ASTRONOMY IRELAND MAILING LIST - www.astronomy.ie (The all-Ireland astronomy Club, Magazine and Shop) --------------------------------------------------- 1. RTE, ANNA LIVIA, AND 285 GALLONS OF VOMIT! I will be a guest on RTE RADIO 1's weekly science show "Future Tense" talking to Ella McSweeney about the Cassini Flyby of Saturn last week. Future Tense goes out every Tuesday at 7:30pm and often covers events of an astronomical nature. www.rte.ie/radio1/futuretense Future Tense ends at 8:00pm every Tuesday, perfect timing to switch over to Dublin City Anna Livia FM 103.2 for the ASTRONOMY IRELAND RADIO SHOW with in depth news from around the universe, studio guests, and what to see and do. One news story tonight will be the decommissioning of the "vomit comet" giving us the catchy title above! Whereas RTE can be heard nationwide (and on the net) Anna Livia only reaches the Leinster area, however, we will be putting the show on our own website www.astronomy.ie (just click on "Radio Show" on the menu bar on the left). We've had a few teething problems and lost our recording of last week's show (October 26) so if anyone taped it please reply to this email urgently as we need to get a copy. (Thanks to Ita Dardis who provided a copy of the October 19 show which will be posted on the site later this week). So tune in your radios EVERY TUESDAY at 7:30pm for RTE's Future Tense followed at 8:00pm by the A.I. Radio Show on 103.2 FM. 2. SUNSPOTS A colossal group of spots has appeared on the Sun measuring over 100,000 miles long - that's bigger than Jupiter and a dozen times the Earth's diameter! If you use our AstroSolar filters you can see the spots with the naked eye alone. In binoculars the group is very obvious and a small telescope shows incredible detail (both fitted with AstroSolar filters of course!). Call our Astronomy Shop to get inexpensive AstroSolar filters for your eyes, binoculars, and telescopes and see the biggest sunspots for several months. If skies are not clear you can get a view with the SOHO spacecraft at http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/realtime/mdi_igr/512/ (click image for larger view) but it's just not the same as viewing the Sun live. Watch out for possible displays of the aurora any night this week, and if you see any TEXT 086 081 99 86 immediately please so we can issue an alert! 3. VENUS-JUPITER CONJUNCTION On page 28 of the November issue of our magazine (www.astronomy.ie/sub) we have a special feature and diagram on one of the most impressive planet alignments of the decade. Jupiter is brighter than EVERY star in the sky and Venus is 8 times brighter than that! These are the two brightest star-like objects in the sky so it is not possible to get a brighter planet conjunction than this. It also happens far enough from the Sun to see it fairly high in a dark sky each morning before dawn. Look between 6am and 7am. As the diagram shows on page 28 they are closest on Friday morning (just 0.6 degrees apart - roughly one Moon diameter) but they will be 'impressively' close for several mornings either side this date so watch every morning this week and early next week for the event of a lifetime. See the November magazine page 28 for more details (or call the Newsline below for this and other events). Early risers are just not going to be able to miss this rare 'double planet'. This is one event in your lifetime not to be missed! 4. 1550-111-442 TELEPHONE NEWSLINE HEADLINES THIS WEEK: VENUS AND JUPITER SPECTACULARLY CLOSE; SATURN NEAR THE MOON; LAST WEEK'S ECLIPSE REPORT; HUGE SUNSPOTS HAVE APPEARED; AND, 2 RADIO SHOWS TUESDAY. Please call our 1550-111-442 Newsline every Monday for a new weekly message (U.K. dial 09001-88-1950). - David Moore, Chairman, Astronomy Ireland. www.astronomy.ie/dm/booksale.rtf HALF PRICE BOOK SALE - ends soon! www.astronomy.ie/lecture0411.html next Leinster Area Lecture Nov. 8 "Photographing Planets" www.astronomy.ie/astroexpo2004.html Astro-Expo 2004. The world comes to Ireland. Be there! www.astronomy.ie/map.html Ireland's ONLY Astronomy Shop - support us please www.astronomy.ie/sub to join AI and get our monthly colour magazine. Or simply post 40euro to P.O.Box 2888, Dublin 5. Astronomy Shop: Tel (01) 847 0777 Mon-Sat for ALL your astronomical needs. -----------------------------------------