eye, Mercury and Saturn definitely need binoculars, especially Saturn.
 
There are full details in the Sky Diary pages of the June issue of our magazine along with the diagram showing just how close Mercury and Venus will be on Monday (subscribe now at www.astronomy.ie/sub and be ready for future events!).
Please send reports and photos to observe@astronomy.ie
 
 
3.  Lecture & Radio Show
Our Leinster Area Public Lecture for June "Astronomy in Ancient Sligo and Meath" by Martin Byrne drew a large crowd of over 100 people.
It can now be viewed/downloaded on our website www.astronomy.ie (click on menu "lecture webcasts").
A higher quality DVD version is available for 5euro - order on the same webpage.
Lecture details at:  www.astronomy.ie/lecture0506.html
Our next Public Lecture is about Time Travel - see www.astronomy.ie for details and to reserve places.
 
Our weekly Radio Show was online 30 minutes after it was broadcast - tune in live every Tuesday at 8pm on 103.2FM.
Special guest in studio was Kevin Nolan from the Planetary Society talking about the imminent launch of its Solar Sail "Cosmos 1".
There were launch problems, get the latest at http://planetary.org/solarsailblog
Kevin's interview was brilliant - download the show in seconds at www.astronomy.ie/radioshow.html for this and all the latest news by Christy Creely and Ben Emmett, and what to see in the sky, including the Triple Planet Alignment this weekend!
 
Or call our Newsline on 1550-111-442 (95c/min) - new message every Monday.
 
 
 
- David Moore, Chairman (Astronomy Ireland -promoting interest in astronomy all around Ireland)
info@astronomy.ie
 
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