1. MILLIONS HEAR OF AI'S VENUS TRANSIT WATCHES! Go to Astronomy Ireland's website www.astronomy.ie and click on the Venus Transit Watch report on the top line for pictures and preliminary details of how the events around the country went. Over 1,000 people visited the Dublin event in the Phoenix Park from 6am until 12:30pm on the day and we reached a combined audience of over 1 million people with our on the spot interviews for TV, radio & newspapers (more if you include the Sky News report that went out in to the UK and further afield!). A very successful day. More details on the website. A fuller report with all your photos will appear in the August issue of our magazine out mid next month so send in your photos and comments now to observe@astronomy.ie If you live on this island and you have a photo of the Transit make sure you submit it for the ultimate Irish record of the Venus Transit of 2004 (all the major libraries in Ireland and the U.K. get a copy for archiving) If you want to order the August issue (only 5euro) containing this report you can do so now by going to our subscription page, choose "one issue only" under "subscription type" and type in "August issue" in the comments box. www.astronomy.ie/sub 2. AI PUBLIC LECTURE "SUBMILLIMETRE ASTRONOMY" Submillimetre Astronomy is an exciting new area of astronomy, allowing astronomers to see through clouds and producing stunning images of star forming regions. Observing the Universe using submillimetre wavelength radiation (part of the spectrum between the Infrared and Microwave part of the spectrum) offers astronomers a new window to observe many important phenomena that were previously undiscovered. This is one of the last areas of astronomy to be fully developed because of the technical challenges involved in the detection instrumentation needed to detect this radiation and the opacity of the Earth's atmosphere to this radiation. Dr. Neil Trappe from the Physics Dept at the National University of Ireland at Maynooth, Co. Kildare is deeply involved in this new area of astronomy and works on far-infrared space optics. Specifically he is working on the HIFI instrument for the Herschel Space Observatory (ESA cornerstone project, due for launch 2007). Everyone is welcome to come along to his talk in DUBLIN CITY UNIVERSITY (Glasnevin, Dublin 9) in the Henry Grattan Building at 8pm on Monday June 14. Admission is 5euro (3euro if you bring the latest issue of our magazine) So that we can gauge numbers please 'reply' to this message saying how many seats you want us to reserve in your name? We'll also present a brief round up of the Venus Transit and some of the stunning images we have received from around Ireland (and the world!) starting at 8pm sharp so be early! I hope to see you all there. Details, picture and map are all at http://www.astronomy.ie/lecture0406.html 3. STAR-B-Q Book now for our next major event, Ireland's biggest annual gathering of astronomy fans. All the food you can eat and all the telescopes you can look through! The August 13 Star-B-Q is specially timed to see the best shooting star shower of the year - The Perseids - from a very dark sky site in the Wicklow mountains. Book NOW online at http://www.astronomy.ie/sbq.html Regards and clear skies, David Moore, Astronomy Ireland, P.O.Box 2888, Dublin 5. Astronomy Shop, Unit 75 Butterly Business Park, Artane. Tel (01) 847 0777 www.astronomy.ie info@astronomy.ie