September talks and events plus SDAS newsletter

hi all,

Some events during the month of September highlighted below. Also, click on this link to get the latest South Dublin Astronomical Society newsletter.

Horizon, BBC2, tonight, August 31st at 9pm
Journeying to the Earth’s core is the stuff of many a science fiction story and movie. The August 31st episode of Horizon on BBC2 explores what conditions are really like at our planet’s centre. Tune in to learn that the truth truly is stranger than fiction. More details about the program can be found at www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006mgxf

all the best,

John
SDAS

* * * * *

Deirdre Kelleghan and UNAWE awarded prestigious science prize

Congratulations to Deirdre Kelleghan and the team at UNAWE who were award The Science Prize for Online Resources in Education (SPORE) for Deirdre’s “Deadly Moons” workshops which she runs around the country for schools and organisations. The workshop has been extended to other countries who translate it locally to teach children about the moons of our solar system.

The SPORE award is given by The American Association for the Advancement of Science, publishers of Science Magazine. Anyone who knows Deirdre is well aware of the tremendous work she puts into astronomy outreach and this international recognition is richly deserved. A full write-up is in the attached newsletter


SDAS meetings resume on September 15th

Meetings of the IAS & SDAS resume in mid-September and details will follow soon about the program for the coming year. We are delighted to have the broadcaster Leo Enright for our first talk. Leo reported on the recent final space shuttle launch and will look back over the 30 year career of Nasa’s dream machine.


Looking up

Comet C/2009 P1 (Garradd) is gliding through our summer sky at the moment and can be seen in large binoculars or a small telescope. Have a look at the amazing time-lapse movie on www.spaceweather.com (look in the archive for August 29th) of the comet passing the star cluster M71. Truly stunning! Equally awe-inspiring is the photo-of-the-day on www.atoptics.co.uk – a beautiful reflected-light rainbow captured by an Australian photographer. Read more about what’s up in the sky this month in our newsletter.


Hand Me Down the Moon (Absolut Fringe Festival 2011)

The 2011 Absolut Fringe Festival in Dublin from September 10th to 25th features some terrific shows with a science and astronomy theme. One of these is Hand Me Down the Moon produced by Bairbre Ní Chaoimh and Aideen Barry. Venue is the beautiful Landmark Trust house at 25, Eustace Street, Dublin. There are only going to be 4 audience members allowed in at a time, every 20 minutes - a total of 40 people per night - to make the show a very intimate experience. The down side of shows like this is this is that they tend to book out very quickly. Read more about the show at www.fringefest.com/event/hand-me-down-the-moon where you can also book tickets. See also www.fringefest.com/2011-programme for details of other events.


Solar Day at Merrion Square on August 27th

Occasional showers didn’t spoil the views of the Sun for members of the public who dropped by Merrion Square over the weekend for the Sun Day on Saturday which was hosted by Terry Moseley of the IAA on behalf of Dublin Civic Trust. Terry was assisted by Barry Pickup, Deirdre Kelleghan and Michael Murphy. Visitors were treated to views of the Sun in white light (via solar projection) and hydrogen-alpha light (via two Coronado PST solarscopes.) Some nice sunspots were sprinkled across the Sun’s disk and the h-alpha scopes showed some beautiful prominences. A handful of pictures of the event can be viewed here


An “epi…” what???

Those of us a long time with the Irish Astronomical Society may remember some lecturers using a piece of equipment called an epidiascope. The device utilised mirrors and an extremely bright light source to project pages of books and magazines on to a display screen. The projector really is a museum piece unfortunately in these days of Powerpoint, 3D-HD screens and even programmable bread making machines. I was always terrified the thing would spontaneously combust some rare book placed under the furnace of the device's lamp.
The epidiascope is now looking for a new home and if you are seriously interested in this historic piece of kit then drop me a line at southdublinastronomy@gmail.com and it’s yours for free.


Talks & other events during September 2011

• Sept 1st -- Shannonside Astronomy Club talk by Conan McDonnell
• Sept 2nd -- Shannonside Astronomy Club hosts the Burren Star Party (and 3rd) in Ballyvaughan
• Sept 5th -- Astronomical Science Group of Ireland one day meeting in Armagh Observatory
• Sept 5th -- Galway Astronomy Club talk “Emerald Isle, Emerald Stars” by John Flannery
• Sept 5th -- Northern Ireland Amateur Astronomy Society talk “3D Astronomy” by Dr Brian Espey
• Sept 6th -- “Chinese Star Charts” talk in Alliance Francaise
• Sept 6th -- Midlands Astronomy Club talk “Intelligent Life in the Universe” by Lawrence Rigney
• Sept 7th -- “Chinese Star Charts” talk in Dunsink Observatory
• Sept 12th -- Astronomy Ireland talk “Dark Energy & the Accelerating Universe” by Tom Boles
• Sept 13th -- Kerry Astronomy Club talk
• Sept 13th -- Closing date for the Heritage Ireland photo competition (see www.heritageweek.ie/ )
• Sept 14th -- Irish Geological Association talk “The History of the IGA” by Dr Patrick Wyse Jackson
• Sept 15th -- IAS/SDAS talk “The Space Shuttle: 30 Years of NASA’s Dream Machine” by Leo Enright
• Sept 15th -- (to 18th) 30th International Meteor Conference, Sibiu, Romania ( www.imo.net/imc2011 )
• Sept 21st -- IAA talk “The Origin of Comets” by Prof Mark Bailey
• Sept 23rd -- Sea2Sky in Galway (see www.sea2sky.ie/ )
• Sept 24th -- Institute of Physics in Ireland one day meeting in NUI Galway ( see www.iopireland.org/ )
• Sept 28th -- IGA talk in the Geological Survey of Ireland “Applying Geology for Healthy Dublin Living”
• Sept 28th (to 30th) EPA/RIA Tyndall Conference in Dublin Castle ( tyndallconference2011.org/ )
• Sept 30th -- Closing date for the Irish Meteorological Society’s photo competition


The club & association web pages listed here carry more details their talks listed in the above calendar

AI www.astronomy.ie
ASGI www.arm.ac.uk/asgi/
CAC www.corkastronomyclub.com/
DAS www.deiseastronomy.com/
IAA irishastro.org.uk/programme.html
IAS www.irishastrosoc.org/
IFAS www.irishastronomy.org
IGA www.geology.ie
IMS www.irishmetsociety.org/
GAC galwayastronomyclub.ie/
KAC www.kerryastronomyclub.com/
MAC www.tullamoreastronomy.com/
NIAAS www.eaas.co.uk
SAC www.shannonsideastronomyclub.com
SKAG www.facebook.com/southkerryastronomygroup
TICAS www.ticas.ie (The Irish Cloud Appreciation Society)