ASTRONOMY IRELAND MAILING LIST - www.astronomy.ie (The all-Ireland astronomy Club, Magazine and Shop) --------------------------------------------------- 1. EVENING CLASSES IN D.C.U. AND T.C.D. Our "ASTRONOMY EVENING CLASSES FOR BEGINNERS" which Astronomy Ireland will be running in D.C.U. starting on October 7 (Thursdays) were mentioned in the Irish Times last Saturday and we've had a huge rush of bookings over the past couple of days. If you want to book for the course please do so soon online at www.astronomy.ie/eveningclass.html where you will also find more details of the course which is aimed at giving you an overview of the universe from stars and planets to cosmology and advice on learning your way around the sky and even how to use a telescope. All 10 classes are 75euro in total (105 to non-members who are very welcome - or join AI now at www.astronomy.ie/sub and immediately avail of the 30euro discount) You can also book by calling our Shop staff at (01) 847 0777 Monday to Saturday up to 5:30pm. If you're not free on Thursdays, then Dr Ian Sanders of TCD's Geology Dept is presenting a series of 6 lectures on "THE SOLAR SYSTEM - ITS ORIGIN AND EARLY HISTORY" every Tuesday at 8pm starting October 12 in the Museum Building, Trinity College Dublin. Dr Sanders writes "This series of six illustrated lectures will attempt to explain in non-technical language how the solar system began. The lectures will explore the evidence in meteorites and lunar samples for the creation of the sun and planets and for early events in their history. Apply to Ms M. Duncan, Dept. of Geology, Trinity College, Dublin 2. Phone 01 608 1074; e-mail earth@tcd.ie. Fee is 60euro (students/unwaged/pensioners 30euro)" Further details at www.astronomy.ie/dm/Geology_evening_lect.doc Also, don't forget the sold out RIA lecture tomorrow night at 7pm (Sept. 22) will be webcast live See www.ria.ie Book the next public lecture for the Leinster area now at www.astronomy.ie/lecture0410.html to hear the past president of the British Astronomical Association 2. CLIPPINGS If you have a copy of last Saturday's Irish Times which carried the notice of our Astronomy Evening Classes in D.C.U. then please FREEPOST it (no stamps required) to Astronomy Ireland FREEPOST P.O.Box 2888 Dublin 5 Indeed, if you see any articles of interest to us please send them on or email us a note to info@astronomy.ie We used to have several people who 'watched the press' for us and kept our scrap book up to date but alas no one does it for us anymore... 3. NEWSLINE HEADLINES THIS WEEK: FIRST EXOPLANET SEEN DIRECTLY; MORNING PLANETS VENUS AND SATURN; SUNSPOTS AND AURORA; INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION IN EVENING SKIES. Please call 1550-111-442 (calls cost 95c/min, in UK dial 09001-88-1950 at 60p/min) every Monday for a brand new weekly message, and remember to call this week EVERY DAY after 12noon for the time to see I.S.S. that evening. 4. I.S.S. AND OBSERVATIONS I've seen I.S.S. blazing across the sky several evenings now. We're expecting it tonight (Tuesday) at 9:24pm. To see it every night until early next week call the NEWSLINE above every day after 12noon for the exact time to watch that evening. It's only a short message less than a minute long at the start of the Newsline every day so its not that expensive and the Newsline can handle hundreds of callers which our Shop staff could not! If you've been taking my advice in previous emails you've now had wonderful views over the past couple of weeks: Venus is stunning in morning skies and last week I got to see in with the Beehive star cluster in the same binocular field of view as we predicted! Amazing sight! I missed Mercury at its very closest to Regulus (3 arc minutes) but did see it several mornings, and a few of you emailed to say you saw it too (your reports will be in Observers Log column of the magazine). No one reported seeing that aurora that was predicted early last week - a lot of cloud cover. Same problem for the occultation of the magnitude 8.8 star by the 65km wide asteroid Moira on September 16. I got up early but it was cloudy! Keep emailing your observations to observe@astronomy.ie (and text 086 081 99 86 if you see an aurora! There's a nice sunspot right now but no aurora expected yet). 5. HALF PRICE BOOK SALE - CHEAPER THAN AMAZON.COM! Note that our Astronomy Shop has a HUGE clearance sale this month!!! Nearly all books (300 titles in stock, email and we'll send you a list!) are reduced to HALF PRICE! Yes, that's right HALF PRICE - that's cheaper than the publishers sell them to shops! e.g. Laminated Sky Atlas 2000 (probably the best star atlas in the world) was 146euro NOW 73euro! Black Holes and Baby Universes (Stephen Hawking) was 12.50euro NOW 6.25euro! All brand new! All HALF PRICE. Drop in to the Astronomy Shop at Unit 75 Butterly Business Park, Kilmore Road, Artane, Dublin 5 (see map: www.astronomy.ie/map.html and bus routes) or call with your credit card Mon-Fri 9:30-17:30 and SATURDAY 12:00-18:00 Big discounts on slides, VistaPix binoculars, and telescopes too - just ask.... Come and visit Ireland's only dedicated telescope showrooms - from beginners models to research grade all on display 6 days a week. Find out why most people in Ireland buy their telescopes and accessories from us! And browse through our book sale for as long as you want. Regards and clear skies, David Moore, Chairman, Astronomy Ireland. Editor "Astronomy & Space" magazine. www.astronomy.ie Astronomy Shop: Tel (01) 847 0777 Mon-Sat