All posts by iaaadmin

IAA President receives BEM Medal

May 10, 2014 iaaadmin Leave a comment

The hot news of last Summer was that Terry Moseley, now commencing his 10th year as IAA President, had been awarded the British Empire Medal for services to Astronomy Education. Well, he has now received his medal and here is Terry's own account of his day…..

"Although the announcement of my award of the British Empire Medal was in June 2013, I was not able to attend that Autumn's Hillsborough Presentation Ceremony as I had already booked to go to the RAS Commemoration for Sir P. M. at the NSC in Leicester. The next one was on April 30 just past, so my guests Angela O'Connell, son Kevin & daughter Katie accompanied me..

The presentations are made by the Queen's Representative for each county, the Lord Lieutenant: for Co Antrim that's Joan Christie, DL, OBE. Incidentally, it was she, representing the Monarch, who officially welcomed President Obama & family when he landed at Aldergrove for the G8 summit last year. So I've shaken hands with someone who has shaken hands with the Obamas! The official photos are not available yet.

After the formal ceremony there were light refreshments, and a chance to explore the lovely gardens. Incidentally, as far as I could tell, the sundial is not aligned properly!

Next is the trip to Buckingham Palace for the Queen's Garden Party on June 3. Only one guest is allowed for that, so Angela will be doing the honours."

So, Congratulations Terry from all of us in the IAA!

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North Down Museum – Stars and Mars, Moon and Jupiter!

May 3, 2014 iaaadmin Leave a comment

The Irish Astronomical Association will be holding another of our very popular astronomy evenings at the North Down Museum beside Bangor Castle, on Saturday evening, 3rd May, at 6 pm. Once again we'll have a selection of powerful telescopes and binoculars for viewing the night sky, an exhibition, short astronomy and space films, a selection of meteorites (rocks from space) which you can actually hold, and of course the Stardome mobile planetarium just in case of bad weather. And you'll have a chance to meet our own 'Ulsternaut', Derek Heatly from Groomsport, who is booked to fly into space with Virgin Galactic.

There will be free shows in the Stardome at 6:15, 7:00, 7:45, 8:30 and 9:15, and these must be booked on the night.

The highlights in the sky will be a spectacular crescent Moon high in the sky, observable in the daylight – sunset is at 9pm. In addition as soon as darkness fallswe will get a great view of giant Jupiter, the largest planet in the Solar System, with its four large Moons, and a bright Mars, of course this depends on the weather!

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The 40th Annual General Meeting – 16th April

April 16, 2014 iaaadmin Leave a comment

Wednesday 16th April marks the date of the 40th Annual General Meeting of the Association. The purposes of the meeting are to review the activities of the past year, elect a new Council for the coming year and for the Council to receive feedback from the membership on how they – that's you – would like to see the Association develop.

We have also had a sub-committee sitting to decide whether or not the prestigious Aidan P Fitzgerald Award should be awarded this year, and if so, who the recipient should be. This award is given no more than once a year for "Outstanding Service to the Association" and is named after one of the leading members of the Association in the 1940s and 50s.

The evening will finish with a Bring and Buy sale and telescope Clinic, so if you have any pieces of gear you don't use any more that could be useful to someone else, bring them along, and if you have some kit that you need some advice using, bring that along too!

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IAA Lecture; 2nd April : Dr Steve Myers (CERN) – “The LHC and the Discovery of the Higgs Boson”

April 2, 2014 iaaadmin Leave a comment

The IAA is delighted to announce that the lecture on 2nd April will be given by Dr Steve Myers, Director of Accelerators at CERN. Dr Myers is a graduate of QUB where he studied Engineering, and went on to be Head of the section of CERN dealing with all the big particle accelerators, including the Large Hadron Collider. In other words, without him, they wouldn't have discovered the Higgs Boson!

The lecture is free and open to all, including free refreshments. Venue: the Bell Lecture Theatre, Physics Building, Queen's University, Belfast, at 7.30 p.m.

