1. Star-B-Q - NASA Scientist and Huge Telescope Prize At last, after another year of waiting and planning, our annual fundraising Star-B-Q takes place again in Roundwood, Co. Wicklow on Saturday August 30. Star-B-Q is Ireland's biggest annual Star Party with people coming from all around Ireland, so don't be left out. "How the Sun Affects Our Lives" is this year's Keynote speech by Dr James McAteer who worked for NASA on the SoHO space telescope. The talk will be informal and will cover Solar Flares, Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) with lots of movies and pictures from SoHO, STEREO, and Hinode. This is your opportunity to see and see through some of the largest telescopes in the country AND for the first time ever, all attendees are entered into a free draw for a Celestron Nexstar 8SE worth nearly 1,500euro. Other prizes on the night are a Celestron SkyScout Personal Planetarium and a year's membership to Astronomy Ireland (total prizes worth over 2,000euro!). You can book online at www.astronomy.ie/sbq or call (01) 847 0777 to save 20% of the gate price on the night. Proceeds help us to promote astronomy throughout the country. Please bring all your friends and family and tell everyone you know. One of you will go home with a 1,500 Euro telescope! 2. Light Pollution Next month's Public lecture is entitled "Light Pollution in Ireland" and will be given by Albert White of the Irish Light Pollution Awareness Campaign (ILPAC). Albert will tell us about the financial, environmental and astronomical cost of badly designed public lighting. More information at www.astronomy.ie Astronomy Ireland The world's most popular astronomy club and Ireland's Only Astronomy Magazine www.astronomy.ie Call Our Telescope Shop Tel (01) 847 0777 Mon-Sat ( subscribe / unsubscribe here )