1. TV Thursday 5:55pm RTE 2 Astronomy Ireland Chairman, David Moore (www.astronomy.ie/dmbio.html), will be on RTE 2 television this Thursday June 1 around 5:55pm to explain why anyone in Ireland thinking of going to university really must be thinking of taking a degree in astronomy or nothing at all! Yes, it really is that simple and about 100 billion euro a year is at stake to Ireland's economy! It's a crisis that is looming and astronomy CAN save the Celtic Tiger. Tune in or set your video for more. Thinking of studying astronomy? For details of AI's October Evening Classes and EVERY astronomy degree course for full time students in Ireland see www.astronomy.ie and click "Study Astronomy" in the left-hand side menu. 2. RECORD YOUNG MOON and VIEWING THIS WEEK In the May issue of our magazine, Sky Diary author David Grennan (www.astronomy.ie/DG1bio.html) challenged you to spot the youngest Moon ever seen from Ireland. Declan Meyler from New Ross, Co. Wexford smashed David Moore's 21.7 hour record set in 2003 by viewing the Moon last Saturday just 15.6 hours after New Moon, using a telescope from our Shop! Declan writes: On the evening of Saturday the 27 of May I decided to try locate a very young Moon. I had read in the A&S SkyDiary that a 15.5 hour old Moon could be visible in large binoculars or telescopes. The north-western sky was very clear so shortly before 10pm I first located the planet Mercury, which was only 4 degrees to the left of the Moon, using my Celestron NexStar 11 and a 22mm Nagler eyepiece. The planet was easily visible through the eyepiece and also visible through the finderscope. I then selected the Moon on the hand control unit of my telescope and pressed enter. The telescope moved slightly to the right of Mercury and as I looked through the eyepiece I could only see the yellow-orange colour of twilight. Then after about 30 seconds I spotted an extremely thin sliver of light which took on the same colour as the twilight itself, the time was exactly 10pm(2100UT). I could trace an arc of about 20% of the Moon's circumference of which small sections would appear to brighten and fade, this was due to the atmosphere and low altitude. By 10:10pm the Moon was slightly easier to see and I followed it for another 10 minutes before it disappeared behind some distant low cloud. Few people in the world have seen the planet Mercury and fewer again such a young Moon, so it was nice to see them close together in the sky. See pages 27-28 of the May issue of our magazine (still available by post at www.astronomy.ie/sub) for more details and diagram. Congratulations to Declan on setting a new Irish record. The world record is 11h 40m by the way and we'll keep you posted of future opportunities to see very thin crescent Moons in the SkyDiary of our magazine. THIS WEEK's viewing highlights include: MARS - low in West each evening near Castor & Pollux and closing in on Saturn. Sets 1am. Disk very small in a telescope now. SATURN - low in West each evening but passing very close to Beehive star cluster this week - an amazing and rare sight! Moon nearby Wednesday. See magazine!!! JUPITER - brightest 'star' in the sky in the south all evening. Times to see Great Red Spot every evening are in magazine. New red spot one hour behind GRS! Details in July magazine, out soon. MOON - crescent early in week, First Quarter on Saturday. Visible in evening sky all week. Superb sight in a telescope this week therefore. Very near Regulus Friday! Some BRILLIANT viewing events this week therefore! Check out our magazine Sky Diary pages for details and diagrams and tune in to our Radio Show on Tuesday nights. Always send your sightings, like Declan did, to observe@astronomy.ie and be recorded for posterity in our magazine. 3. Lecture June 12 "ADAPTIVE OPTICS" Prof. Chris Dainty will give a PUBLIC LECTURE for Astronomy Ireland on Monday June 12 about the fascinating developments in sharpening the images produced by large ground based telescopes. Prof Dainty is a world authority in this area and he came to Ireland (NUI Galway) to continue his research in adaptive optics. For EVERYONE IN IRELAND this lecture will be made available on DVD: order this and previous lectures here: www.astronomy.ie/lectureDVD.html Those in the Leinster area should book tickets now at www.astronomy.ie/lecture0606.html where you will also find more details of the talk and speaker, and maps of how to get there. All welcome at 8pm on Monday June 12 in Dublin City University (Henry Grattan Building) 4. NEW ASTRONOMY SHOP OPENING HOURS Note that from this week our Shop opening hours will be: Monday to Friday: 9:30am to 5:30pm Saturday: 12noon to 6pm Sunday: closed You can call (01) 847 0777 during these times to place orders and for all the advice you may need. Note there is FREE delivery on all telescopes to everywhere in Ireland and full after sales service guaranteed. HUGE CLEARANCE SALE NOW ON: there are some fantastic bargains in our huge clearance sale. Hundreds of items must go. See www.astronomy.ie for a list or call the Shop staff. Do call for advice on which telescope to get to see the "Viewing Highlights" listed above and much more. Don't forget to tune in to RTE 2 tv on Thursday !!! ---------------------------------------------- Astronomy Ireland (01) 847 0777 Membership and magazine open to EVERYONE in Ireland www.astronomy.ie/sub ASTRONOMY SHOP - Ireland's biggest telescope shop - huge sale NOW ON !!! Unit 75, Butterly Business Park, Kilmore Road, Dublin 5. Tel (01) 847 0777 or visit www.astronomy.ie/shop for details and map Mon.-Fri. 9:30am-5:30pm and Saturday 12noon to 6pm