1. The International Space Station Visible Over Ireland

The biggest and most expensive spacecraft ever put in orbit, the International Space Station (ISS), is currently visible in our night and early morning skies, and will continue to be visible until August 25th. Tonight (Tuesday, August 7th) it will pass over Ireland at 11:04pm.

Each afternoon Astronomy Ireland will publish the times the ISS will be visible at www.astronomy.ie/iss and you can also receive daily reminders of this time by texting the word SPACE to 57003 (subscription service; one message will be sent each day the ISS is visible and it costs €1 per message received).

2. Public Lecture: Ancient Astronomical Alignments

Ireland is home to a number of well-known ancient monuments built by ancient astronomers, the most famous being Newgrange, located near the bank of the River Boyne. Newgrange is famous because on the morning of the Winter Solstice each year, sunlight enters the passage and illuminates the chamber within the monument. Other monuments around the country, such as standing stones, are known to be aligned with both with other terrestrial objects and with celestial bodies in the sky.

These ancient alignments give modern scientists clues to the understanding of the Universe as we knew it thousands of years ago.

The lecture will take place in Trinity College Dublin on Monday, August 13th, at 8pm. Order tickets and DVDs here or by calling (01) 890 11 11

3. Star-B-Q 2012

The country's biggest annual telescope night takes place this year on September 15th and will feature BBC's The Sky at Night presenter Pete Lawrence. The UK astronomer is an expert in solar astronomy and space weather, and his keynote talk at this year's event will explore the amazing northern lights, which are becoming regularly visible over Ireland.

As well as some great speakers, the Star-B-Q will also have dozens of powerful telescopes to give visitors an opportunity to see the wonders of the Universe from some of Ireland's darkest skies in the Wicklow Mountains, serve delicious barbecued food freshly prepared by professional caterers, and much more!

If you book your ticket before August 15th you can avail of the early bird rate on adult tickets at only €29 (normal price after this date is €39).

For more information and booking, please visit www.astronomy.ie/sbq

4. Curiosity Successfully Lands on Mars

NASA's biggest robot destined for the Red Planet successfully landed on Mars on Monday morning just after 6:30am Irish time. The nail-biting descent to the surface went perfectly and included the new 'Skycrane' - a method to lower the car-sized Curiosity rover to the ground.

Astronomy Ireland magazine will feature coverage of the landing and the ongoing mission in upcoming issues.

You can get updates of the mission from NASA TV at www.astronomy.ie/nasatv

5. Astronomy Ireland on Radio

Chairman of Astronomy Ireland, David Moore, has been interviewed extensively recently on radio stations around the country to talk about Curiosity, the International Space Station, the Star-B-Q, and more! Also interviewed were Eamonn Ó Fearcháin, one of our Irish-speaking spokespeople, and Kevin Nolan, author of Mars: A Cosmic Stepping Stone and Irish organiser of The Planetary Society.

You can listen to these interviews at www.astronomy.ie/audio. Keep checking back as this page is regularly updated with more interviews!

Astronomy Ireland

The world's most popular Astronomy Club
www.astronomy.ie

( subscribe / unsubscribe )