Astronomy Ireland's New Year Public Lecture "William Rowan Hamilton (1805 -1865) Ireland's Greatest Mathematician" will take place tonight in Dunsink Observatory, Castleknock, Dublin 15 where Hamilton was Director for nearly 40 years. This is our first event to celebrate the government marking 2005 as HAMILTON YEAR (see feature article on his life in our January issue - cover story) As a service to the majority of our members who live outside county Dublin, and because this Lecture is SOLD OUT, it will be videotaped and made available on our website www.astronomy.ie see "lecture webcasts" in due course. The Christmas Lecture by Dr Allan Chapman is already online, and a higher quality DVD will be available soon. The current Director of Dunsink Observatory, Prof Evert Meurs, has kindly agreed to open the Observatory at 7pm so you can look around the facility for one hour before the lecture begins. SOLD OUT Please note that this lecture and venue proved extremely popular and all tickets have been allocated. If you did not buy/book a ticket then you will not be able to get in. Sorry. In fact, we have a waiting list for possible cancellations, so if you have booked a place but cannot come then please reply to this email now and let us know. BOOK NOW for our next lecture: CASSINI-SATURN MISSION On Friday (Jan 14) the Huygens probe will land on Titan in an event which is sure to dominate the world news as the 3 billion dollar mission attempts the most distant landing ever in the history of space exploration. Cassini-Huygens is a joint American-European venture and the leader of the European side Prof Carl Murray will fly to Dublin on February 14 to give the very latest news and images from Cassini at Saturn. You probably have seen him on TV many times, including Patrick Moore's Sky At Night earlier this month. We are very lucky that Prof Murray will be taking time out from what must be a very busy and exciting time to come to Ireland to tell us the very latest of the landing and the mission. This is sure to be an extremely popular lecture so please book your tickets NOW at http://www.astronomy.ie/lecture0502.html which also has links to the stunning photos being returned (the latest pictures of the moon Iapetus are incredible, it looks like two hemispheres that someone welded together!) or email lecture@astronomy.ie saying how many tickets you want (5euro non-members, 3euro members) This lecture will be held in Dublin City University as usual, at 8pm Feb 14. All Welcome. PLEASE BOOK NOW. CALENDAR: Mon Jan 10 - A.I. NEW YEAR LECTURE at Dunsink Observatory 8pm Tue Jan 11 - A.I. Radio Show at 8pm 103.2FM Wed Jan 12 - Astronauts to speak in Trinity College www.ria.ie Thu Jan 13 - COMET WATCHES for Tsunami Appeal www.astronomy.ie Thu-Sat Jan 13-15 - A.I. Stand at Young Scientists www.esatys.com Fri Jan 14 - Huygens lands on Titan, www.astronomy.ie Sat Jan 15 - January Sale continues at Astronomy Shop (up to 50% off) Don't forget Comet Machholz every clear night also! You can now book online for our Evening Class starting Feb 2. - David Moore, Chairman, Astronomy Ireland - your national astronomy club & magazine. Astronomy Ireland is a non-profit club for EVERYONE interested in space. www.astronomy.ie/sub to join AI and get our monthly colour magazine. Or simply post 40euro to: P.O.Box 2888, Dublin 5.