Hayden Geraghty, aspiring astronaut and one of the IAA's youngest members will be appearing with Rita Fitzgerald on UTV Life on Thursday 14th March. Tune in and enjoy!
Category Archives: Event
Lecture Weds 6th March – Prof Brian Espey (TCD) – “Protecting the night sky from light pollution” & Mary McKeown (MUDC) Davagh Forest Dark Sky Park
We are very pleased to welcome one of Ireland's top experts on light pollution, Prof Brian Espey, and Mary McKeown from Mid Ulster District Council for this double-headed talk.
Brian Espey is an Associate Professor in Astrophysics in the School of Physics, Trinity College Dublin. He received a B.A. (Mod) Experimental Physics from Trinity College Dublin, University of Dublin in 1983, and a Ph.D. in Astronomy from the University of Cambridge in 1990.
2020 will bring a whole new star-gazing experience to Mid Ulster, when a Dark Sky Observatory and Visitor Centre opens at Davagh Forest, near Cookstown.
Details of the Project can be found here……
Doors open about 7.15pm. There is free parking available on the campus in the evenings. Admission Free, including light refreshments. We are located in the Bell Theatre, Department of Mathematics and Physics, QUB – details here……
With thanks to the Astrophysics Research Centre, QUB, for assistance with this event.
Bell Lecture Theatre, Physics Building , QUB, 7.30pm
All welcome. Free admission, including light refreshments.
Lecture – Weds 20th February – Dr Jorick Vink (AOP) – “Women in Astronomy: from the Maunder Mininum, to Leavitt and Hubble’s expanding Universe”
We are delighted to have Dr Jorick Vink back to talk to us again. He describes his lecture here in his own words…..
"I will start with a discussion about the role of the Maunder Minumum, a period 300 years ago when the Sun underwent a phase during which Sunspots were hardly seen at all.
This observation is of great importance for understanding not only the Sun and the Stars, but also the climate on Earth.
I will subsequently discuss the role of stellar variability for the determination of distances to far-away galaxies. Here I will discuss the
important role played by Henrietta Leavitt. Thanks to her work, and subsequent studies by Hubble & others on galaxy redshifts, we now know we
live in a huge, expanding Universe that started 13.7 Billion years ago with a Big Bang. I will discuss the Genesis of the First Massive Stars in
this Exciting Cosmos."
Dr Jorick Vink completed his PhD in Astrophysics at the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands and is now based at Armagh Observatory and Planetearium where he conducts Research, Outreach, and has been responsible for running the Planetarium. He also spent a number of years engaged in Post-Doctoral Reasearch at Imperial College, London.
Doors open about 7.15pm. There is free parking available on the campus in the evenings. Admission Free, including light refreshments. We are located in the Bell Theatre, Department of Mathematics and Physics, QUB – details here……
With thanks to the Astrophysics Research Centre, QUB, for assistance with this event.
Bell Lecture Theatre, Physics Building , QUB, 7.30pm
All welcome. Free admission, including light refreshments.
Lecture – 6th February – Dr Simon Prentice (QUB) “The Cow: An incredible transient event”
Here’s the Synopsis and Biography by Dr Prentice himself…..
Whether it’s a massive star exploding, or clouds of hydrogen cataclysmically burning off the outer layers of a white dwarf, the Universe is never dull for transient astronomers. The last year was no exception with the discovery of AT2018cow (The Cow), a highly luminous and rapidly evolving event with no known analogue. Despite extensive multi-wavelength follow-up campaigns covering X-rays to radio, the nature of The Cow remains a mystery. Suggestions put forward include a tidal disruption event, a magnetar powered explosion, or an unusual supernova. In this talk I will summarise the observed properties of The Cow and where it lies in the transient “zoo”, and discuss the theories that have emerged to explain the origins of this rare event.
I am a post-doctoral research fellow at the Astrophysics Research Centre, Queen’s University Belfast working on “faint and fast” transient objects. I was previously a PhD student the Astrophysics Research Institute, Liverpool John Moores University. My research interests are primarily based around high energy transients, in particular gamma-ray bursts and supernovae, with an aim to better understanding the explosion parameters and progenitors of these objects, visit emeraldcarpetcleaning.ie.
Doors open about 7.15pm. There is free parking available on the campus in the evenings. Admission Free, including light refreshments. We are located in the Bell Theatre, Department of Mathematics and Physics, QUB – details here……
With thanks to the Astrophysics Research Centre, QUB, for assistance with this event.
Bell Lecture Theatre, Physics Building , QUB, 7.30pm
All welcome. Free admission, including light refreshments.
Lecture – Weds 23rd January – Dr Neale Gibson (QUB) – “Exploring Alien Worlds: How to find Life in the Universe”
Synopsis: The discovery of thousands of exoplanets in our Galaxy has revolutionised our understanding of planetary systems; however, we still know very little about the planets themselves. Transiting planets, those that periodically eclipse their host stars, play a special role in our understanding of exoplanets. They are the only exoplanets for which we can measure the mass and radius, and therefore obtain the bulk density and composition. They also allow us to characterise their atmospheres in detail. This is necessary to understand the composition and physics of planetary atmospheres as well as their formation and evolution, and ultimately to search for atmospheric constituents in terrestrial planets that may indicate the presence of life, so called 'biomarkers’. The launch of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) – Hubble’s successor – in (hopefully) 2021 heralds a new era in our understanding of exoplanets and their atmospheres. I will discuss our current understanding of exoplanet atmospheres, and what we will learn with JWST and other next-generation facilities.
