ABSTRACT

The talk will be part biography and part sky phenomena. Martin will describe how Comet Hale-Bopp first got him into astronomy, the development of his observing career and passion, the night I decided I wanted to learn all the stars in the sky, his ever bigger telescopes, comet-hunting], a few close calls and near misses when I came close to making a discovery and didn’t.

   He will then describe recent sky events which have impressed him, the auroras of May and Oct 2024, the NLC display of July 2024, comet NEOWISE of July 2020. Then a very brief change to how he got into storm chasing, the joys of the photogenic challenges it brings. The talk will end with a brief look at comet Lemmon to show he’s still into comets as much as ever

Brief Bio: 

Martin McKenna is an amateur astronomer and photographer from N. Ireland. After witnessing great comet Hale-Bopp in 1997 his life changed forever. He quickly developed a passion for the stars and for comets in particular and spent over ten years searching the skies for a new comet of his own. Martin has a particular interest in transient events and enjoys photographing the aurora borealis and noctilucent clouds. His passion for the sky also has evolved to daytime events such as atmospheric optics and convective weather events. Currently he splits his time between visual observations of the sky using his 10″ telescope and photographing dramatic sky events with the intention of documenting memories and creating time lapse video sequences covering everything from a pulsating corona to an explosive updraught on a thunderstorm. He currently lives in Mid-Ulster and enjoys the dark skies from the Sperrins.

Martin has had the honour of having an asteroid named after him: 42531 McKenna.  He was also awarded ‘Irish Astronomer Of The Year 2005’ by the Irish Federation Of Astronomical Societies. He is one of the most enthusiastic, dedicated, and indefatigable observers you will ever meet.

By Dr Andrew Marshall-Lee, Armagh Observatory and Planetarium.

ABSTRACT

This talk will give an overview of all the processes that formed the Solar System as we know it, from the protoplanetary disc, through the formation of the planets and minor bodies, the movements of the planets relative to each other, and how we ended up with what we have now.. 

   I will be discussing the processes that formed our solar system and the history of the planets, and other objects up to the modern day. There’ll be discussion as well on my research which is focused on asteroids (no maths I promise). I will then talk about citizen science projects people can do at home and the equipment they would need.. These are observation projects that I am doing and would like to get the involvement of the community with. Especially as it could lead to publications (though I don’t want to promise the world!) if there are successful observations. 

Brief Bio: 

I am a 4^th year PhD student and telescope technician at Armagh Observatory, my research is on the orbital dynamics, and origins of grouped asteroids.

JAPAN IN SPACE, Past Present and Future, by Brian Harvey, Published by Springer/Praxis

This latest book by well-known Irish Space Expert Brian Harvey, is an amazingly detailed, comprehensive and authoritative work. I was amazed by how much I learned even in the first Chapter!

With 448 pages, many illustrations and tables and a comprehensive index, it provides all the information you could possibly want on the subject.

Starting from the development of serious rockets during the end of WW2, through the visionary early development work of Hideo Itokawa, the father of the Japanese rocket program, up to its well-known recent successes in space missions, there is so much fascinating information here that I wanted to re-read quite a few sections even after having read it for this review.

There is far too much to list here, but the book covers everything from the history, the people, the politics, the funding, the organisations, the development of various launch sites, the successes, the failures, the international aspects of the program, to an informed look at the future.

Many will be aware of the most notable successes, such as their first successful satellite orbit in 1970 (only the 4^th nation to achieve this feat), the construction of the KIBO module on the ISS, the Kaguya lander on the Moon, the Akatsuki Venus Orbiter, and of course the Hayabusa mission to collect a sample from an asteroid and return it to Earth – the first mission to achieve this remarkable feat – but there is so much more.

I admit that I used to be woefully uniformed about the remarkable Japanese space program, largely because it receives relatively little publicity in the West, but anything I want to know about it is certainly available herein. Highly recommended!

Terry Moseley

Synopsis 

Major technological advances have enabled the discovery of a small number of directly imaged exoplanets. These imaged worlds can be studied in far greater detail than exoplanets detected by indirect methods such as transit and radial velocity techniques. Next-generation telescopes such as the recently launched James Webb Space Telescope and the upcoming 30-m telescopes (e.g. ELT, TMT, GMT) will enable direct exoplanet characterisation. In this talk I will discuss our current and future efforts to investigate the atmospheres of extrasolar worlds.

Biography: 

Johanna Vos is an astrophysicist whose research explores weather on worlds beyond our solar system. Using world-class telescopes on ground and in space, her research has revealed the first insights into exoplanet meteorology. Originally from Dublin, she obtained her PhD from the University of Edinburgh followed by a research fellowship at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. She was recently awarded a Royal Society – Science Foundation Ireland University Research Fellowship to establish her group at Trinity College Dublin. Passionate about supporting underrepresented minorities in science, she has worked alongside organisations including NASA, The Planetary Society and Stemettes on a variety of mentorship, outreach and citizen science programs. 

VENUE: Larmor Lecture Theatre, Astrophysics Research Centre, Physics Building, QUB.

Admission free, including light refreshments, All welcome.

Luke Majury –

Biography: I am Luke, a PhD student researching multi-wavelength observations of solar flares under Dr. Ryan Milligan. I have recently completed my first year of PhD study following the completion of an integrated master’s degree in astrophysics at QUB. Before starting an integrated master’s degree, I developed an interest in astronomy whilst undertaking a GCSE in the subject during my spare time under the tutelage of my secondary school physics teacher. My research currently revolves around comparisons of hydrogen Lyman-alpha and hard X-ray emissions during solar flares.

Synopsis/Abstract: Solar flares are among the most powerful events in our solar system. They occur due to the release of magnetic energy in the uppermost layer of the solar atmosphere. This process accelerates particles to high energies, with these energetic particles dissipating their energy via Coulomb collisions, resulting in a burst of electromagnetic radiation which we observe as a flare. Solar flares have been observed as early as 1859 during the Carrington event, since then great advances have been made in our understanding of flares via both observational and theoretical work. As we approach the peak of solar cycle 25 flares will become more frequent, allowing for abundant observations to be made with state-of-the-art observatories such as Solar Orbiter, Solar-C and the Advanced Space-Based Solar Observatory.

Thomas Moore

Title: Fast! Slow? Bright or Faint‽: exploring the diversity of supernovae

With the advent of large-scale robotic sky surveys, the number of supernovae we discover has ’exploded’. In this talk I will discuss what supernovae are, some of the history of their discovery and their incredible diversity.

I will also discuss the discovery, follow-up, and periodic signals of SN 2022jli – the most exciting supernova of the decade? (although I am biased).

Bio: 

Thomas is a final year astrophysics PhD student at Queen’s University Belfast where he obtained an MSci in Physics with Astrophysics in 2021. His research focuses on observation and modelling of supernovae discovered by the ATLAS all-sky survey and spectroscopic observations using the ESO New Technology Telescope.  

Venue: Larmor Lecture Theatre, Physics building, Queen’s University Belfast, 7.30 p.m.

Admission free, including light refreshments. All welcome.