1. BBC Sky at Night This Sunday night August 3rd Astronomy Ireland member Sir Patrick Moore presents his monthly TV show "The Sky At Night" at 12:30am on BBC 1 N. Ireland (technically Monday morning) with a repeat on Saturday August 9th (usually within a couple of hours of midday). This month's show is "Mars: The Next Frontier" and features interviews with Arthur C Clarke and Beagle 2 champion Colin Pillinger (possibly coming to Ireland soon - we'll let you know!) For more details click here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/cgi-perl/whatson/prog_parse.cgi?FILENAME=20030803/20030 804_0030_4221_60073_40 Once the show is aired you should be able to watch it on the net (and previous shows right now) at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/space/spaceguide/skyatnight/proginfo.shtml 2. Star-B-Q offer ends tomorrow Remember today and tomorrow are the last days to book tickets for Ireland's biggest annual astronomy event at the reduced rate 20 euro (includes food, soft drinks, use of scopes etc).

From Friday August 1st the full ticket price of 25 euro will apply and we will start advertising the event to the general public. So hurry if you haven't already booked. Further details, with photos from past Star-B-Qs at http://www.astronomy.ie/sbq.html

To book call (01) 847 0777 up to 6pm Monday to Saturday inclusive. Or print the booking form at http://www.astronomy.ie/sbqform.rtf GOT A BIG SCOPE? This will be the biggest Star-B-Q ever and extra effort is being put in to the preparations. With the increased numbers we are seeking more volunteers who can bring scopes. If you have say a 4-inch refractor/6-inch reflector or larger and want to help the society please email info@astronomy.ie 3. PUBLIC MARS WATCHES ANNOUNCED See the new announcement on our website (www.astronomy.ie) about the 11 (and counting) Mars Watches being run by Astronomy Ireland on August 27. Or go directly to the page: http://www.astronomy.ie/marswatch.html. Not all venues are set yet as some people are on holidays - so check this page regularly! If you want to run a Mars Watch in your area email mars@astronomy.ie In the meantime, Mars is a stunning sight in a good scope with Syrtis Major, Hellas and the South Polar Cap all visible from our part of the world until Friday as explained on page 28 of the August - see Mars map caption. 4. International Space Station on view until Sunday You've probably seen I.S.S. blaze across the sky several times so far. We're getting a lot of calls about it so our publicity is working. We've still got until Sunday (inclusive) to get our last glimpses of it with Ed Lu and Yuri Malenchenko on board. Read the I.S.S. column in the magazine every month to find out what they're getting up to. We have 2 books dedicated to the I.S.S. in the Astronomy Shop if you want to know more. Tell all your friends to call 1550-111-442 after 12 noon each day for the time to watch that evening (after sunset). In N.Ireland/Britain call 09001-88-1950 ===== David Moore BSc FRAS, Chairman, Astronomy Ireland, P.O.Box 2888, Dublin 5. Editor, "Astronomy & Space" magazine. ASTRONOMY SHOP: open Mon.-Fri. 9am-6pm & Sat. noon-6pm. Tel (01) 847 0777. Fax (01) 847 0771. WWW: http://www.astronomy.ie (Subscribe FREE to AI's Events emailing list) Email: info@astronomy.ie