20 Months Membership Offer 2010 Events DVDs Shop 1. Science Week Lecture - Cosmic Clocks and Little Green Men In the autumn of 1967, a PhD student from Northern Ireland called Jocelyn Bell was listening to radio waves from deep space. Among the noise something stood out: a highly-regular series of clicks. This continuous beat echoed through space and arrived at Earth, and nothing like it had ever been heard before. In fact, it was believed that the noise was created by an extraterrestrial beacon built by an intelligent civilisation, and thus the phrase "little green men" was born. Over 40 years later, many more of these objects have been discovered, and although we now know that the source of these clicks are exotic dead stars called pulsars, we still do not know how they work. On November 8th, Dr Andy Shearer of NUI Galway will give Astronomy Ireland's public lecture, where he will investigate these strange objects and how they are formed. Pulsars are the small remnants of a dead star, crushed into a volume as large as a city. A spoonful of "pulsar-material" would weigh as much as a house! These objects rotate rapidly, shooting out beams of radio waves, like a lighthouse. Some of these beams cross Earth, and astronomers are afforded an opportunity to investigate some of the strangest objects in the Universe. The "beats" caused by the beams from the pulsars are so regular that they are the most accurate clocks in the Universe. Such precision allows scientists to investigate some of Einstein's theories, including time-warping and relativity. The lecture takes place at 8pm in the Fitzgerald Building, Trinity College Dublin. For more information click HERE. After the lecture there will be a social reception in The Lombard. All guests are welcome to attend and you will have the opportunity to chat with Dr Andy Shearer, other guests, and Astronomy Ireland staff and volunteers. A DVD is available to order online for anyone who cannot make the talk on the night. BOOK TICKETS ORDER DVD 2. Science Week Events Discover Science and Engineering - Ireland's national science promotion programme and key partner of the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition, and the organisers who bring you Science Week have requested Astronomy Ireland's assistance in hosting events throughout this year's Science Week. Astronomy Ireland have agreed to host a plethora of events over the month of November including: · free nationwide telescope watches · Special science week lectures · Nationwide light pollution survey · Schools' talks · And of course our annual 'Astro Expo' Science week takes place from November 7 - 14, the theme this year is 'our place in space', be sure to keep checking Astronomy Ireland's website for Science Week event listings. For more information on science week visit www.astronomy.ie or www.scienceweek.ie 3. Evening Classes Don't forget, it's not too late to register for Evening Classes in any of the following locations: Dublin, Cork, Athlone and Letterkenny. As the Classes are now in the second (Athlone and Letterkenny) or third (Dublin and Cork) week, you will receive a 20% late registration discount on the original class fee. Call us on (01) 847 0777 or visit www.astronomy.ie/class to register. Astronomy Ireland The world's most popular Astronomy Club www.astronomy.ie ( subscribe / unsubscribe ) Our Online Telescope Shop