ASTRONOMY IRELAND MAILING LIST - www.astronomy.ie (The all-Ireland astronomy club, magazine and Shop) --------------------------------------------------- 1. CREATIONISM LECTURE The Irish Skeptics Society will hold a Public Lecture: "The Scientific Response to Creationism" by Kevin Nolan, a regular contributor to Astronomy Ireland's magazine. It will take place in Buswell's Hotel on Wednesday September 1st at 8pm. Admission is 5euro, members 2euro. Last year Astronomy Ireland had a huge attendance at a public lecture by Mark Sweetnam (Schull Planetarium) who presented the case for Creationism. Kevin Nolan will give the other side of the coin. www.irishskeptics.net 2. Comet LINEAR Yet another Comet LINEAR (2003 K4 this time) has reached easy binocular visibility in evening skies at around magnitude 6.0 to 6.5. It's just a dozen degrees to the lower right of Arcturus. The Moon will move in to the sky later this week and the comet will sink lower, although the comet is set to brighten as it leaves our skies and becomes a fine southern hemisphere object. Print out this chart for locating it: www.astronomy.ie/dm/2003K4.jpg 3. VENUS DICHOTOMY Early risers have been spotting the planet Venus in morning skies. It rises about 3:30am BST. Seen in a telescope its phase is supposed to be 50% today i.e. exactly half sunlit but due to Schroter's Effect Venus does not actually look exactly half full (dichotomy) for several days around this time. Take a look in a telescope and let us know when YOU think it is exactly half full (see August issue of our magazine page 23 for more details) 4. PERSEIDS Lots of you sent in reports after my last email. Daniel Lynch (Oranmore, Co. Galway) saw 30 in a 20 minute period. Martin McKenna (Northern Ireland) saw 113 in an all night watch despite some cloud cover. Looks like rates were indeed 1 to 2 per minute for those with ideal conditions, as we predicted (page 28 August issue). Keep sending in any reports to observe@astronomy.ie so we can publish a round up for Ireland in our magazine. You should still see Perseids this week (I saw one last night during a short observing spell) though the numbers are dwindling fast. 6. BIG SUNSPOTS After the huge sunspot group of last week another pair of large spots has appeared on the Sun that should remain visible until next week. NEVER LOOK AT THE SUN WITH BINOCULARS OR TELESCOPES. Instead, use AstroSolar filters placed IN FRONT of your binoculars or telescopes and held securely in place for safe views. You can get AstroSolar by calling our Shop (01) 847 0777. Do send any photos in for publication in the magazine. With all this sunspot activity there is always a chance of an aurora at night also. We'll post any aurora predictions here if we get them. Should you see an aurora please immediately text your name and location to 086 081 99 86 For the latest Sun image from the SOHO spacecraft click: http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/realtime/mdi_igr/512/ 7. STAR-B-Q Our fund-raising barbecue went ahead last Friday after we spoke to the Met office and they forecast clear spells for the venue just outside Roundwood, the highest village in Ireland. The night started out promising with large clear patches covering most of the sky. During the lecture the telescopes got a look at the Andromeda Galaxy, Ring Nebula, and clusters but by the time the talk was over the skies had clouded in! Over 400 people attended the Star-B-Q making it one of the biggest on record. Dozens of volunteers helped run the event, to whom we are extremely grateful. The next Star-B-Q is set for April 29, 2005. Our next big annual gathering is Astro-Expo 2004 which will be held in Dublin City University on the weekend of November 13 and 14. Make sure you plan to be there for the annual gathering of all Astronomy Ireland members from around the country. 8. 1550-111-442 NEWSLINE THIS WEEK Please call our Newsline on 1550-111-442 (calls cost 95c/min, dial 09001-88-1950 in U.K. at 60p/min) This week's headlines are: PERSEID REPORT HUBBLE IN TROUBLE GIANT SUNSPOT VENUS IN MORNING SKIES MOON OCCULTS STAR BINOCULAR COMET AND, STAR-B-Q REPORT. ------------------------------------------ Regards and clear skies, David Moore, Chairman, Astronomy Ireland. Editor "Astronomy & Space" magazine. www.astronomy.ie ------------------------------------------ Astronomy Shop: Tel (01) 847 0777 Mon-Sat ------------------------------------------