ASTRONOMY IRELAND MAILING LIST - www.astronomy.ie (The all-Ireland astronomy club, magazine and Shop) --------------------------------------------------- 1. PERSEIDS HIT MEDIA I've done dozens of interviews about the Perseids which are getting a good press this year with the Moon out of the way and our Star-B-Q coinciding. Tonight and tomorrow night are the two top nights to watch but I got a brief glimpse last night (including 3 Perseids in 60 seconds, one being brighter than every star in the sky). So plan to view every night right through the weekend. You'll see a few next week too. Look anywhere in the sky, especially if partially cloudy, in which case look in the clear patches. Try to get to a dark rural sky (like our Star-B-Q event) but even if you're stuck in city suburbs you'll still see 10 to 20 times more shooting stars than normal, but far fewer than those in rural skies will see (1 or 2 every minute perhaps?). Report what you see the next day to observe@astronomy.ie See the Perseids page in the August issue of our magazine. The media have been quite interested with Sky News sending a camera crew in to our Shop/office today. Watch out for it on Sky News at 7pm and 10pm tonight. 2. LECTURE REVIEW Dr. Alan Fitzsimmons gave a superb talk on Monday night for Astronomy Ireland's August Public Lecture. Not only did he show the latest pictures from the Cassini spacecraft now in orbit about Saturn but he explained in great detail what we were seeing - density waves, up-and-down bending waves, shepherd moons, the dark spot at Saturn's pole and the surface and cloud features of Titan. He then proceeded to explain what we knew about Titan from Earth based observations including an incredible movie of a star passing behind Titan and being bent around the moon, as seen with the 10-metre Keck telescope and adaptive optics - so good he showed it twice! Then, in a world exclusive, he showed his own research when he and colleagues used the Ultracam on the 4.2-metre WHT in the Canary Islands last November, showing the smallest features ever seen in Titan's atmosphere, less than 1km across. These results have not been published yet so we got to see the work before anyone else in the world. It was a thrilling and brilliantly presented talk, one of the highlights of the year. Alan has spoken to the society in the past and we'll be sure to invite him again. Highly recommended. I wish you all could have been there, and in a way, you can. We hope to put the lecture online on our website so you can watch it ('streaming video' like Windows Media player, Real Player, etc can view using a modem or broadband). For the first time ever we are planning to put the lecture onto CD-ROM which will allow an even higher quality production. There will have to be a small charge to cover the cost of the latter, perhaps 5euro including postage? If you would be interested in this option let us know NOW please (just hit 'reply') as once the Star-B-Q is over we'll get to work on this project. Our next Leinster area public lecture should be equally thrilling when the Director of Armagh Planetarium, Dr. Tom Mason, gives his FIRST EVER lecture to Astronomy Ireland. Details are at www.astronomy.ie/lecture0409.html Click the link on that page to reserve your seats now! 3. STAR-B-Q RECORD? In the last email I grossly underestimated how many places had been booked at our Star-B-Q this Friday August 13. It was double the 200 I said then, with over 400 people having booked to date. That's close to the 500+ that booked last year for the Star-B-Q that featured the Mars close approach and set an all time attendance record. If you haven't booked already please do so today or tomorrow by clicking the Star-B-Q link on our website www.astronomy.ie where you'll find the online secure booking form and details of the talks, naked eye viewing, binocular astronomy, telescopes and the barbecue. All food and soft drinks are included in the ticket price of 25euro for adults (20euro for under 16s) so please book now and support our annual fund raiser that has been the biggest annual viewing event in Ireland for many years. It's aimed at the general public so bring some friends and forward this to anyone or any group you know on the internet. Don't be left out! STOP PRESS: Looks like we'll have a comet to view this weekend also. Comet LINEAR (2003 K4) is reported at magnitude 6 and so should be easily visible in the telescopes. It's not far from the bright star Arcturus - see the chart in the July issue of our magazine. Regards and clear skies, David Moore, Chairman, Astronomy Ireland. Editor "Astronomy & Space" magazine. www.astronomy.ie Astronomy Shop: Tel (01) 847 0777 Mon-Sat