Our January meeting has been deferred to
Thursday, January 19th at 8pm in Gonzaga College, Ranelagh
the talk on the night will be "A Full Year of Moons", an exploration of the many motions and fascinating aspects of our natural satellite. The emphasis is on some unusual characteristics of the Moon during 2006 such as the exceptionally high position of the Full Moon on the celestial sphere, and a penumbral lunar eclipse on March 14th.
because of the meeting being deferred, it has meant shelving another aspect of the talk to tie in with the birthday of the HAL 9000 computer in 2001: A Space Odyssey! It's birth date in the movie is given as January 12th, 1997. Happy Birthday HAL!
on the night of January 19th, we'll also have a 30-minute exclusive video presentation of the latest DVD released by NASA JPL from the Cassini mission. Anyone that was at Deirdre Kelleghan's talk before Christmas saw some earlier exclusive footage. Fascinating stuff. So do come along on the night and be amazed by the picture portraits of the Ringed Planet.
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we will also set aside some of Thursday's meeting to discuss telescopes. I know a few people purchased the Meade ETX 70 or Skylux telescope from Lidl before Christmas so if you are having any problems setting up the scopes, or just want to know a bit more about using them, drop by on the 19th to learn more.
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check out the latest edition of Arcturus, the free 16-page bimonthly magazine for amateur astronomers, online at
www.irishastronomy.org/user_resources/viewFiles.php?folder_id=3
. . . you can also download previous issues here from the archive. The magazine features articles written by sky enthuasiasts countrywide as well as detailed sky notes for the current two month period.
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I am currently compiling a CD of astronomy software, observing booklets, interesting webpages, utilities, and much more. The CD will be available at the next meeting priced two euro. Any profit goes to the Irish Federation of Astronomical Societies to help pay for the upkeep and bandwidth of the web site. If you cannot make the meeting, please drop me a line requesting the CD and we can make some arrangement to get it posted or delivered to you.
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The Irish Astronomical Society have their annual "Sky-High" magazine on sale in the astronomy book section (downstairs) in Eason's, O'Connell Street, Dublin. This is a very comprehensive guide to what's up in the sky during 2006 and is excellent value for five euro -- especially when you consider some of the other year books have less detail and charge a lot more.
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This year's BT Young Scientist Exhibition will be held in the RDS from Tuesday, 10th January to Saturday, 14th January. Best of luck to anyone in Gonzaga who has an entry this year. More details on the event are at
www.btyoungscientist.ie/timetable_of_activities.html
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The well-known science broadcaster Leo Enright introduces a series on astronomy on RTE One (television) on Sunday mornings at 9:45 am. Be sure to tune in and follow these fascinating documentaries. More details on the
www.science.ie
web site (go to the EVENTS section for the list of upcoming programmes). You can also watch the latest episode on the RTE web site.
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Leo is also one of the guest speakers at the third Connacht Star Party hosted by Galway Astronomy Club on Saturday, January 28th. The event will be held in the Westwood House Hotel (on the N59 Galway-Clifden 1km from Galway City). The Entry fee is €20. Some of the highlights include:
Dr. Mary Bruck: Irish wives in two famous Astronomical Parterships
Leo Enright: Mars 3-D
Dr Paul Roche: Robotic Telescopes,bringing the Universe into the Classroom
Dr Sean O'Donnell: William Rowan Hamilton a reluctant Astronomer
The NUI Galway Observatory will again be open to the attendees by Professor Mike Redfern
There will also be an imaging workshop, meteorite displays (including some from the Moon and Mars), trade & info stands, evening meal and a quiz. For more information check out
www.galwayastronomyclub.ie
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Finally, for those people travelling to the 2006 March 29 total solar eclipse we will be holding a SECOND meeting in March to specifically discuss the event, what to expect, how to view and image the eclipse, and much more. There are still places available on the IFAS trip to Turkey (Antalya) to see the eclipse though you need to book and pay for the whole trip by January 20th at the latest. Mail me for the latest price information and for contact details of the organisers. The IFAS trip will depart from Amsterdam so you also need to factor in your flights from and to Dublin.
I am planning use the opportunity in Turkey in March to run a Messier Marathon. No, it doesn't involve huffing and puffing through 26.dot miles of Turkish countryside lugging a 14-inch telescope, but a dusk to dawn observing session. The dark of the Moon period each March affords amateur astronomers at mid-northern latitudes the opportunity to see all the deep sky objects in the Messier catalog in a single night.
it's a total of 109 objects, or 110 if you count M102 as a duplicate observation of M101. Very few have succeeded as a couple of objects have to be found before they set in the evening twilight or are swamped by the coming dawn the following morning. It does involve a "marathon" observing session right through the night, with some sections fairly rushed as you attempt to observe all the Messier galaxies in the Coma-Virgo cluster.
if you would like to take part -- even if you feel you may not get all 109 -- drop me a line so we can set up some sort of observing group to help coordinate our marathon night.
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clear skies!
John Flannery,
South Dublin Astronomical Society
086-81 81 931
