The Sun is the most important astronomical object for humankind with solar activity driving space weather and having profound effects on climate and communications. 

The Sun also offers an exceptional physics laboratory where we can study in detail the interactions between the plasma and the magnetic field over an enormous range of spatial and temporal scales. It provides a working example where the effects and phenomena that arise from this complex interplay are visible and can be studied continuously at unprecedented detail. Although these phenomena are likely to be much more pronounced in other cosmic objects, the Sun provides a vantage reference point to study the effects of rotation and magnetism when we can only catch glimpses of similar phenomena in other astrophysical sources. 

The Daniel K Inoue Solar Telescope, under construction by the US National Solar Observatory, with first light expected in 2019, will be a revolutionary instrument for ground-based solar physics. It will operate in the optical and near-infrared and be the pre-eminent ground-based solar telescope for the foreseeable future. Key advances in its instrumentation over that currently available include ultra-high spatial (25 km on the solar surface) and temporal (millisec) resolution, high resolution imaging spectroscopy and coronal magnetometry. 



I will start with a brief introduction to the field followed by some examples of our recent research. I will then provide a introduction to DKIST, highlighting its key instruments and the QUB-led UK contribution to this facility.

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……

This talk, by Dr Heather Cegla, of the Astrophysics Research Centre at QUB, will give a brief overview of the first ever confirmation of planets outside our solar system, the two main exoplanet detection methods, some stumbling blocks on the pathway to confirming an extra-solar Earth-analogue (which is her area of expertise), and discuss some prospects for the future and the efforts we’re taking to discover habitable alien worlds. 

Unfortunately due to circumstances beyond our control it was not possible to get the IFAS Astronomy Calendar printed in time for distribution this year, so rather than waste the effort already put in, the IFAS Committee have decided to distribute the calendar for download free of charge.

This is an excellent piece of work with time-critical astronomical information written from an Irish perspective and many thanks are due to John Flannery for the many hours he has spent pulling this together.

Note that for copyright and size reasons this free edition does not include the images that were to be part of the printed version.

The Calendar can be downloaded from this link….

Following on from the successful Soyuz mission delivering Tim Peake to the Interbational Space Station, you'll be able to see Tim passing over Northern Ireland once or twice an evening until Christmas Eve.

The station appears as a bright object, almost as bright as Venus rising in the South-West and moving slowly across the sky – at 17,500mph! It takes about five minutes to cross the sky completely. The graphic above shows the times for Belfast – for those in the West of the province it will be just a few seconds earlier – at 5 miles per second it doesn't make much difference!

Photographers may want to put a camera on a tripod with a wide angle lens and time exposure of 15-30 seconds where the path of the station will show up as a line on the frame.

See the latest updates on the link below.

http://heavens-above.com/PassSummary.aspx?satid=25544&lat=54.583&lng=-5.933&loc=Belfast&alt=5&tz=GMT

Tony is a Past President of the Association from the 1977/78 season and we believe he is the youngest person ever to hold the post being in his early 20s at the time, though his successor, Brian Beesley runs him close on that record!

We are delighted to welcome back Tony as a speaker; he has given us some fascinating lectures over the years, with intriguing titles, and this one is no exception. To find out what it's all about you'll have to come along!