1. Moon Landing
Interview
Astronomy Ireland Chairman, David Moore, spoke to LMFM about the 40th Anniversary of the Moon
Landing on June 30. Listen HERE. We
have a major public lecture (and DVD) planned on July 23 by Dan Parry, who
has produced a TV docudrama for ITV based on his new book 'Moon Shot'. Lecture
and DVD details HERE.
At the opening concert of their world tour on June
30, U2 had a very special surprise for concert goers in Barcelona. After the 4th
song of the show, a live satellite link with the astronauts aboard the
International Space Station (ISS),
appeared on the screens in the stadium, with one of the astronauts telling the
audience "right now the most beautiful sight in our cosmos is the blue planet
Earth". To see a video of the satellite link-up click HERE. ISS will be visible
in Irish skies again from July 6 - 23.
The closing date for DCU's 'Eye
in the Sky' competition, a photography competition with an astronomy theme
to honour the International Year of Astronomy (IYA), has been extended to September
30, 2009. For more details click HERE.
4. Lecture Series at
Newgrange
There will be several public lectures taking place
a the Hill of Tara Visitors Centre, over the coming weeks, organised by Bru
na Boinne (OPW). The lectures feature an astronomical theme to mark the
International Year of Astronomy (IYA) and will take place each Wednesday in
July. Admission is free and for more information visit www.newgrange.com/news23.htm. The
lectures are as follows:
July 8 - 'Galileo and the Copernican
Revolution' - Prof. Markus Woerner, NUI Galway.
July 15 - 'Irish Astronomy in the Nineteenth
Century' - Prof. Trevor Weekes, Smithsonian Institution, Washington.
July 22 - 'Exploring the Cosmos: The View from
Hubble and Beyond' - Prof. Tom Ray, Dublin Institute of Advanced Studies (DIAS).
5. What to See in Irish
Skies
- The waxing Moon is
approaching Full Moon phase, an excellent time to see the valleys and
craters along the terminator.
- Jupiter and
Neptune will be placed just above the Eastern
horizon at midnight over the weekend.
- At about 3am, Venus and
Mars are very close together on the North-Eastern horizon,
near the Pleiades star cluster.
- The International Space Station
will be visible in the evenings from Irish skies from 6 July. Lots of websites
will give you times when it will pass over, but to get reminders just a
couple of hours before it passes, text the word SPACE to 57003. Each text
costs €1 and proceeds help us to promote science and astronomy in
Ireland.
For diagrams and lots more
details all month long, see Sky Diary pages of our magazine (only 5euro inc.
p&p).
6. Events to book in
July:
The world's most popular
Astronomy Club
Tel (01) 847 0777
Mon-Sat
( subscribe /
unsubscribe here )