Bio: I am a Lecturer and Royal Society University Research Fellow at Queen's University Belfast. I was previously a fellow at the European Southern Observatory in Germany, and a postdoc at the University of Oxford. My work aims to improve our ability to observe the atmospheres of extrasolar planets. Long term I hope to use these techniques to search for so-called 'biomarkers' – signs of life – in exoplanet systems, as well as explore the diversity of planets in our galaxy and improve our understanding of atmospheric physics and planet formation.
Doors open about 7.15pm. There is free parking available on the campus in the evenings. Admission Free, including light refreshments. We are located in the Bell Theatre, Department of Mathematics and Physics, QUB – details here……
With thanks to the Astrophysics Research Centre, QUB, for assistance with this event.
Bell Lecture Theatre, Physics Building , QUB, 7.30pm
All welcome. Free admission, including light refreshments.
IAA New Year Lecture 9th Jan: ‘Everything you wanted to know about Telescopes’ Dr Andy McCrea – The Video
IAA New Year Lecture and demo, 9th Jan: ‘Everything you wanted to know about Telescopes’ Dr Andy McCrea
By Dr Andy McCrea Andy needs no introduction: as proprietor of North Down Telescopes, for many years he has been supplying amateur and professional astronomers throughout Ireland with all sorts of astronomical equipment from a complete observatory down to an eyepiece or filter. He’s also an accomplished astro-imager, with many excellent photos in Stardust and our exhibitions to his credit. If there’s anything he doesn’t know about telescopes, binoculars and astrophotography, it’s not worth knowing!
He has agreed to step in at short notice as another speaker had other last minute commitments. He’ll bring along a selection of equipment, as well as telling you all you need to know.
Doors open about 7.15pm. There is free parking available on the campus in the evenings. Admission Free, including light refreshments. We are located in the Bell Theatre, Department of Mathematics and Physics, QUB – details here……
With thanks to the Astrophysics Research Centre, QUB, for assistance with this event.
Bell Lecture Theatre, Physics Building , QUB, 7.30pm
All welcome. Free admission, including light refreshments.
Lecture – Weds 12th December – Paul Evans (IAA) – “Apollo 8 – Christmas Around the Moon”
Synopsis:
Apollo 8 flew to the Moon 50 years ago this Christmas and was a major step on the way to achieving the goal set by John F Kennedy in 1961 of landing a Man on the Moon and returning him safely to Earth. Indeed it deserves its own place in history being the first mission in which men went beyond low earth orbit and escaped the clutches of earth's gravity. The mission went according to plan and delivered one lasting surprise which nobody had anticipated. This is the story, beginning at the end of the Second World War, of how they got there.
Biography:
Paul Evans was 7 years old when Apollo 8 went to the Moon and although he had been aware of earlier missions, this was the one which really piqued his lifelong interest in space and astronomy. Paul has lived in Northern Ireland since 2003 during which time he has photographed auroras, noctilucent clouds and many sky objects and has had his photographs displayed in numerous exhibitions and publications in the UK and Ireland. He has travelled extensively and has observed astronomical phenomena and visited space exploration facilities throughout the world. Paul was President of the IAA for five non-consecutive years between 2012 and 2018.
Doors open about 7.15pm. There is free parking available on the campus in the evenings. Admission Free, including light refreshments. We are located in the Bell Theatre, Department of Mathematics and Physics, QUB – details here……
With thanks to the Astrophysics Research Centre, QUB, for assistance with this event.
Lecture: Weds 28th November – Prof Stephen Smartt, ARC, QUB, “Kilonovae and the birth of multi-messenger astronomy “
Here's a synopsis of the talk from Prof Smartt…
"I will describe the remarkable discovery of the first electromagnetic counterpart to a gravitational wave source. The merging neutron star source GW170817 was temporally and spatially coincident with a short gamma ray burst and several teams located a transient optical source within the LIGO-Virgo skymap within 12 hours. A world wide observational campaign on telescopes from x-ray to radio immediately started showing that this electromagnetic transient was unlike any other observed to date. The UV to near-infrared emission showed that high velocity, low mass material was ejected and powered by the radioactive decay of heavy r-process elements. I will show how the electromagnetic radiation is consistent with models describing what we expect to see when two neutron stars merge."
Prof Stephen Smartt is a Professor in the School of Maths and Physics at QUB. Previously worked at the University of Cambridge and at the Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes on La Palma. Awarded the George Darwin Lecture of the Royal Astronomical Society in 2018, and previously held two major european awards : an ERC Advanced Grant , and European Young Investigator award.
Doors open about 7.15pm. There is free parking available on the campus in the evenings. Admission Free, including light refreshments. We are located in the Bell Theatre, Department of Mathematics and Physics, QUB – details here……
With thanks to the Astrophysics Research Centre, QUB, for assistance with this event.
Lecture Weds 14th November – Michael O’Connell – “Amateur Observations of Meteors”
Lecture Intro:
This talk outlines where meteors are from, why we have meteor showers and how to observe them.
Michael describes the meteor science that amateur astronomers can play an active role in.
In particular, the talk outlines how to detect meteors using visual techniques, with cameras and via radio.
The talk also outlines why it's useful to observe meteors as part of a group effort.
Speaker Bio:
Michael OConnell is the former chairperson of the Irish Federation of Astronomical Societies and Midlands Astronomy Club.
Aside from assisting Dunsink Observatory with outreach projects and organising the annual SOLARFEST solar conference,
Michael is an active member of NEMETODE, a group of amateur astronomers across the UK and Ireland who monitor the night sky for meteors.
During his free time, Michael observes the night sky from his observatory in Monasterevin, Co Kildare.
Doors open about 7.15pm. There is free parking available on the campus in the evenings. Admission Free, including light refreshments. We are located in the Bell Theatre, Department of Mathematics and Physics, QUB – details here……
With thanks to the Astrophysics Research Centre, QUB, for assistance with this event.