2005 News
From South Dublin Astronomical Society
This page really needs to be tidied up! --Albertw 23:24, 8 April 2006 (IST)
October 07, 2005 Bro. Guy Consolmagno's talk
Bro. Guy Consolmagno gave a very interesting talk on the topic of "Why does the pope need an Astronomer?" to SDAS tonight. Guy not only mentioned the religious significance of knowing dates, but also gave an interesting insight into the history of Vatican interest in physics. If you missed tonights talk Guy will be speaking again, though with a different topic, at the Whirlpool Star Party in Birr this weekend.
Bro. Guy Consolmagno listening to a question from the audience.
An enthusiastic Dermot Rafter speaks about DAS.
Some of those gathered to listen to the talk.
September 28, 2005 Guy Consolmagno to give next SDAS talk.
<p>We are delighted to announce that we have got the well known and eminent Guy Consolmagno to give us our talk next Thursday in Gonzaga.
Guy is speaking at <a href="http://homepage.eircom.net/~sac/whirlpol.htm">Whirlpool</a> in Birr which begins on the Friday after our meeting and with the help and influence of Gonzaga he has kindly consented to come a day early and give us a talk.
The title of the talk is "Why does the Pope have an Astronomer".
The co-author of "Turn Left at Orion" with Dan Davis, there is an excellent interview with both himself and Dan Davis in <a href="http://www.irishastronomy.org/user_resources/files/1124538888-arc_sept_05.pdf">this month's Arcturus. </a>
We would expect that there will be great demand for places and they are limited.Places can be reserved on a first come first served basis, so anybody interested can do so by emailing me at the info@southdublinastronomy.org
The talk is at Gonzaga College, Sandford Road, Ranelagh, Dublin 6 at 8.00 pm on Thursday the 6th October next. As with all SDAS talks this will be a FREE talk.
<img alt="GuyConsolmagno.jpg" src="
" width="659" height="480" />
The following taken from his website http://homepage.mac.com/brother_guy is a short Biography.
Brother Guy Consolmagno SJ was born in Detroit, Michigan. He earned undergraduate and masters' degrees from MIT, and a Ph. D. in Planetary Science from the University of Arizona, worked at Harvard and MIT, served in the US Peace Corps (Kenya), and taught university physics at Lafayette College before entering the Jesuits in 1989.
At the Vatican Observatory since 1993, his research explores connections between meteorites, asteroids, and the evolution of small solar system bodies, observing uiper Belt comets with the Vatican's 1.8 meter telescope in Arizona, and curating the Vatican meteorite collection.
Along with more than 100 scientific publications, he is the author of a number of books including Turn Left at Orion (with Dan Davis) and Brother Astronomer.
Dr. Consolmagno's work has taken him, literally, around the world. In 1996, he spent six weeks collecting meteorites with a team on the blue ice regions of East Antarctica. He has served on the governing boards of the American Astronomical Society Division for Planetary Sciences, and the Meteoritical Society, and in 2003 he was elected president of IAU Commission 16 (Planets and Satellites). In 2000, the small bodies nomenclature committee of the IAU named an asteroid, 4597 Consolmagno, in recognition of his work.
Observing this weekend?
Anybody interested in going on an observing session to Cloon Wood over the weekend.
We are aiming for Friday but if the weather isn't favourable Saturday night is the fall back.
If you are on give either Walter or John F a call or email SDAS.
Hope to see you there.
September 02, 2005 First Meeting
Hi All,
It's that time of the year again and the first meeting of SDAS is on next Thursday at the usual time 8.00pm at Gonzaga.
Looking forward to seeing you all there.
We are also looking to get the observing group started in earnest for the coming season so if you're interested be there and we will set up a contact list.
John F is giving a talk on "World's that never were"
It will be about the inhabited Sun, canals on Mars, and other odd theories about the Solar System.
For your info
this is a mail John F. Received from Mary Mulvihil (Author and Science columnist for Irish Times)
Science@Culture BA & Heritage Week special
Supporting the IOP and Einstein Year and Discover Science & Engineering / www.science.ie
New book: The RDS has published a new volume of essays on Irish science, to mark the BA's visit to the Republic of Ireland, after an absence of almost 50 years. In Science and Ireland --Value for Society you can read Charles Mollan on Ireland's scientific heritage, John Feehan on Ireland's environment, and Peter Pearson on Dublin's architectural heritage. Other essays cover topics such as forestry, genetics, the research culture here and marine science. Hardback, 294pp, euro30. In all good bookshops, or from the RDS (ciaran.byrne@rds.ie/ T: 01-240 7217).
March 06, 2005 Elusive Mercury visible in March
MERCURY, MARCH 2005.
Elusive Mercury? – Not really! If you have never seen it, now’s a great chance! Start looking about 30 mts after sunset. The thin crescent Moon will be just left of, and slightly below, Mercury on the 11th: a very rare chance to see Mercury further from the Sun than the Moon! Next night it will be 12.5 above left of Mercury.
