ASTRONOMY IRELAND MAILING LIST - www.astronomy.ie (The all-Ireland astronomy Club, Magazine and Shop) --------------------------------------------------- 1. ASTEROIDS OCCULT TWO STARS TONIGHT! Apostolos Christou at Armagh Observatory alerts us to two asteroid occultations tonight. It is rare (few times a year) that an asteroid will pass in front of a star that is bright enough to be seen in a small telescope from Ireland, yet this happens TWICE tonight (Oct. 14/15)! Many of you have bought telescopes from our Shop that are well capable of seeing these events and you can put Ireland on the amateur astronomy map and contribute real science in terms of determining the size and shape of these asteroids simply by timing the disappearance of the stars. First up is asteroid 636 Erika which is 78km wide and magnitude 13.4. Around 12:10am BST tonight it will occult a magnitude 10.8 star in Aries (15 degrees to the right of the Pleiades, and just 45' from Pi Ari) while 45 degrees up in the Southeast. Diagram and chart: http://mpocc.astro.cz/updates/1014eri2.gif The diagram shows that Northern Ireland is the most likely region to see the occultation which will last 8 seconds at most, but note that these predictions can be slightly out and that satellites of asteroids may occult the star so everyone in Ireland should watch if they can. Next up is asteroid 63 Ausonia which is 108km wide and magnitude 12.4. Around 2:56am BST tonight (Oct. 15) it will occult a magnitude 9.6 star in Gemini (5 degrees to the right of Castor, and just 38' from 53 Gem) while 40 degrees up in the East. Diagram and chart: http://mpocc.astro.cz/updates/1015aus1.gif The diagram shows that nearly all of Ireland may see the event which will last 9 seconds at most, with the north slightly favoured, but again remember this could be inaccurate so everyone should watch. Set up your equipment an hour or more in advance to give yourself time to locate the target star. Start watching, or recording video (including those of you who have bought the webcam from our Shop note!), 5 to 10 minutes in advance in case of errors or satellites of the asteroids. Please email observe@astronomy.ie even if you attempt to observe the event. 2. LECTURES: ATHY AND ARMAGH OCT. 19: I will be giving my slide show lecture "THE UNIVERSE" next Tuesday October 19 at 8pm to the OGRA YOUTH CENTRE in Athy. Organiser Billy Browne (browne39@eircom.net) says that members of the public are welcome. There will be a small admission fee around 5euro. Contact Billy directly for directions and details. NOV. 26: Armagh Observatory will host the prestigious biennial Robinson Lecture (in honour of its founder) on Friday, 26th November at 7.30p.m. in The Studio Theatre, The Market Place, Armagh. Professor Jocelyn Bell Burnell (born in Belfast) who discovered the first pulsar in 1967 will give the 2004 Robinson Lecture "Tick, Tick, Tick Pulsating Star, How We Wonder What You Are!" in which she will outline the discovery and characteristics of pulsars in a non-technical manner and bring us right up to date with current research on these puzzling objects. For free tickets for this event, contact Mrs Aileen McKee at the Armagh Observatory, Tel.: (028) 3752-2928 (change 028 prefix to 048 if in Republic of Ireland); Fax: (028) 3752-7174; or e-mail: ambn@arm.ac.uk. NOV. 25: Professor Bell Burnell will also deliver the Robinson Schools Lecture at 2.00 p.m. on Thursday 25th November 2004 at St Patrick's Academy, Dungannon. The title of the Schools Lecture is: "You Are Made of Star Stuff". Teachers may request free tickets for this lecture from Mr Stephen Grew, St Patrick's Academy, 37 Killymeal Road, Dungannon, BT71 6DS. Tel.: (028) 8772-7400; e-mail: spgrew2000@yahoo.co.uk. More information about both events at: http://star.arm.ac.uk/publicevents/Robinson-Lecture-2004.html http://star.arm.ac.uk/publicevents/Robinson-Schools-2004.html 3. HAMILTON WALK OCT. 16 Next year is the 200th anniversary of the birth of one of Ireland's greatest mathematicians Sir William Rowan Hamilton (1805-1865) who served as Director of Dunsink Observatory from an early age. He is famous for scratching his equation for quaternions on Broom bridge over the Royal Canal when walking from Dunsink into Dublin on October 16, 1843. Each year a walk is held to commemorate this event. Dr Fiacre O Cairbre is organising a coach to leave from Maynooth University at 11am this Saturday to go to Dunsink and retrace Hamilton's steps. Contact him if you wish to join in: Fiacre.OCairbre@may.ie (http://www.maths.may.ie/staff/foc/) Dr O Cairbre will give the Astronomy Ireland NEW YEAR PUBLIC LECTURE on Monday January 10, 2005 on the life of Hamilton to kick off celebrations for Hamilton Year (see www.hamilton2005.ie for a full and developing list of events). He will also be writing an article on Hamilton for Astronomy & Space magazine, probably the January issue due out in mid December. 4. BRIEFLY Email comments on AI Radio Show radio@astronomy.ie (8pm Tue/11am Thurs) www.astronomy.ie/radioshow.html . HALF PRICE BOOK SALE is nearing its end. See www.astronomy.ie/dm/booksale.rtf !!! OCTOBER 28 last Total Lunar Eclipse til 2007! Order October issue for 5euro www.astronomy.ie/sub See www.astronomy.ie for everything else! - David Moore, Chairman, Astronomy Ireland. www.astronomy.ie Astronomy Shop: Tel (01) 847 0777 Mon-Sat for ALL your astronomical needs: HALF PRICE BOOK SALE now on http://www.astronomy.ie/dm/booksale.rtf -----------------------------------------