1. VACANCY: EXECUTIVE SECRETARY Astronomy Ireland now requires a full time Executive Secretary. The duties in this exciting and challenging post include: General secretarial type office work: Processing membership applications: Magazine distribution: Handling telephone queries: Invoice processing. Helping to promote Astronomy Ireland events e.g. Lectures, Star-B-Qs, Evening Classes etc by sending our notices of events: Full training will be given. If you would like to be considered for this post then send your CV to director@astronomy.ie immediately (Friday 5th October 2007 closing date). Attractive salary offered. 2. LECTURES AND EVENTS (ARMAGH, BELFAST, DUBLIN) Univeristy College Dublin: 2007 Inaugural lecture of the ‘Physics with Astronomy & Space Science’ Degree Programme: ‘Gamma Ray Bursts and the Birth of Black Holes’, by Dr. Neil Gehrels, Chief of the Astroparticle Physics Laboratory, NASA - Goddard Space Flight Center. Co-recipient of the 2007 Rossi prize. Tuesday, September 25th, 2007, 6pm, Theatre B, Science Hub, UCD. All welcome. BELFAST: W5 (at the Odyssey Centre, Belfast) Science Outreach programme: Exhibition: "Living with a Star" exhibition by Miruna Popescu(Armagh Observatory) all this week (Sept 24-30 incl). Lecture: Simon Jeffery (Armagh Obs) lecture at W5: "Inside the Stars", Thursday 27 September, 11:00 to 12:00. Armagh Planetarium: To celebrate this 50th anniversary of Sputnik's launch, Armagh Planetarium is hosting a special day of activities on Saturday 29th September 2007, with free admittance for the over 50s (bring your ID)! Along with our children’s show ‘Secret of the Cardboard Rocket’, we will be showing ‘Dawn of the Space Age’ - an authoritative account of the last fifty years of space travel, from Sputnik up until the present day. Open Daily 11.30am-5.00pm. Booking is Essential on 028 3752 3689 (Adults £6, Under 16/65+ £5). For further information and a list of show times visit www.armaghplanet.com 3. PLUTO NEAR STAR - RARE! Those of you with 8-inch or larger scopes should remember that Pluto makes that very rare pass of a relatively bright star on Thursday - see the feature on page 27 of our September magazine www.astronomy.ie/sub Also, this week the Moon is near Uranus (Tuesday), the Pleiades (Saturday and Sunday). Jupiter & Mars are in evening skies, and Venus and Saturn are in morning skies. Venus is an incredible sight in particular and we've been getting calls and emails from alarmed members of the public! ALL THE DETAILS (and diagrams) FOR ALL THESE EVENTS ARE IN OUR MAGAZINE www.astronomy.ie/sub Please email observe@astronomy.ie if you see any of these events. 4. EVENING CLASSES ABOUT TO BEGIN Enrol now for our 8 week course starting Oct.11 in TCD www.astronomy.ie/eveningclass.html Pat Kenny and David Moore discuss the classes www.astronomy.ie/audio/patkenny_20050201.mp3 (We hope to announce classes in Cork and Athlone soon) Astronomy Ireland the world's most popular astronomy club www.astronomy.ie Also, Telescopes & Advice: Tel (01) 847 0777 Monday-Saturday