From Terry...

Hi,

This from Terry Mosely. String a new thread as the last one was getting a bit tedious.

Cheers,
~Al

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Original Message

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Subject: IAA Meeting, Connaught Star Party, Mars landing.
Date: Mon, 19 Jan 2004 17:12:39 EST
From: TerryMosel

Hi all,

1. The next IAA meeting will be on Wed 21st.
Public Lecture: "Astrophotography On A Budget", by Mark & Nigel Stronge. 7.30 p.m., Lecture Room 5, Stranmillis College, Stranmillis Road, Belfast. Admission free, and all are welcome."

2. Another reminder about the forthcoming Connaught Star Party:
The excellent & progressive Galway Astronomy Club's "Connaught Star Party will be on 24 January, @ 10a.m. (Registration 9.15-9.45), at The Westwood House Hotel, Newcastle, Galway City.
Admission: €20 inc. Coffee/tea break (Free parking)
Official Opening by The Lord Mayor of Galway City: Ald. Terry O'Flaherty.
SPEAKERS:
(1) Dr. Robert Lambourne: Open University, Head of Physics and Astronomy Department. "The New Universe": This will be a review of recent developments in cosmology, with an emphasis on supernova cosmology and the results from the MAP probe.
(2) Prof. Michael Redfern: NUIG, Department of Experimental Physics. "Black Holes": First discovered in the 19th century Prof. Alexander Anderson of University College Galway. Since then black holes have changed from being a theoretical concept to one, which is well established observationally. We can now observe small black holes in binary systems and super-massive black holes in the cores of galaxies including our own galaxy.
(3) Dr. Andrew Shearer: NUIG, Department of Information Technology. "The Crab Nebula": The Crab Nebula in the Constellation of Taurus is the debris of a supernova explosion that occurred on July 6th, 1054. The explosion was seen by Chinese astronomers and recorded by Anasazi Indians in New Mexico. At its peak it was about four times brighter than Venus. Despite this, there are no known European sightings of this event. Since then, studies of the nebula have given us a detailed insight into the death of a large star. The name “Crab Nebula” comes from drawings made by the Third Earl of Rosse around 1844. Modern day photographs show the shape to be more like Ireland than a crab. This talk will describe the latest research by Dr. Shearer on the Crab Nebula & its Pulsar from observations at the William Herschel Telescope in La Palma and the Westerbork Radio Observatory in Holland.
(4) Prof. Paul Mohr: Emeritus Professor, NUIG, Department of Geology. "A Feisty Tuam Amateur Astronomer in Exciting Times": - A rapidly expanding universe in mid-19th century astronomy received major input from amateur observers. In Ireland these included such as Agnes Clerke Edward Cooper, William and Charles Parsons, Wentworth Erck, William Wilson, and John Birmingham of Millbrook, Co. Galway. It was in his fiftieth year that John Birmingham attracted the attention of astronomers the worldwide. Shortly before midnight on 12 May 1866, he discovered 'T Corona Borealis', the brightest "nova" in the heavens since 1604, and its discovery astonished and excited the global astronomical community. Afterwards he focused astonishing energy in making a renowned catalogue of variable red stars and their spectra, but equally in disseminating critical reviews of the many frontiers of astronomy for the educated public.
The meeting may continue with informal meetings of workshops on Astro-photography, CCD & Web cam imaging, Variable stars etc. If anyone has any ideas or suggestions please email galwayastro@email.com
Observing will take place at the new NUIG Optical and Radio Observatory.
Trade stands: North Down Telescopes, Armagh Planetarium
Also possibility of a small John Birmingham Exhibition with a collection of his work and his 4.5 inch Cooke Refractor."
More details from <galwayastro@email.com>
[I don't know Lambourne, but I can highly recommend the other three speakers! T.M.]

I also hope to be bringing a large selection of S/H astronomy books & magazines for sale, including some rare & old items. Have your Euros ready.....

3. Another Mars lander event:
The Opportunity rover will land on Mars on Saturday afternoon (Jan. 24). More information on the Mars rover home page marsrovers.nasa.gov/home/index.html .
Let's hope this one is as successful as 'Spirit'

Terry Moseley

Hi all,

Three TV Progs might be of interest, sorry for short notice on the first
(Thanks to Peter Miller for the note)

1. Tonight (Tue), BBC2 7:30 pm: Rough Science
Earth is regularly bombarded by objects from outer space and in Arizona,
the renowned Meteor Crater is the result of one such collision. The five
scientists’ challenge is to work out the size of both the meteor that struck
America and a lunar crater. Presented by Kate Humble.

