Irish Astronomical Association

Pictures of the events the IAA were involved in appear in the Stargazing Live 2012 Gallery

Many Thanks to all who took part - the response was phenomenal with over 600 attending the Jupiter Watch at QUB on Monday 16th, then 1200+ at Lough Neagh Discovery Centre on Tuesday 17th and 50+ at Beaghmore Stone Circles on the Wednesday afternoon with many more at the An Creggan Centre before and after.

Friday 27th January - Starry, Starry Night

STARGAZING LIVE continues with 'A Night Under the Stars' at Delamont Country Park, 27th January.

Continuing the very successful Stargazing Live on BBC the Irish Astronomical Association has been invited by the BBC to present another evening extravaganza on Friday 27 January.

This time the event will be at Delamont Country Park, near Killyleagh on the shore of Strangford Lough. The event will run from 6.30 to 10.00 p.m., and it will feature as a LIVE broadcast on Radio Ulster from 8 to 10 p.m. that evening. The presenters will be the well-known Anne-Marie McAleese and Darryl Grimason

HIGHLIGHTS:

*Public Observing if clear: Venus, Jupiter, + all the usual Deep Sky wonders using a selection of powerful telescopes and binoculars. Live telescope images may also be displayed on computer monitors beside the telescopes for easier viewing. Wrap up warm from head to toe for this!

*Starshows in the big inflatable planetarium. Due to the expected demand, these presentations will be ticket only, issued on a first come - first served basis.

*Amazing Photo Exhibition: The fantastic A0 size photos produced for International Year of Astronomy 2009 will again be on show, plus some of the best from other sources.

*Telescope and binocular exhibition: see all the varieties available, the pros and cons of each, and learn how to use them to their best capacity.

*Bring your own telescope, and we'll show you how to set it up, and use it to its best capacity.

*Meteorites: an exhibition of many different sorts of meteorites - hold in your hand a piece of outer space (if you can hold it!), with experts there to talk about them.

*See an actual piece of Moon rock!

*Our own local "Ulsternaut" - Derek Heatly from Co Down, who will be the first Ulsterman to go into space. Derek has booked to go into space with Virgin Galactic's Spaceship Two, and will be there to talk about his training experiences and forthcoming flight, with videos.

In other words, something for everyone.

The IAA has been recognised by the BBC as an official 'Partner' in delivering this part of the programme.

The forecast is for it to be clear but COLD, so wrap up warm. And we are expecting a big crowd, so bring along your own telescope and binoculars if you have them.

NB, there will be no cafe facilities on the site, so bring your own hot food and drink if you wish. Alternatively, you can pop into nearby Killyleagh for a carryout.

IAA Lecture 25th January

The second lecture of 2012 was presented by IAA Webmaster Paul Evans.

Paul has held a keen interest in spaceflight since Apollo 7 in 1968 when, as a schoolboy he followed the moon landing programme from start to finish. This also kicked off his interest in astronomy. In this talk entitled "Manned Spaceflight, the First 50 years", Paul gave us a potted history of how the Space Race got started, how the US won the race to the Moon, and what has happened since.

This was supported by many photos from Paul's visits to the NASA centres in the US.

The warm-up talk was delivered by Andy McCrea - both talks will be available shortly on out YouTube Channel.

IAA Member is IFAS Astronomer of the Year

Congratulations are due to IAA member Neill McKeown who has been voted IFAS Astronomer of the Year by the members of the IFAS website.

For over 5 years Neill has produced a monthly observing guide for IFAS which is used on the IAA website, and in a modified form at our lectures.

So well done indeed to Neill, a wholly justified award for all the hard work!

Neill is seen here being presented with a little something as a token of the IAA's appreciation for his work.

IAA Lecture 11th January

The first of January's talks was given by Professor Stephen Smartt, Professor of Astrophysics at Queens University, Belfast, entitled "Astronomy with the PanSTARRS1 Telescope"

The PanSTARRS1 is a 1.8 meter (60-inch) diameter telescope on Haleakala, Hawaii, and is designed to automatically search the skies for objects that either move or change their brightness from night to night. It contains the world's largest digital camera, with 1,400 megapixels, and can image a patch of sky about 40 times the area of the full moon, much larger than any similar-sized telescope on Earth or in space.

This was a fascinating account of Professor Smartt's work with the camera which centres on his interest of finding supernovae in other galaxies, though the instrument is so versatile that it can also find asteroids, comets and near Earth objects that could pose a threat to the planet!

The warm-up talk was delivered by Paul Evans and centred on the objects it will be possible to observe at the upcoming Stargazing Live events.

Images:Paul Evans

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