Thanks to the Astrophysics Research Centre, QUB, for help in hosting these lectures.

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IAA Lecture – Dr Stefano Bagnulo, Armagh Observatory “Remote Sensing by Polarimetry”

March 19, 2014 iaaadmin Leave a comment

Dr Stefano Bagnulo is an astronomer working at Armagh Observatory. He and his team are carrying out pioneering work that makes it easier to detect signs of life on other planets by filtering out the overwhelming light form the parent star. In this lecture Dr Bagnulo will explain how it's done and what it means for the future of exoplanet expoloration.

The lecture is free and open to all, including free refreshments. Venue: the Bell Lecture Theatre, Physics Building, Queen's University, Belfast, at 7.30 p.m.

Thanks to the Astrophysics Research Centre, QUB, for help in hosting these lectures.

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IAA Lecture – 5th March, Dave Grennan- “Making Your Own Telescope”

March 5, 2014 iaaadmin Leave a comment

Dave Grennan has been an amateur astronomer for over 35 years. In 2006 Dave built his own private observatory in his backyard in Raheny, North Dublin, for the purpose of conducting astronomical science. In recent years Dave's research has resulted in a number of new discoveries including two main belt asteroids and two supernovae.

In this presentation Dave will provide an overview of the equipment which underpins his research. Dave will explain how the main telescope was recently replaced with a homebuilt 14" astrograph. The new telescope was founded around a wide field 14" telescope mirror which Dave ground and polished himself. Dave will outline the process of making this mirror and show that undertaking such a project is well within the capabilities of everyone. The talk will conclude with an overview of his current research and future research plans.

Note this is a change to the previously arranged talk – Carl O'Beirnes will talk to us another time. We are very grateful to Dave for stepping in at short notice.

The lecture is free and open to all, including free refreshments. Venue: the Bell Lecture Theatre, Physics Building, Queen's University, Belfast, at 7.30 p.m.

Thanks to the Astrophysics Research Centre, QUB, for help in hosting these lectures.

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Aurora Borealis 27th February – Pictures

February 27, 2014 iaaadmin Leave a comment

Sunspot AR1944 caused something of a stir in early January as it unleashed the most promising Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) of the current season toward Earth just in time for our Stargazing Live evening! Sadly, it missed and we didn't get the Northern lights that evening. The sunspot lived on however and reappeared as AR1967 and incredibly returned again as AR1990. Just as it appeared around the limb it let go with an X4.2 flare – huge but not Earth directed, we were only expecting a glancing blow. But the Earth's magnetic field was very favourable, and we got a good display – even the weather was good!

Pictures of the event are available in our gallery here……

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IAA Lecture, 19th February, Dr Ken Smith QUB, – “Sifting the Sky with Pan-STARRS 1; Crunching the Data from the World’s Largest Operational Digital Camera”

February 19, 2014 iaaadmin Leave a comment

Pan-STARRS — the Panoramic Survey Telescope & Rapid Response System — is an innovative design for a wide-field imaging facility developed at the University of Hawaii's Institute for Astronomy.

The combination of relatively small mirrors with very large digital cameras results in an economical observing system that can observe the entire available sky several times each month.

These cameras produce a literally astronomical amount of data and among those tasked with sorting it all out is QUB's very own Dr Ken Smith who will explain how he does it!

The lecture is free and open to all, including free refreshments. Venue: the Bell Lecture Theatre, Physics Building, Queen's University, Belfast, at 7.30 p.m.

Thanks to the Astrophysics Research Centre, QUB, for help in hosting these lectures.

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Chelyabinsk Meteorite Day – Ulster Museum

February 15, 2014 iaaadmin Leave a comment

To celebrate the first anniversary of the Chelyabinsk meteorite fall in Russia, the Ulster Museum are holding a Meteorite Day from 13:00 to 16:30 on Saturday 15th February – details here….

Members of the IAA will on hand to answer any telescope queries and there may be Solar Observing if the sky is clear!