Aurora Trip Membership DVD Shop 1. Curiosity Landing on Monday The Mars Science Laboratory, also known as Curiosity, will land on the surface of Mars at approximately 6:30am Irish time on Monday morning, August 6th. The car-sized robot will land after an ambitious and exciting seven-minute descent through the Martian atmosphere, and will commence its mission to find out if Mars was ever home to microbial life forms in the past (or if it could be habitable in the present!). You can watch a special video produced by NASA on YouTube called Seven Minutes of Terror, explaining how Curiosity will overcome technological obstacles in its descent during a radically new landing procedure. On Monday morning, you can watch NASA TV at www.astronomy.ie/nasatv for live coverage of the landing of the craft on Mars. 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. For more information, tickets, and DVDs of the lecture, please click HERE or call (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 Astronomy Ireland The world's most popular Astronomy Club www.astronomy.ie ( subscribe / unsubscribe )