From: TerryMoselaol.com
Date: Fri, 23 Dec 2005 18:53:31 EST
Subject: IAA Xmas/New Year Party; Connaught Star Party

Hi all,
 
1. Don't forget:
 The IAA's Xmas / New Year Party +  Film. Saturday 7 January, 7.30 p.m.  
Tudor  Private Cinema, Comber, Co Down. Film: "War of the Worlds".
   Same prices as last year! Price: Adults £10;  family: (2 adults + 2  
children) £25; children £5. Cut off date for booking: 31 December, 
money  must be with treasurer John Hall on or before that date.  George  Brannan 
will be running the quiz; super & various prizes will  be awarded. 
     The price includes the film, and lots of lovely  seasonal eats, plus a 
selection of hot & cold drinks of varying  strength! Best value anywhere! 
   Directions to the Tudor Cinema will be given later.
   Send a cheque, payable to the IAA, for the required  amount to John Hall, 
3 Vaddegan Avenue, Newtownabbey, Co Antrim, BT36 7SP.
 
 
2. CONNAUGHT STAR PARTY:
Ronan Newman sent me the following information, although I have added some  
details & comments, and abbreviated slightly in places:
 
Galway Astronomy Club host their 3rd Connacht Starparty on Saturday January  
28th 2006. As for the two previous years, entry fee is still only €20.  
Venue: Westwood Hotel, Newcastle, Galway City.

PROGRAMME:

1. Dr Mary Brück: "Irish wives in two famous Astronomical  Parterships"

Mary Brück was born in Co. Meath, and is a Physics graduate  of 
University College Dublin. She obtained her PhD at Edinburgh in the field of  
solar spectroscopy, after which she was appointed as an astronomer at Dunsink  
Observatory where her main research interests focused on photographic  
measurements of the colours and brightness of stars.She then moved to Edinburgh  
University gaining her doctorate for research in "Studies of H-Alpha line  
profiles in prominences" . In 1957 she encouraged her husband, the late  
Professor Hermann Brück, to apply for the post of Astronomer Royal for 
Scotland.  He held this post until his retirement in 1975. The Brücks 
were the last family  of astronomers to live in the official residence at the 
Royal  Observatory.Her most recent Book is entitled: "Agnes Mary  Clerke & the 
Rise of Astrophysics"
Agnes Clerke, a woman  historian of astronomy of the last half of the 19th 
century, details a  significant period in the rise of modern astrophysics with 
the development of  larger and better telescopes, the use of photography in the 
mapping of the  skies, and the invention of the spectroheliograph. Working 
primarily from  archival sources, in this captivating biography Dr Mary 
Brück describes the life  and work of an erudite but unassuming woman. 
The story chronicles the  development of astronomy in the last decades of 
pre-Einstein science,  introducing many of the great figures of that age, their 
achievements and  rivalries. She also explores, for example, Clerke's friendship 
with William and  Margaret Huggins, and her prolific correspondence with eminent 
astronomers of  the age such as David Gill of Cape and George Ellery Hale of 
Mount  Palomar.


2. Leo Enright: "Mars 3-D"
Ever  wondered what it would be like to walk on the surface of Mars? Find out 
during  this unique presentation by well-known broadcaster on astronomy and 
space, Leo  Enright, with a new illustrated lecture presented entirely in 3-D.


3.  Dr Paul Roche: "21st Century Robotic Telescopes"
Dr. Paul Roche  is Director of the Faulkes Telescope Project, and UK National 
Schools'  Astronomer. Based at Cardiff University he was Lecturer in 
Astronomy at Sussex  University, Head of Education at the UK National Space Centre, 
and presented the  BBC2 monthly astronomy/space programme "Final Frontier", and 
more recently the  BBC "All Night Star Party" and "Stardate: Venus Transit" 
shows.

4. Dr  Sean O'Donnell: "William Rowan Hamilton: a reluctant  Astronomer"
Dr Sean O'Donnell is a Science graduate from Galway  and Edinburgh 
universities who for many years contributed a weekly Science  column in the Irish Press 
and articles on famous Irish scientists and  astronomers. His books include 
"William Rowan Hamilton - a Portrait of a  Prodigy".

PLUS:
There will be a first CSP '06 Dinner in  the evening from the hotel's 
extensive menu (optional extra), &  Table Quiz afterwards.

There will be an  imaging workshop during the lunch break.

The  NUI Galway Observatory will again be open to the  attendees by Professor 
Mike Redfern.  [The observatory consists of a 'state  of the art' 
semi-automated Cassegrain with high quality instrumentation,  and a 3 meter radio 
telescope. The telescope is a 40cm (16") from Astrooptik, in  a proper dome.  The 
optics are by Lomo (St Petersburg). It is a  classical Cassegrain with 3-element 
field flattener. The mount is a really  massive german equatorial, also from 
Astrooptik. It has an Apogee 1024 x 1024  camera with an E2V thinned, back 
illuminated chip. What really tickled  me was the finder / solar viewing scope 
custom-mounted on the main  telescope: it looked very familiar! Yes, the amazing 
LIDL 70mm Skylux  refractor!  
   Well worth seeing, unless you are prone to envy.....   T.M. ]
   I'll circulate details of accommodation in the area in the New  Year.
 

Thanks for all the kind messages of thanks and seasonal greetings that I  get 
from many of you at this time of year. Finally, once again, I wish  you all a 
very Merry Christmas, and a peaceful, happy and clear-skied New  Year!

 
Terry Moseley
 
 

Last Revised: 2006 January 3rd WWW contact:webmaster@arm.ac.uk

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