1. Fireball - possible meteorite? At about 11:30pm on the night of our 13 Mars Watches countrywide I was standing in Dublin's Phoenix Park when I saw the fireball that many people have reported. It was low in the West to Southwest from Dublin but in the West Munster and Connaught area it was higher and most people said it was brighter than the Full Moon. That would mean that there is a possibility that a meteorite might have survived the fireball and landed on Ireland. Several reports say they heard sounds a while after the flash, another indication that this was a major event. If you saw the fireball, or know anyone who saw it, please have them go to Astronomy Ireland's website www.astronomy.ie and click on the "report a fireball" option on the left-hand sidebar menu. They should do this immediately while the details are fresh in their mind. Also, we will publish a report on the "report a fireball" page about where we think any meteorite fell, in a few days, so we need reports as soon as possible. Please forward this message to everyone you know. The "report a fireball" page has details of what a fireball is, if you are new to astronomy. Check it out http://www.astronomy.ie/fireball.html 2. McCrea Lecture "THE RUNAWAY UNIVERSE" The Royal Irish Academy invites you to go and hear Dr Wendy Freedman of the Carnegie Observatories (USA) give a public lecture about measuring the expansion of the universe in Belfast on Tuesday September 16th (Queens University Belfast 6:30pm in the Great Hall, Layon Building) and Dublin (Academy House, 19 Dawson St, D2 at 6:30pm) the day before. Details at www.ria.ie and you can book places by emailing r.hegarty@ria.ie or call (01) 6762570 or 676 4222 3. Astrology & Astronomy I have been invited to give a public lecture for the Irish Sceptics Society on Wednesday September 3rd. You can come and hear what I think of astrology at 8pm in the Mont Clare Hotel, Merrion Square. 4. Ireland's First Rocket Builder Martin Houston will give Astronomy Ireland's September public lecture "Future Rocket Engines" in Dublin City University (Henry Grattan Building in the main lecture hall CG86) on Monday September 8th at 8pm. Martin Houston led a group of students at the University of Limerick that launched Ireland's first liquid fuelled rocket in August 2000 which generated huge publicity at the time you may remember. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Wright brothers' first flight. From that brief precarious flight we now have a multi-billion euro a year air travel industry. Most of us have flown, and at speeds and altitudes that Orville and Wilbur Wright could never have imagined possible. So what will the next 100 years hold in terms of the development of space travel? Air travel was difficult for the first few decades after the Wright bros first flight, just as space travel is still rather difficult and expensive now. But the seeds of reducing the cost and opening up a new space travel industry, already valued at up to one trillion euro annually, are now being sown. This should be a fascinating lecture which is Astronomy Ireland's way of marking the 100th anniversary of the first flight, which was, after all, the start of mankind's path to the skies. Seats can be booked by calling (01) 847 0777 Monday to Saturday until 6pm. Please join Astronomy Ireland online and support Irish astronomy: www.astronomy.ie/sub ===== David Moore BSc FRAS, Chairman, Astronomy Ireland, P.O.Box 2888, Dublin 5. Editor, "Astronomy & Space" magazine. ASTRONOMY SHOP: open until 6pm Mon.-Sat. 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