ASTRONOMY IRELAND MAILING LIST - www.astronomy.ie (The all-Ireland astronomy club, magazine and Shop) --------------------------------------------------- 1. HAWKING'S DUBLIN PAPER Just back from the Stephen Hawking presentation at the International GR17 conference in Dublin's RDS. Just as I thought the lecture was very technical, given that it was for an audience of 700 of his fellow scientists. Even John Preskill, to whom Hawking concede his bet and handed over a encyclopaedia to, said he did not fully understand it. It was fun to see the media trying to grapple with what happened today also. TV3 at 5:30pm didn't say what the theory was about. RTE SixOne News suggested it was a lot more than it actually is and did not tell us what Hawking was basically saying (see www.rte.ie/news/6news.html ) Most don't even understand the issue that Hawking was addressing "The Black Hole Information Paradox" let alone his resolution of the same. So when you've done watching the TV or reading the newspaper reports ask yourself did they explain it? All they had to do was ask us! Astronomy Ireland CAN explain what the problem was and what Hawking's new explanation to the Information Paradox is, and we'll explain just what really happened today in an article being written for the next magazine, along with a feature article all about black holes. We're putting up a webpage with some details soon also. We also videotaped: Hawking's lecture, the bet being conceded, the prize presentation, and the press conference but we are awaiting copyright permission before these can go on our website. We also have a transcript of the lecture but again it can't go on to our website until they give us permission. We'll let you know. In the meantime I've been reading practically every book in our Shop about black holes and can recommend some good reading on this subject if you email me. It's fascinating stuff and some of the books are very good at explaining it. If you're in the Dublin area why not drop in and look at some of them in the Shop: www.astronomy.ie/map.html In the meantime here's proof that Hawking was there (this is my second time to be in his presence!) www.astronomy.ie/dm/DMSHJPKT.jpg Taken by Eamonn O'Fearchain, the characters are (from left to right): David Moore, Stephen Hawking, John Preskill, Kip Thorne More details of all this and lots of other Irish angles on black holes will be in the September issue of our magazine out in a week's time (www.astronomy.ie/sub if you're not already getting it). 2. AURORA A coronal mass ejection (CME) is heading toward Earth, and it could cause an aurora when it arrives probably after nightfall on July 22. Please TEXT 086 081 9986 if you see anything giving your name, town and county. And don't forget tonight is Jupiter near the Moon and, as it says on today's Newsline (call 1550-111-442) ISS will pass in front of the Moon along a line from county Wicklow to county Clare tonight. Regards and clear skies, David Moore, Chairman, Astronomy Ireland. Editor "Astronomy & Space" magazine. www.astronomy.ie Astronomy Shop: Tel (01) 847 0777 Mon-Sat