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From: TerryMoselaol.com Date: 30 November 2006 23:07:50 GMT Subject: Events, News, Shuttle mission Hi all, It's a busy time of year! 1. At Astronomy Ireland's Astro-Expo this Saturday Dec. 2nd (10am-6pm) the E.S.O. will mount a major exhibit. Details are at www.astronomy.ie. Astro-Expo is funded by the Discover Science and Engineering programme and so admission is FREE. 2. Public Lecture, "FINDING THE INVISIBLE : ASTRONOMY & BLACK HOLES" Lecture Theatre 8 at University of Ulster, Coleraine, Tuesday 5th December 2006, 7.30 pm, by Professor Paul Callanan from the Department of Physics, University College Cork. "Our knowledge of the Universe has expanded in leaps and bounds in recent years driven by technological advances in astronomy. Although optical astronomy has been with us for many thousands of years, new types of astronomy, such as those focusing on the infra-red or X-ray windows of the electromagnetic spectrum, have also made a dramatic impact on our studies of the Cosmos. This talk will explain some of the technology and techniques that underpin modern astronomy, and outline how they are used to study the mysterious phenomenon of Black Holes." Light Refreshments will be served afterwards. Admission is free and everyone is welcome to attend. 3. Women in astronomy: the Christmas lecture for Astronomy Ireland will be given this month by Prof Jocelyn Bell Burnell, the Belfast-born cosmologist, who in 1967, while still a young PhD student, discovered the first pulsar. Bell Burnell, who has long played an active role in radio-astronomy, has also been a keen champion of women in science, and her talk will be about the many contributions women have made to astronomy. Monday, December 11, 8pm, Schrodinger Theatre, Physics Building, TCD, adm e5/e3 Link 4. Practical Astronomy: The next IAA public meeting will be on Wednesday 13 December, at 7.30 p.m., Lecture Theatre 5, Stranmillis College, Belfast. Two Council Members, Danny Collins and Robert Cobain, will talk on various aspects of 'practical astronomy'. Admission free, including some seasonal refreshments afterwards. See www.irishastro.org 5. To catch the wind: the current of air that stirs the leaves, and how scientists have come to measure and understand it, is the topic for a public talk by weather writer Brendan McWilliams. Organised by the Irish meteorological society, December 14, 8 pm, Room G32 Earlsfort Terrace, UCD Dublin 2 (next to National Concert Hall). All welcome, adm free. www.irishmetsociety.org 6. LAUNCH OF SHUTTLE DISCOVERY ON FLIGHT STS-116, 8 December Launch of Space Shuttle Discovery on flight STS-116 is scheduled for 8 December at 01:38 GMT. STS-116 will deliver a third truss segment, a SPACEHAB module and other key components during the Shuttle's 20th mission to the International Space Station (ISS). STS-116 is the next in a series of very demanding and complex missions to complete the construction of the Space Station. Two days after launch, Discovery will dock with the ISS and the seven Shuttle crew members will enter the Station. They will be welcomed by the three resident astronauts from the Expedition 14 crew, which includes ESA astronaut Thomas Reiter of Germany, who has been on board since July. The mission's main objectives are to attach the P5 connector element of the integrated truss structure to the Station and to connect the power from two large electricity-generating solar array panels delivered and installed in September. The solar arrays will provide a permanent supply of electricity for the ISS, which has been running on a temporary electrical power system since it went into orbit in 1998. During the twelve-day mission, ESA astronaut Christer Fuglesang of Sweden and his NASA counterpart Robert Curbeam will carry out two extra-vehicular activities (EVAs or spacewalks). During the first, the new P5 truss structure will be installed at the end of the main truss. The next day, the port-side half of the original P6 solar array will be retracted, clearing the way for P4, one of the arrays delivered in September, to rotate in alignment with the Sun. The main task during the second EVA is to rewire the power system for one half of the Station. The other half of the power system will be rewired during a third EVA, carried out by Robert Curbeam and Sunita Williams. The astronauts will head outside the ISS in their EVA suits and wait for mission control to switch off the ISS power. Once permission has been granted, they will unplug existing cables and insert them into new locations on the ISS. After completing the 12-day mission, the crew will return to Earth accompanied by Thomas Reiter, who will by then have completed his six-month Astrolab mission on the Station. His place as flight engineer in the ISS Expedition 14 crew will be taken by NASA astronaut Sunita Williams. The Shuttle landing at the Kennedy Space Center is scheduled for no earlier than 18 December at around 22:04 GMT (23:04 CET). FURTHER INFORMATION: NASA web site 7. NEWS ITEMS: A. NEW MARS IMAGES STARTING TO FLOOD OVER THE INTERNET The team that operates the high-resolution camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is releasing the first of what will be a non-stop flood of incredibly detailed Mars images taken during the spacecraft's two-year primary science mission. The new images include views of the Opportunity rover's landing site. See: Link B. STUDY FINDS THAT A SINGLE IMPACT KILLED THE DINOSAURS The dinosaurs, along with the majority of all other animal species on Earth, went extinct approximately 65 million years ago. Some scientists have said that the impact of a large meteorite in the Yucatan Peninsula, in what is today Mexico, caused the mass extinction, while others argue that there must have been additional meteorite impacts or other stresses around the same time. See: Link C. INTEGRAL SPACECRAFT CATCHES A NEW ERUPTING BLACK HOLE The European Space Agency's gamma-ray observatory, Integral, has spotted a rare kind of gamma-ray outburst. The vast explosion of energy allowed astronomers to pinpoint a possible black hole in our galaxy. See: Link 8. And don't forget the GEMINID Meteors, getting going about December 10, and peaking on December 13/14 - see last alert. Clear Skies, Terry Moseley
Last Revised: 2006 December 1st
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