This will be the best oppertunity to see Mercury in the evening skies this year.
March 03, 2005March 3rd Meeting
Remember tonigh is the first Thursday and we have our usual meeting at
Gonzaga at 8.00 pm.
Due to illness of our scheduled speaker John Flannery has kindly agreed to
give us a talk on From the Blue Sky to the Zodiacal
Light. (Thankfully not another Aurora Talk :-) )
Also there is a chance we might get a bit of observing done if the sky stays
clear. We'll have a couple of scopes with us just in case.
Also DVD of "Mission to Mir" or "Seeking Superstars"
February 21, 2005 Turkey Eclipse Last Call
From <a href="http://www.irishastronomy.org">irishastronomy.org</a>
If you want to travel you need to transmit your iterest to David Bell today no later his email address is sdbell@gofree.indigo.ie
I have just had word from Terry that the final details for the trip to observe the eclipse in Turkey in March 2006 are finally taking shape. This means that we will be presenting the tour operator with the list of those who have already expressed their interest in participating, probably on Monday next the 21st.
I am not looking for deposits now, but when I do, probably early next week, I will need the deposits to be made immediately. If they are not paid immediately, the list and whatever remittances have been received to that date will be sent to the operator. You will only be on the list as soon as we have received your deposit. We haven't settled on a deadline yet, but you can be sure that it will be coming at you like an express train!
I make no apology for being ruthless, but the interests of the majority must not be endangered by stragglers and tyre-kickers!
The reason for the pressure is mainly that for our booking to be firmed up, we must give the operator a deposit as soon as possible, if not sooner. It may be that we will be able to add latecomers later, but I wouldn't depend on it. We have at this moment 86 names, so we will probably settle on booking 90 to give us a bit of wriggle room (I have indications from a couple of people that they may be accompanied by some friends, but I must have the names by Monday morning)
I will then be looking for deposits in the region of £100 stg, 150 euro.
So if you have been dithering about whether or not to go, crunch time is here...
David Bell
Chair, Irish Federation of Astronomical Societies
February 16, 2005 A close shave! A close asteroid on April 13th. (2029!)
Courtesy of Terry Mosley:
A close shave! We will have our closest yet predicted near-miss by an asteroid, called MN4, on Friday 13 April! So who says Friday 13 is unlucky?! The asteroid, almost a quarter of a mile wide, was originally estimated to be on a one-in-60 chance collision course with the planet, though most observers now believe it will definitely miss.
However, the asteroid will come so close that it will pass between the Earth and orbiting telecommunications satellites - and, at 22,600 miles, will be the nearest predicted miss yet. It will be visible with the naked eye from the UK mainland.
If the asteroid were to hit Earth, the resulting explosion would be the equivalent to a direct strike with 20 hydrogen bombs. Vast areas of the planet would be transformed into wasteland, or, if it hit the ocean, a giant tsunami would be generated.
Professor Mark Bailey, director of the Armagh Observatory, said: "I think everyone is saying that it is going to miss, though you will be able to see it with a small telescope or even the naked eye. "It is like being on a train station platform and watching an express train go by three feet away. "You're close but it's not dangerous."
February 14, 2005 Professor Jocelyn Bell-Burnell Lecture in Dublin
Passing this on from Dr. Eilish McLoughlin in DCU.
The Institute of Physics in Ireland would like to invite you to attend
one of the lectures given by Professor Jocelyn Bell-Burnell*. Open
University, Milton-Keynes, UK*
Prof. Bell-Burnell is considered the greatest female physicist from
Ireland, having been born and bred in Belfast. She is one of only a
handful of female professors of Physics in the UK. As a PhD student she
made a dramatic discovery of regular signal coming from space. Initially
she jokingly labeled this signal coming as LGM for Little Green Men
which caught the media’s attention at the time. It was later found that
this signal was coming from a “pulsar” which is a rapidly rotating
neutron star. The Nobel prize in physics for this discovery was awarded
in 1974, but controversially Jocelyn did not share in the prize with the
credit going to her research supervisor. She was awarded a CBE in 1999
and an honorary DSc from Queen’s University Belfast in 2002 for services
to astronomy and raising the profile of women in science.
*Prof. Jocelyn Bell-Burnell
Open University, Milton-Keynes, UK
Tick, Tick, Tick Pulsating Star, How We Wonder What You Are
Venue: XG22 , Science Building
Admission charge: None.
To rserve a place please email physics@dcu.ie
February 13, 2005 International Space Station
The ISS will be visible over the country from Monday 14th. All the passes are in the early hours of the morning (4-7 am). Check out <a href="http://www.heavens-above.com"> Heavens-Above.com</a> for exact times of when to see it for your location.
The Gallery
This weekend I've spent a little time starting to get the <a href="http://www.southdublinastronomy.org/gallery/">image gallery</a> together. I've settled on a piece of software (<a href="http://jalbum.net">JAlbum</a>) and began integrating it with the rest of the site.
