Venetia Phair, the woman who is credited with giving the planet Pluto its name has died at the age of 90. Anyone who attended Astronomy Ireland's National Meeting on April 25 will be familiar with Venetia as the subject of the short documentary film premiered that day, called 'Naming Pluto'. She was 11 years old when the "trans-Neptunian presence" was photographed on March 14, 1930 and she suggested to her grandfather that the planet should be named Pluto, after the Roman god of the underworld. Venetia passed away on April 30, 2009. She is survived by her son Patrick, and there will be a memorial service in her honour in Banstead, Surrey on June 8.

We are seeking a News Editor for our magazine, 'Astronomy & Space'. Alistair Bingham has decided to stand down after three very successful years and we thank him for his contribution to the magazine and wish him the best for the future. If you are interested in this role and feel you can contribute to the team dedicated to bringing our readers the latest and best in astronomy, please email editor@astronomy.ie.

We are also seeking more Feature Writers and Proof Readers. Indeed, let us know if there is any aspect of the magazine you want to assist with by emailing editor@astronomy.ie.

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

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 table of times to watch!
Moon is at Last Quarter on Sunday.
Jupiter (with Neptune nearby, closest May 26) is in morning skies and close to Moon on Sunday!
Venus and Mars are close but low in morning skies (Moon near them May 21).

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

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

ISS has been visible in Irish skies since Monday May 11, and we have been getting ecstatic responses from people all over the country who have seen this spectacular sight. ISS will continue to pass over until May 24 and we urge you to report your sighting to iss@astronomy.ie. For more information about ISS, and details how to find out the times of ISS passings 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, so please tell all your friends.

The NASA space shuttle Atlantis blasted off on Monday, May 11, and is now well into the 4th day of its mission to service and improve the Hubble Space Telescope. The second of five space walks is currently taking place, and all the space walks can be viewed live on NASA TV at www.nasa.gov/ntv. To view an amazing picture of the space shuttle Atlantis during solar transit, click HERE. A full report of the service mission will appear in our magazine.

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