2. Thursday 28 Jan, Horizon, at 9.00pm on BBC2:
Horizon: Whence we came - "Secrets Of The Star Disc". The "Nebra Disc" is
changing views on the origins of European civilizatio. This mysterious disc
is said to be the oldest accurate star chart in existence, dating back to the
Bronze Age.

3 Friday, 29 Jan. at 10.40pm on TG4:
Einstein’s Wife - Mileva Maric’s part in the Theory of Relativity

Clear Skies,

Terry Moseley

Hi all,

1. The next IAA lecture will be tomorrow, Wed 18 February, at 7.30 p.m., in Lecture Room 5, Stranmillis College, Stranmillis Road, Belfast.
Robert Hill, from Armagh Planetarium, will give a public lecture on "Astrogazers Ireland". He will also have a full-scale model of the Beagle-2 Spacecraft, now somewhere on Mars but unfortunately not communicating with Earth! He'll also be telling us about the latest developments regarding Beagle 2, Mars Express, ENVISAT and SMART-1.
Anyone who has heard one of Robert's excellent & enthusiastic presentations (or been a guinea pig for one of his demonstrations!) will know that we're in for another treat!
Admission is free, including light refreshments, and all will be welcome.

2. Venus Transit 2004 (VT-2004) Programme

The Education and Public Relations Department of the European Southern Observatory (ESO) has just announced the Venus Transit 2004 (VT-2004)
Programme.

On 8 June 2004, the planet Venus will pass in front of the Sun. A transit of Venus is extremely rare - the last one occurred in 1882, 122 years ago - so no living person has seen one. The June transit will be easily observable from Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia so it is likely to attract the attentions of millions of people on these continents. It offers a wonderful opportunity to promote astronomy.

The VT-2004 programme is directed at the general public, school students and their teachers and especially amateur astronomers. ESO invites all interested persons to participate in the VT-2004 Observing Campaign and the VT-2004 Video Contest. Comprehensive information is available from the website www.vt-2004.org .

In Ireland the VT-2004 programme will be promoted and co-ordinated on an all-Ireland basis by the ASGI and Armagh Planetarium. A National Steering Committee (NSC) with its own website is being established. The full text of the ESO Press Release is available at www.eso.org/outreach/press-rel/pr-2004/pr-03-04.html

Clear Skies,

Terry Moseley

Hi all,

1. The Solar System is now 2 billion miles bigger in diameter than we thought! A new planet, discovered by Michael Brown & his team at Caltech, provisionally named Sedna (the Inuit goddess of the sea) orbits about 2 billion miles further out than Pluto. Is it a planet, I hear you ask? Well, it's only slightly smaller than Pluto, and quite a bit bigger than the other Trans-Plutonian objects in the Edgeworth-Kuiper Belt (EKBO's|). The official announcement will be tomorrow.
In 2002 Brown's team discovered "Quaoar", about 800 miles across, and orbiting 1 billion miles beyond Pluto. (Pluto's mean distance from the Sun is 3.6 billion miles). Then last month they reported the discoverey of another body, provisionally named 2004DW, which is 10% larger, and slightly further away. These are the biggest of the 800 or son EKBOs, most of which are are about 60-100 miles across.
Sedna is thought to be about 1,200 miles in diameter, compared with Pluto's 1520 mile diameter. It's the biggest object discovered in the Solar system since Pluto 74 years ago; it's 50% bigger than Quaoar.
Some astronomers want to re-classify Pluto from being a planet to being a large EKBO, but the majority voted to retain its planetary status.
So is Sedna a planet or not? I always thought that the totally arbitrary figure of 1000 miles would be a reasonable dividing line between a planet & either an asteroid or an EKBO. It's a nice round figure, which I'm partial to, even if it is in the old imperial units! So I'll regard it as a planet until there's an official designation otherwise!

And sometimes tradition is as good a guide in these matters as anything - after all, we still refer to 'Planetary Nebulae', although they have nothing to do with planets! And we still retain the original constellations, with their weird boundaries (we even have one, Serpens, which is divided in two by another constellation, Ophiuchus!). So if we can put up with those anomalies, surely we can at least keep Pluto as a planet, even if Sedna is eventually classified as an EKBO!

2. IAA member Peter Paice's excellent new solar images are now featured on today's Spaceweather.com website.

BT, don't forget the IAA meeting, Stranmillis College, 7.30 on Tues evening, and the lecture in St Patrick's Trian, Armagh, on Wed night - see last email for details.

Clear Skies,

Terry Moseley

Hi all,

1. Don't forget the TV drama based on the Cambridge years of Stephen Hawking, as he developed his cosmological theories, & was first diagnosed with motor neurone disease. Tuesday, BBC2, 21.00 - 22.30. It has been quite well reviewed, so could be worth watching.

