Fireball, Lectures, Moon & Venus, Death of Endel Opik

Forwardng from Terry.

Hi all,

1. Did anyone see any fireballs, or brilliant meteors on the night of November 8-9 (Tuesday - Wednesday), around 23:20 or 23:35? Even if you have already reported them, please send all relevant details again: Dr David Asher of Armagh Observatory is interested to hear of anything that was seen.

2. The next IAA public lecture will be by the very well-known amateur astronomer & ecdysiast (it's a long story....), Mr John Flannery, of Nenagh and Dublin, on Wed 30th November, at 7.30 p.m., at Stranmillis College, Stranmillis Road, Belfast. His subject will be "Voyages to the Moon: 2000 years of Journeys to the Moon in Legend and Science Fiction". Admission free, including light refreshments, as always, and all are welcome.

3. Remember to book for the Public Lecture: "DEEP IMPACT", by Professor Mike F. A'Hearn, University of Maryland. 7:00pm, Wednesday 7th December, Larmor Lecture Theatre, (Physics Building) Queen's University Belfast.
This summer the NASA Deep Impact mission spectacularly achieved its primary goal of hitting comet Tempel 1 with a spacecraft at 22,000 mph. Prof. A'Hearn is the Principal Investigator for Deep Impact, in charge of ensuring the mission achieves its objectives. In this lecture Prof. A'Hearn will explain why the mission was important, what happened during the encounter and what scientists have learned so far.
This lecture will be free, but we expect interest to be high, so admittance will be through registration with the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Queen's University. If you wish to attend this lecture, please register either via e-mail to physics@qub.ac.uk, or by phone on 02890 973941, giving your name and the number who wish to attend.

4. In a telescope, Venus is now noticeably crescent in shape, being only about 40% illuminated as we see it from Earth. It's magnitude -4.5, almost as bright as it can get, but still quite low in the SSW twilight.
On the early evening of 4 December the 13% illuminated Moon will pass only 3.4 deg South of Venus. What will be quite interesting is that since the Moon is itself so low, and so far South, its 'horns' will be pointing almost parallel to the horizon. You'll need a very clear view to the SSW to see it: if you're not quite sure where to look, on that evening the 'Summer Triangle' of Deneb, Vega, and Altair will point down almost exactly to Venus, forming a giant 'Y'.
If the sky is very clear, you should see the Earthshine on the Moon, and if you get a nice foreground object such as a leafless tree in the frame, along with Venus, it should make a lovely photo.
Next evening the Moon will be about 12 degrees left of Venus, lying on a line from Vega through Altair.

5. Death of Lembit Opik's brother. Welsh Liberal Democrat leader Lembit Opik, has spoken of his devastation at the death of his 37-year-old brother from a suspected heart attack. Endel Öpik, a married father, died on Monday evening. Lembit, grandson of the late world-renowned astronomer & cosmologist, Dr Ernst Opik, who worked at Armagh Observatory for many years, is a champion of the 'Spaceguard' project. He has given lectures on the impact hazard to various astronomy clubs, including the IAA in Belfast. I'm sure that many of you will want to express your sympathy.
Clear Skies,

Terry Moseley