1. SLIGO LECTURE SATURDAY MARCH 20 Markree Castle Hotel have invited me to give a lecture on "The Universe" as part of a Dinner/Lecture series they are running. Dinner is around 6:30pm with the Lecture around 8:00pm. Note that this is not an official Astronomy Ireland event so you should contact the hotel directly at 071-9167800 for details/bookings and not the AI Shop/office in this instance. The price per person for dinner and the talk will be 45.00 euro per person the Hotel informs me. Markree Castle is a very appropriate venue in that the only asteroid ever discovered from Irish soil, 9 Metis, was found there in 1848 using a 13-inch refractor in the Observatory built there by the Cooper family. The current Cooper owner is keen to rekindle interest in the astronomical heritage of the Castle so you may hear of future Astronomy Ireland events at the Castle. 2. Mercury was spotted by James St. Ledger from Co. Roscommon on St. Patrick's Day evening. He was then able to see all 5 naked-eye planets now on view. He writes "We used the Sky Diary in Astronomy & Space magazine and Redshift 3 to know exactly where to look. Once we saw Venus appear, we kept our eyes trained on the horizon until Mercury was visible. As was mentioned in the March edition Sky Diary, once we had located it, it was quite easy to keep in sight. The flat landscape and perfectly clear sky meant that from about 19:10 to 19:30 we could just see Mercury sinking into the horizon. Unfortunately, before it had fully set, it disappeared behind some clouds. At the same time, we looked to the east to see Jupiter, south to see Saturn in Gemini, and below the Pleiades to see Mars. It was really great to see all five simultaneously, we were very excited. Unfortunately, we were just down the country for St. Patrick's day, and left our telescope back in Dublin, a sin we will not be repeating!!". This is the FIRST report we have received of a sighting of all 5 naked-eye planets simultaneously from Ireland during this apparition of Mercury. It is several years since this has been possible. You can see Mercury, and therefore all 5 planets, until the end of March, and all of next week is the very best time - see the March issue for more details. Send us your report to observe@astronomy.ie as ever. 3. HIGH MAN LAUNCH & TV Member Anthony Murphy from Drogheda believes he has found a representation of Orion "the hunter" in the north Leinster landscape. A large poster has been produced and will be launched in the Millmount Martello tower, Drogheda, on Monday next, March 22nd, between 7 and 10pm. Anthony has kindly invited all of you along. Further details of the High Man are at http://www.mythicalireland.com/highman The launch will also feature an exhibition of paintings by Richard Moore which relate to the High Man project. See more of his work online at http://www.mythicalireland.com/art (Millmount is that large circular monument on a mound looking down over the town). More information also from this e-mail address: mythicalireland@eircom.net Some reports have already appeared in the press but RTE will be screening a T.V. report on News2day on Network 2 either tomorrow (Friday March 19) around 5pm or on Monday at 5pm. The Six-One news may also carry it (Friday or Monday). 4. OBSERVING EVENTS Mars is already a fantastic sight next to the Pleiades. I was taking a look last night and both the planet and the entire cluster already fit inside the 7 degree field of view of the 10x50 binoculars we sell and recommend. They are closest (3 degrees apart) on Saturday night as explained in the magazine (with diagram) so enjoy the spectacle over the next week or so and do send in any photos or reports to observe@astronomy.ie 5. NEAREST MISS ASTEROID This just in: A newly discovered asteroid about 20 metres across will pass 43,000 km from the Earth's surface tonight around 10pm our time. This is the closest pass of an asteroid ever predicted. The object is called 2004 FH and was found yesterday by the LINEAR team in New Mexico. It will reach about magnitude 10 when closest putting it within range of modest amateur equipment. Predictions for your own latitude/longitude can be obtained from http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/MPEph/MPEph.html ===== David Moore BSc FRAS, Chairman, Astronomy Ireland, P.O.Box 2888, Dublin 5. www.astronomy.ie join online at our secure website.