2. Another reminder about the next !AA lecture meeting, on Wed 14 April, at 7.30 p.m., in Lecture Room 5, Stranmillis College, Belfast, when Prof Bill Napier (Armagh Observatory & Cardiff University) will give a talk entitled "Children of the Galaxy". As well as being a noted cosmologist, Bill is a best-selling author of 'real science' science fiction, and is always worth hearing. He'll have another book coming out soon, I believe. Admission is free, including light refreshments, and all are welcome.

3. The amazing Australian amateur Bill Bradfield has discovered another comet (total now 18!) Hurray for an amateur doing it the old-fashioned way, with an eyeball at the telescope! He discovered it using his 10-inch reflector, low in the evening twilight, on March 23/24, but was not able to find it again to confirm it until April 8 - and during all that time no-one else spotted it! I thought that LINEAR & NEAT had all but destroyed the chances of another amateur discovery by human eye.
It will reach perihelion on April 17, only 0.17 AU from the Sun - about 25m miles, or about 2/3 the distance of Mercury.
It's too close to the Sun to be seen at present, but will become visble later in the month, and then in May there is a slight chance that we might have THREE comets visible to the unaided-eye or binoculars simultaneously! (The other two being LINEAR & NEAT).
But you won't have to wait too long to catch sight of it, as it will pass through the field of the SOHO coronograph from April 16 - 20, at perhaps 2nd magnitude: see < sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/realtime-images.html> ; It will pass 2.6 degrees from the centre of the Sun on April 18.

It then moves rapidly away from the Sun and may be picked up in the morning twilight as a 4th magnitude object around April 23rd, although at our latitudes it may not be visible until a few days later than that, and the comet may have faded even more. We won't have an accurate ephemeris until it moves into view in the SOHO instruments, when the orbit can be refined, and maybe we'll get a better estimate of the brightness too.

4. Thanks to Adrian McBride for the following tip: The 'Energy Station' / power
pack will be on offer in Lidl stores from next Monday 19th April at ONLY £15-99

Spec:
* For supplying 12V equipment at home or on the road!
* 12V/7Ah accumulator battery
* 12V Cigarette lighter connection possible
* Jacks for 3V/4.5V/6V/9V/12V
* Including multi-plug set
* Including 12V/500mA power supply unit
* Price per item £15-99

Ideal for powering your telescope 'in the field', especially if far from your car. See
www.lidl.ie/ie/index_ni.nsf/pages/c.o.oo...419.p.Energy_Station


Clear Skies,

Terry Moseley

Hi all,

1. You can get tickets for the lectures by Prof Kip Thorne & Prof Sir Roger Penrose at the RDS, Dublin (see last email notice), on-line at EUR20 per lecture (EUR10 students) from the <www.gr17.com> site by credit card. You pick up the tickets on the night.

2. The IAA BBQ at Armagh Observatory on Saturday was blessed with fine weather, in spite of a dismal morning, and those who had enough faith in the weather forecast of a good afternoon & evening were rewarded with probably our best weather yet!
Prof. Mark Bailey gave his usual excellent & informative tour of the Observatory, including seeing the newly restored (almost complete) East Dome with the restored 15" reflector, and the restored 10" Grubb refractor in the Robinson Dome. We also saw the brand new dome for the 18" reflector, now converted back from its former 12"/18" Schmidt configuration, although the telescope itself has yet to be installed there.
We saw some nice little sunspot groups by projection with the Grubb refractor, and later viewed the Moon through Robert Montgomery's Konus reflector, noting the remarkably large SE libration, which put the Mare Crisium almost on the limb, and brought Clavius into view only one day after FQ!
I had prepared a couple of quizzes, which were won by Danny Collins, who gets a pair of 10x50 binocs kindly donated by Andy McCrea of North Down Telescopes, and by John Flannery who had made the trip all the way from Dublin, who won a book donated by Yours Truly.
We also rewarded Mark for his unfailing hospitality at these events over the years with a present of a few bottles of wine, and a little bouquet of flowers to his lovely wife Rowena for allowing him 'leave of absence' on all those Saturdays!

3. The ISS is making a series or morning passes at present, but because it's mid-summer, and morning comes so early, some are visible to observers who are up late observing anyway, e.g. on 4 July @ 01.35.

4. The next IAA public event is the 'Solar Day' at Carnfunnock Country Park, near Larne, on Sunday 31 July. We have a 100% successful observing record at these events, so mark your diary now!

Clear Skies,

Terry Moseley