<http://www.astronomy.ie/auroracruise.php> Aurora Cruise Evening Classes <http://www.astronomy.ie/class/class1011.php> <http://astronomy.ie/sub/index.html> Membership <http://astronomy.ie/shop/CPC/index.html> Shop 1. Asteroid 2005 YU55 Asteroid 2005 YU55 is a potentially hazardous asteroid (PHA) that is due to pass Earth on Tuesday, November 8th, at 11:28pm. The 400m-wide object will pass at 0.85 lunar distances of Earth. While the pass is relatively close in astronomical terms, it provides no danger to Earth, and there is no risk of impact. As it passes, the asteroid will have a magnitude of 11. This faintness, combined with the glare from the Moon, will make it visible through larger telescopes with a diameter of at least 6". For more information click HERE <http://astronomy.ie/yu55.php> . 2. The Births and Deaths of Stars On Monday, November 14th Dr Gareth Murphy - one of Ireland's top astrophysicists - will explore the births, lives, and deaths of stars, including our own Sun. In a couple of billion years, our Sun will have no more hydrogen 'fuel' left, and will have to use helium in its vast nuclear furnace in its core. When this happens, the star will begin to grow larger and larger. As it grows, turning into a red giant, it will devour Mercury and Venus, and possibly even destroy Earth, vaporising the three planets into a gas in a matter of moments. When the Sun completely runs out of fuel, the outer layers of the red giant will blow off, creating a huge nebula that we often admire in images from the Hubble Space Telescope. Bigger stars experience much more violent deaths, and explode as a supernova - an enormous catastrophe that releases so much energy that a single explosion can be brighter than an entire galaxy. Some of them even turn into those mysterious objects known as black holes - dead stars with a gravity field so strong that not even light can escape. Tickets for the lecture are only €7 (€5 members rate), and can be ordered online at www.astronomy.ie or by calling (01) 890 11 11. The lecture takes place in Trinity College Dublin <http://www.tcd.ie/Maps/map.php> , on Monday, November 14th at 8pm. There will be a social reception afterwards in The Lombard Inn with complimentary food. BOOK TICKETS <http://astronomy.ie/lecture201111.php> ORDER DVD <http://www.astronomy.ie/lectureDVD.php> 3. Positions Available Christmas is coming and your favourite telescope shop is looking for a number of people to help in preparations for the big holiday! We are hiring in the following areas: SATURDAY WORK The Astronomy Ireland Shop are looking for part time general shop staff to work on Saturdays coming up to Christmas. Since our move to bigger and better premises we have seen the need for more staff to help with dispatch, preparation of orders and general shop work. Ideally successful candidates will have some retail experience and an interest in Astronomy, however these are not essential and full training will be provided. WEBSITE DEVELOPER The Astronomy Ireland website is almost finished and we have a short term contract for the polishing and testing of the new site. The ideal candidate will have experience working with Joomla and PHP. They will have also worked with a Joomla based retail website either during the development or maintenance cycle. This position would suit anyone looking for a short-term contract (20-30 hours). If you would like to apply for either of the above positions, please send a CV along with a covering letter to ben@astronomy.ie. Please note that both the above positions are based out of Astronomy Ireland’s new premises in Swords Co. Dublin. Also note that you should feel free to pass information about these opportunities to anyone you feel would be interested. 4. Astronomy Ireland Astro-Expo Astronomy Ireland's annual Astro-Expo will take place this year on Saturday, November 19th. The Astro-Expo is the biggest Astronomy and Space exhibition on this island and is hosted by Astronomy Ireland every year. Throughout the years the Expo has comprised of rockets, meteorites, imaging displays (including impressive astro-photography stands), telescope demonstrations, information on astronomy degree courses and a full compliment of lectures and activities. This year's event is no exception, and is set to be a fantastic day out. This year’s headline speaker is Dr. Cormac O'Raifeartaigh, Waterford Institute of Technology, who will give a talk entitled ‘Faster Than Light - Was Einstein Wrong? In September 2011, a group of scientists announced that they had observed subatomic particles travelling at speeds greater than the speed of light in vacuum. The finding has been met with great scepticism as it appears to be in conflict with Einstein’s theory of relativity. This lecture will describe the experiment and explain the grounds for scepticism. We are still finalising some details of the Astro-Expo, please keep checking our <http://www.astronomy.ie/astroexpo11.php> website for more information. <http://www.astronomy.ie/> Astronomy Ireland The world's most popular Astronomy Club <http://www.astronomy.ie/> www.astronomy.ie ( subscribe / unsubscribe <http://lists.redbrick.dcu.ie/mailman/listinfo/astronomy> )