On Monday, February 8, Dr. Chris Davis of the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (UK) gave a fascinating talk to lecture guests in Trinity College entitled 'Living with a Star'. In his talk, Dr. Davis discussed the violent eruptions from the surface of the Sun which can eject vast clouds into space. Known as space weather, he explained to guests how these clouds or storms can wreak havoc on satellites and ground-based communications systems when they reach Earth, as well as being extremely dangerous to astronauts. Chris detailed several missions, such as the NASA STEREO spacecraft, which provide vital clues in understanding space weather, while also allowing us to forecast and track this phenomenon. Dr. Davis, an enthusiastic spokesman for his science, gave an excellent talk and at the end treated guests to a 3D journey around our closest star, the Sun. To read the full report of the evening click HERE.

 

 

 

 

On Wednesday, March 3, Astronomy Ireland member, Cormac O' Raifeartaigh, will give a talk on the forthcoming experiments at the Large Hadron Collider in CERN, Geneva. The talk entitled 'The Big Bang, the Large Hadron Collider and the God Particle' is being hosted as part of the Public Science Lecture Series at University College Cork and all are welcome to attend. The lecture takes place at 8pm on March 2 in University College Cork (UCC) and for more information click HERE.