[ David Moore writes: Astronomy Ireland has received the notice below about a Lecture important to serious astronomical research in Ireland. To put it in context, there has been discussion amongst the professional astronomical community in Ireland about what sort of equipment Irish professional astronomers should have access to? Ireland currently has access to the telescopes (up to 4.2-metre) on La Palma in the Canary Islands at very little cost but much larger instruments are now in use around the world. Some of the suggestions I have heard of include: A large radio telescope, which could be networked with others across Europe and the world (weather is not a problem so it can be sited in Ireland), SALT (Southern African Large Telescope) a relatively inexpensive 11-metre telescope that can see the less studied southern hemisphere of the Sky: http://www.salt.ac.za/ Membership of the European Southern Observatory (http://eso.org/) which already has the four 8.2-metre telescope in Chile and is planning a Overwhelmingly Large Telescop (OWL) of 100-metre size! (http://eso.org/projects/owl/) As I understand it, E.S.O. membership requires a once-off down payment and an annual contribution thereafter. We reported on the U.K. joining E.S.O. in the the September 2002 issue of Astronomy & Space magazine (check it out before you go to the lecture). Astronomy Ireland will support the professional astronomical community in any way it can. If you are a student studying or intending studying astronomy in an Irish university, or have an interest in Irish professional astronomy or the E.S.O. then this lecture will be of interest to you. ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------ Dear Colleagues, On Thursday 29 May at 18h (pm), the ESO Director General, Prof. Catherine Cesarsky, will deliver a Discourse at the Royal Irish Academy on "The role of the ESO and its importance for European astronomy" The address of the Academy is 19 Dawson Street, Dublin 2. There will be a reception afterwards. I hope that many of you will be attending. Please let the RIA know that you intend to come, by calling 6764222 or sending an e-mail notice to Ms Hogan: a.hogan@ria.ie. I look forward to seeing all of you on Thursday evening, Evert Meurs ------------------------------------------------------------ Prof. Evert Meurs, Tel. +353-1-8387911 Director, Fax +353-1-8387090 Dunsink Observatory Castleknock Dublin 15, IRL e-mail ejam@dunsink.dias.ie ------------------------------------------------------------