COSMOS 2015 - 17th to 19th April 2015

Thank you and congratulations to the MAC for organising and hosting a wonderful COSMOS 2015. I agree with all Eamonn had to say in his post. Looking forward to next year's event!

Brendan.
:scope:

Hi everyone,
Just wanted to add my thanks to all the good people in MAC for a great weeekend in Athlone. Really enjoyed it and met loads of nice people. The event was really well run. A lot of hard work, but the ever cheerful organisers took it all in their stride ...looking forward to next year.
warmest regards
Kevin Berwick

Valerie and I had a most memorable Cosmos of all time. I was in complete awe when I shook hands with the great John Zarnecki. His brilliant talk on Titan and Rosetta I will always remember, and to think he is married to an Irish girl - simply astounding.

We were both thrilled to meet Kate Russo. We loved reminiscing Total Solar Eclipses with her. Roll on August 2017!!

The visit to Birr Castle ought to be held every year as long as we are meeting in Athlone. It was to catch up on all that Terry Moseley is doing to get the Leviathan back in action.

Now on a personal note: I did bring my 6.2" apochromatic refractor: it performed very well. Seeing Callisto's shadow on Jupiter was a huge event on Friday night.

Then on Saturday night when the skies were completely clear, Brendan, who lives in the area, joined up with me to do some serious observing. We looked at no less than 21 great spectacles. Brendan loves double stars -so we observed many: Castor @ 112X, Kappa Geminorum @ 112X, 20 Geminorum @ 40X, Izar @ 167X, Algieba @ 112X, Nu Draconis @ 40X, Porrima @ 140X, Praepes @ 225X, Tegmine @ 225X, Stf 1191 @ 112X, 24 Cancri @ 40X, Stt 186 @ 225X, Stf 1197 @ 140X, Stf 1201 @ 40X and Stf 1202 @ 167X.

The most dramatic sight we saw on Saturday night was M 44 the Beehive Star Cluster. Normally back home in Dublin with all the light pollution, I can see hundreds of stars even at 40X. But at St. Peter's Football Club, we could see myriads of extremely faint stars in the far background of M44. The 3D effect was very powerful.

Altogether Brendan and I observed for 3 hours 30 minutes on Saturday night, and we were both calling it a night at about 11.30. I suggested we observe one final thing before we pack up. Leo was at its highest point in the south. We headed south of Chort (Theta Leonis) to naked eye visible star 73 Leonis, and immediately we saw M 65 and M 66 galaxies!! There were side by side at 40X, and I could still see them both in the field of view at 112X. I have searched for these many times over the years; but I have failed time after time. These galaxies are 38 million light years away. M 65's diameter is 60,000 light years wide, and M 66 is 50,000 light years wide. Their separation is 180,000 light years apart. This was the perfect way to finish a 3.5 hour observing session. It is truly amazing what amateur astronomers can see from a very dark site.

I would like to thank in particular Seanie and Jason for the most memorable Cosmos we have attended so far in my life.

Let's do it all again next year.

Aubrey.

Had an excellent weekend. Big thanks to everyone who helped to organise the event, a lot of work clearly went in to it. The talks were all very good, impossible to single out any particular speaker! Decent observing session on the Friday night, looking forward to seeing the piece on Westmeath Matters on Irish TV. Lovely dinner and fun quiz on the Saturday night. Looking forward to reading Declan's book. What date is it next year?

I also had an excellent weekend - many thanks to all at MAC who did a fantastic job. I loved all the talks, very high quality speakers, and of course the meal, the quiz, and the rocket launching all added to the fun!

Well done all!

Here's a wee bit of fun, 3 mins of rocket launching highlights



Enjoy!

Paul.

Well done to all at MAC!
The event was very enjoyable.
Talks were great and the day was a very nice easy pace; we got plenty of time to mingle and chat with speakers and attendees.
The meal was lovely and the quiz was good fun. We even managed to come joint 3rd!
Dave and I eventually made it over to the observing site by the GAA pitch.
(we just missed you Aubery) but we did meet John and his wife who were there.

Looking forward to next year.