1. Public Lecture: LISA - Gravity Wave Mission
On Monday 11 Feb at 8pm in Trinity College Dublin, Dr. Harry Ward will present a public lecture about his work on Gravity Waves. Gravity as a form of wave energy was first proposed by Albert Einstein in his General Theory of Relativity. The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna, or LISA is a series of 3 spacecraft flying in a triangular formation 5 million kilometres apart and 50 million kilometres away from the influences of Earth gravity. The mission, an ESA and NASA collaboration, will be able to detect the motions of neutron stars, white dwarfs, ordinary stars, or black holes in our Galaxy, and the merging of black holes where distant galaxies have collided. These massive black holes are thought to exist in the centres of most galaxies and may be more than a million times the mass of our Sun. The answers to these questions may also help us understand if time has a beginning and an end and if space has edges.

Dr. Harry Ward is a Senior Lecturer in Physics at the University of Glasgow. An experimental physicist, he has worked in the field of gravitational wave detection for over 30 years. After many years of contributing to the development of long-baseline ground-based instruments, he has moved over the last few years to working on interferometry developments aimed at LISA. He currently leads the Glasgow team responsible for building the flight model Optical Bench that is a key component of the LISA Pathfinder mission.

For those who cannot make it to the venue on the night a DVD will be produced for 5euro (order now on website below)

Details:

Event:        Astronomy Ireland Public Lecture "LISA - Gravitational Wave Mission"
Date:         8pm February 11 (Monday)
Venue:       Physics Building, Trinity College Dublin (map on website)
Admission:   5 Euro (3euro to members and concessions)

Tickets are available at the door, or on www.astronomy.ie or call Astronomy Ireland on (01) 847 0777

2. International Space Station visible until Feb. 17
On board the ISS are 3 astronauts. The space shuttle Atlantis was launched towards the ISS yesterday with a crew of seven and the European Columbus Laboratory in the cargo hold. The laboratory will be attached to the space station over the next two weeks during a number of space walks. Tonight and tomorrow we should see the shuttle chase ISS across the sky. You do not need binoculars or telescope to see the ISS or Shuttle. You just need to look up at the right time. You can get predictions of the times when both spacecraft are visible on the Newsline or TEXT service.

We're going to follow this story daily on our Newsline 1550-111-442 (calls cost 95cent/minute)

And also on our TEXT service: text SPACE to 57003 (each prediction costs 1euro and is sent about 1 hour before ISS flies over).

Proceeds from these services help us promote interest in astronomy in Ireland so please tell all your friends!

3. Valentines Day Gift Idea
Don't know what to get your loved one to show him or her how much you appreciate them ?
Buy a gift membership online here www.astronomy.ie/valentinesgift.html before 6pm on Feb 12th to ensure delivery for Valentine's Day. Just put your personalised message in the comments box at the bottom of the page with clear instructions as to whether you want to be known to your sweetheart or remain anonymous