Great to see so many people along to the meeting last night when Terry Moseley delivered a superb talk on pre-historic astronomy in Ireland. Terry kindly answered a number of questions on the subject afterwards and certainly bolstered the case that there is much we don’t know about how early peoples read the sky. A consequence of this is the great care necessary to avoid trying to mould theories to fit symbols and signs that adorn some megalithic monuments and stones.
Some web sites for people to explore the subject further are;
Many thanks Terry for such a wonderful lecture and taking the time to travel down from Belfast to speak to the joint Irish Astronomical Society and South Dublin Astronomical Society meeting.
More details to follow later about our next meeting in April (just have to check when Gonzaga is closed for the Easter break.)
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The skies look clear and the scopes are being polished up for the public star party tomorrow night (March 6th) in Wicklow that will be run by the IAS in conjunction with the staff at the Wicklow Mountains National Park … www.wicklowmountainsnationalpark.ie
Deirdre Kelleghan sends these additional details …
The Star Party will be held on Saturday, March 6th in the Wicklow Mountains National Park from 8pm – 10pm at the Upper Lake Car Park. Please ring the Park before 5pm on Saturday (0404) 45425 to check if the event is going ahead if the weather prospects don’t look too good.
Deirdre is giving a short talk at 7pm on the Cassini Mission to Saturn and Titan at the education centre which is close to the Upper Lake car park. The talk is part of the Saturn Observation Campaign with educational material provided by the award winning Cassini Outreach department at JPL/NASA.
Deirdre, an accomplished artist, recently featured on RTE’s Nationwide show talking about her paintings and sketches of the sky. You can find the piece on RTE’s website at … www.rte.ie/news/2010/0301/nationwide.html (click “Artist Sketches Moon” link within.)
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Thanks to Michael Grehan for details of a new 5-part BBC 2 series on the Solar System starting this weekend. “Wonders of the Solar System” will be presented by Brian Cox and the first episode is on Sunday, March 7th at 9pm. More details at www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00rf172
If someone could put the episode on DVD for me I’d be very grateful because our BBC 2 reception is terrible! Many thanks in advance!
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It’s Marathon time!
The Messier Marathon that is. If you have even just a passing interest in astronomy you’ve surely heard some deep-sky objects (galaxies, nebulae and clusters) referred to by their “M” number. These designations come from a catalog drawn up by French astronomer Charles Messier (1730-1817) who charted faint fuzzies so he wouldn’t confuse nebulae with the comets he was more interested in hunting. Ironically, we remember Messier more for his catalog than his comets! Without a doubt, Messier’s catalog is a list of the sky’s celestial showpieces such as the Orion nebula (M42), the Andromeda galaxy (M31) and the giant globular cluster in Hercules (M13). Because Messier was observing from Paris he couldn’t see some far-southern sky highlights such as the globular cluster omega Centauri which surely would have been an addition to his famous list too.
Back in the mid-1980s, while still a young lad, some amateur astronomers in Europe and the US independently discovered there was a window of opportunity from early-March to early-April each year when ALL the objects in Messier’s catalog could be seen in a SINGLE night. The catalog consists of 110 objects that can be seen in large binoculars or a small telescope. And so, the Messier Marathon was born.
The Marathon designation is apt because observing runs from dusk to dawn if you want to snare all the M-objects. Not all 110 are visible from Ireland at this time unfortunately because some are swamped by the brightening sky near dawn. About 106 to 107 should be possible on a Moon-less night. New Moon (not “Full Moon” as I stated last night!) is on March 15th this year and we are planning a Marathon on the weekend of March 12th or 13th, depending on the sky conditions. Michael Murphy pointed out that March 16th is another possible Marathon night because of St. Patrick’s Day on the 17th, when we can all have a lie in.
Drop me a line if you are interested in tagging along on Marathon night. A supplemental list I dub the “Springtime Sixty” is suitable for observers that may wish to take an alternative to the sprint required at different stages of Marathon night when time could be lost trying to identify the members of the Virgo galaxy cluster. A further “wall” is hit in the early hours when the numerous deep-sky objects of the Summer constellations appear.
More details on the Messier Marathon can be found at the following links …
www.atmob.org/library/member/skymaps_jsmall.html (charts for 1-power finders such as Telrads)
www.perezmedia.net/beltofvenus/archives/000790.html (Jeremy Perez observing all 110 objects in 15×70 binoculars)
www.coaa.co.uk/messmara.zip (software to determine the number of M-objects visible from your location)
… on your marks …
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I forgot to say in the last mail what night the Dublin City FM astronomy show is on. It’s broadcast on Tuesday nights so do try and tune in to a weekly helping of local astronomy.
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Jack Horkheimer in the US produces a weekly 5-minute astronomy programme that can be viewed on YouTube or downloaded from his web site at www.jackstargazer.com
The show really is a slick production, is very informative and bang up to date. Jack has a friendly style and has been hosting the show since the 1970s. The downloads are about 25Mb to 30Mb in size but are well worth a look.
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RTE broadcast a series called Icons of Irish Science back in 2008. Podcasts of each episode can be downloaded from www.rte.ie/radio1/iconsofirishscience/1102467.html
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The RDS is running a science writing competition for students aged 12 to 19 and the closing date is Friday, April 23rd. More details at www.science.ie/science-news/young-science-writers-competition.html
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Friday, April 23rd is also the day Special Olympics Ireland will be running their National Collection Day and they are looking for volunteers to help shake a bucket at one of nearly 100 collection points around the Dublin and Greater Dublin area. Drop me a line or give me a call on 086-8181931 if you would like to help out or you can contact SOI directly with the details on their web site at www.specialolympics.ie
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Discover Science & Engineering will be hosting the Science Zone at the St Patrick’s Festival “Big Day Out” on Sunday, 14 March in Merrion Square, Dublin. More details at www.science.ie/science-news/science-zone-for-st-patricks-festival.html
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Enjoy the weekend everyone,