The main thing that the gallery is missing is images! So please send me (albert.white@gmail.com) any image that you would like included on this site. You can send any size or image format, though I will only put up at largest 640x640 jpegs, please also give a sentence or two describing the image and menthods used to take the image ets. If you can send images with the EXIF data intact (the ISO setting, camera type etc) that would be ideal as it can be extracted automatically. eg <a href="http://www.southdublinastronomy.org/gallery/Aurora/slides/IMG_1979.php">http://www.southdublinastronomy.org/gallery/Aurora/slides/IMG_1979.php</a>
February 10, 2005 Upcoming events
Courtesy of Terry Mosley
1. Seminar in the Schroedinger lecture theatre in the Physics Dept, TCD on Friday, February 11, at 12:00, by Prof Anthony Leggett, Macarthur Professor of Physics, University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign, Nobel Laureate 2003: "Bell's theorem, entanglement, quantum teleportation and all that".
For further details contact: Dr Jonathan N Coleman, Lecturer in Physics, Physics Department, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland, Tel: ++353 1 6083859, Fax: ++535 1 6711759
2. Tick, Tick, Tick Pulsating Star, How We Wonder What You Are
Lectures by: Prof. Jocelyn Bell-Burnell, Open University, Milton-Keynes, UK
Tuesday 15 February 7.30 pm University College Cork:
Venue: Boole Lecture Theatre 4. Target audience: Children ages 11 and up, general public. Admission charge: None.
Local organiser: Denise Gabuzda, tel. 021 - 490 2003
REPEATED: Monday 14 February 4.00 pm University of Limerick
Wednesday 16 February 4.00 pm Queen's University Belfast
Thursday 17 February 4.00 pm Dublin City University
Target audience: third level and informed members of the public. IOPI Committee Contact: Jason Greenwood, tel. 044 - 28 - 9097 3935
3. GALILEO PLAY,
Rough Magic theatre company presents Brecht's The Life of Galileo, in a version by Howard Brenton, at Project Arts Centre, Temple Bar, Dublin, from February 17th -March 5th. <a href="http://www.rough-magic.com">www.rough-magic.com</a>
Special ticket offer: *4 tickets for the price of 3* if booked by Monday 14 February (Valentine's Day!). Normal ticket price : Eur20 (eur14 conc.); Mondays, previews and matinees: eur15 (eur10 conc.)
This is a story of innovation, brilliance, success, of religion, power and the manipulation of truth. Consistently produced during periods of political uncertainty, the play reverberates across time with obvious meaning for today.
TALKS: Coinciding with World Year of Physics 2005, two events will be presented in association with British Council Ireland, the Institute of Physics in Ireland and Science@Culture:
4. 'And yet it moves' from Galileo to Einstein: a beginner's guide to Galileo and his legacy. With science historian Dr Michael John Gorman, physicist Prof Iggy McGovern and astronomer Dr Ian Elliott: Wednesday 23 February 6–6.45pm.
6. Science Friction: a panel discussion on science, politics and the state. With Howard Brenton, science commentator Brian Trench, national science advisor Dr Barry McSweeney, Vatican astronomer Prof Antonino Zichichi, and chaired by Dermot Gleeson: Saturday 26 February 5.30–7pm.
All talks are at Project Arts Centre, Dublin. Admission free, booking essential.
Booking: 01 881 9613 or <a href="http://www.project.ie">www.project.ie</a> Groups rates available.
February 06, 2005 Think You've Seen Orion?
Hey Folks, I've just got this from the digital astro forum, I think you'll appreciate this...It's a mosaic shot of the constellation Orion by Robert Gendler (only one of the world's best astrophotographers!)
Check his shot out, Makes me think my eyes are useless!<a href="http://www.robgendlerastropics.com/Orionhunter.html">http://www.robgendlerastropics.com/Orionhunter.html</a>
I'm sure you'll see detail you've never seen before.
Keith..
February 04, 2005 Observing Session February 11th
observing session at Cloon Wood on Friday, February 11th.
The arrangements would be to ring either myselfe or John Flannery between 5pm and 6pm on the night (at 086-8181931) to confirm if it will go ahead in case of bad weather. We would then meet at 8pm at the Monument in Enniskerry.
If Friday night is bad, then the same arrangements apply for Saturday. People can ring a couple of days beforehand if they would like to offer/need a lift out to the site.
Next Talk
Our next speaker will be Brian Keane, President of the Irish Astronomical Society, in Gonzaga College on February 3rd.
Brian's talk is titled "Space Collectables" and is about space memorabilia that is available to collectors.
Some examples he will bring along include meteorites, space mission patches, rocket models, a limited edition watch issued for the Apollo programme, and much more. The whole area of space memorbilia is a fascinating subject as we would all like to have a unique personal souvenier reflecting our interest in space exploration.