1. WEBCAM WORKSHOP SUNDAY Mars now dominates the evening sky. It rises in the East before 8pm. At magnitude -2 it is THE brightest star-like object in the sky and its orange-red colour is a dead giveaway. Amateurs around the world are taking stunning images of its surface features in greater detail than ever seen before using humble webcams (which many of you have bought from our Shop). See their images in the Gallery pages of our magazine over the past few months! Last year we had one of the world's greatest experts on planetary imaging, Damian Peach, come to Ireland (in association with the British Council) and give a public lecture and workshop on webcam imaging. You can still get his lecture on DVD www.astronomy.ie/lectureDVD.html (see November 2004 near the bottom of the list) Some of you have asked if some of the experts in the society could give a 'workshop' to explain how best to capture and process images now Mars is so close e.g. how to get the best out of the excellent Registax software. Dave Gradwell has agreed to give such a workshop on Sunday October 23rd in our Shop in Artane, Dublin 5 at 2pm. Places may be limited if there is huge demand so reply to this if you want to come along. FREE to members. Join at www.astronomy.ie/sub 2. WEEKLY A.I. RADIO SHOW ONLINE Tuesday's edition of the Astronomy Ireland Radio Show (AIRS) is now online at www.astronomy.ie/radioshow.html for FREE download (only about 3MB). In 30 minutes you will hear all the latest news AND WHAT TO SEE: Mars near Moon! Moon passes in front of Pleiades! Best chance to see Mars' darkest feature this week until 2018!!! AIRS is also available as a podcast on the world's biggest music store www.apple.com/itunes and was the 7th most popular download last week!!! Every Tuesday at 8pm AIRS will give you all the latest news of discoveries made about our universe and tell you what to see in the sky each week. Online by 9pm every Tuesday for ALL OUR MEMBERS AROUND IRELAND - FREE! 3. MAGAZINE POSTAL DELAYS A (very) few of you have reported receiving the November issue of our magazine (posted Oct. 11). If you have not received your copy yet please reply to this email giving your name and address so we can see what areas are affected. An Post still have not replied to or acknowledged our written complaint sent on Oct. 14. 4. BBC TV HORIZON ABOUT CASSINI AT SATURN'S TITAN Thursday Oct. 20 at 9pm on BBC 2 TV: ** Horizon ** Reports back from the Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn's moon Titan thought to resemble the early Earth. http://www.bbc.co.uk/horizon 5. ASTRO-EXPO 2005 IS COMING! Starting marking your calendar for November 19 and 20 as Ireland's biggest annual astronomy weekend looms closer. Each year: 6 lectures (3 each day) Huge exhibition hall - telescopes, SWAP MEET, professional and amateurs exhibiting, and more The Annual A.I. Dinner (Saturday night) - effectively our Christmas Dinner sees everyone interested in astronomy from all around Ireland (and some from abroad) descend on Dublin for an annual get together not to be missed. Headlining the bill this year is Dr Oisin MacConamhna (who was Stephen Hawking's only Irish student) explaining the universe! Oisin's talk last year was absolutely brilliant - DO NOT MISS THIS YEAR'S TALK So plan to travel to Dublin no matter where you live for the only astronomy weekend you need to attend each year: www.astronomy.ie/astroexpo2005.html for details and online booking at very low cost PLEASE JOIN OUR SOCIETY TO SUPPORT PROMOTING ASTRONOMY IN IRELAND AT www.astronomy.ie THE ASTRONOMY SHOP - open until 6pm SATURDAY (Mon-Fri 9:30-17:30) GET READY FOR MARS! FOR ADVICE ON VIEWING ITS HISTORIC CLOSE APPROACH AND TELESCOPE SALES CALL (01) 847 0777