From: TerryMoselaol.com
Date: 25 February 2007 21:15:19 GMT
Subject: Weather site, DCU Seminar, Eclipse, Summer School, ASGI

Hi all,
 
1. WEATHER SITE: Thanks to Colin Campbell for the following tip: "Here's
something that might be of interest to those with little faith in the
weather forecasters.  Mentioned in the Letters section of February's Sky
at Night magazine, this website
provides access to hourly, infrared satellite imagery of the UK and
Ireland. Pressing the Play button downloads all the images and animates
them, aiding prediction of cloud cover, before going to the bother of
setting up for an observing session. Images in the visible spectrum
are also available, but possibly less useful. Images are uploaded to
the site approx 20 mins past the hour. The 'Global satellite imagery'
is worth a look too, just for interest.  [Obviously you'd need to delete
old images fairly regularly or you'' soon clog up your hard drive! T.M.]

 2. SEMINAR at DCU, on 1 March: The following seminar will be held at
 the School of Physical Sciences, DCU.

"Probing the first galaxies and clusters in the early Universe using Radio Sources", by
George Miley, Leiden University, NL.
Sponsored by Institute of Physics in Ireland. 
See: http://www.dcu.ie/physics/seminars/index.shtml


3. Total Lunar Eclipse on 3 March: A Ruddy Moon for Ireland! 

 A Total Eclipse of the Moon occurs when the Moon passes into the shadow
 of the Earth. It can only happen at Full Moon, but it doesn't happen
 every Full Moon because the Moon's orbit is tilted to ours by about
 5 degrees, and so usually it passes above or below Earth's shadow,
 rather than through it. And sometimes it only passes through the edge
 of the shadow, giving a partial eclipse. The next total one visible
 from Ireland will be on Feb 21, 2008.
 But this is a good one for Ireland, with all stages of the eclipse
 visible, and the main part occurs before midnight! If it's clear
 we'll see the Moon turn a glorious reddish colour - anything from
 a sort of ochre, to deep red. The exact colour can't be predicted,
 which is one of the fascinating things about such eclipses. The colour
 is due to the Sun's light passing through the Earth's atmosphere,
 which acts like a giant lens, focussing the light onto the Moon so
 that it never goes totally dark.

The Moon starts to enter the Penumbra, Earth's faint partial outer shadow
at 20.18, and then begins to enter the darker main shadow or umbra at
21.30. It will be completely inside the umbra, i.e. the eclipse will be
total, from 22.44 to 23.58, with Mid Eclipse at 23h 21m.
It will have left the umbra at 01.00, and will finally exit the
penumbra at 02.24, marking the end of the eclipse.  The penumbral
stages are barely noticeable, and it will probably be a few minutes
after the start of the umbral phase before you'll notice the lower
left side of the Moon start to darken slightly: say about 21.35.
This darkness will gradually spread across the Moon until by about
22.45 it will all be immersed in the shadow of the Earth. However, it
won't all appear equally dark, as the Moon does not pass through the
centre of the shadow, and even at mid-eclipse at 23h 21m you'll notice
that the top left of the Moon won't be as dark as the bottom right,
which will be closest to the centre of the shadow.  The Moon will be
quite high up in Southern Leo, near Chi Leonis, with Saturn about 24
deg away to the upper right.  The Moon will occult 5th magnitude 59
Leonis after the total phase ends, at about 00.43 for observers in
Belfast, and about 00.30 for observers in Cork. That event would be
visible in a small telescope.

IAA ECLIPSE OBSERVING EVENING: The IAA will be having a special eclipse
observing event at the Lower Car Park (on the seaward side of the main
road), Ulster Folk & Transport Museum, Cultra, Co Down, starting at about
8 p.m. that evening. We'll have a selection of telescopes & binocs to
observe Saturn and other night-sky delights, as well as the eclipse,
so wrap up warm and bring a flask & some food to sustain you to almost
midnight! Bring your own portable telescope & binoculars too, if you
have them. Bring your digital camera too - you might get some great shots.
Obviously it depends on the weather: check the IAA website for updates
nearer the time: www.irishastro.org Other societies will probably be
organising their own events too - contact your local club for details.

4.  ASTRONOMY SUMMER SCHOOL: Enterprise Ireland offers support (approx
цўб¬1,500) to a number of successful Irish candidates to attend the
Alpbach summer school. I would be grateful if you would circulate this
to science and engineering researchers. An outline is given below and
further details are on the summer school website.

Rita Ward, COST National Co-ordinator, FP7 International Co-operation
Activities - Delegate and NCP, Enterprise Ireland, Glasnevin,
Dublin 9, Tel: +353-1-8082767, Fax: +353-1-8370178, E-mail:
rita.wardenterprise-ireland.com, 
website: www.enterprise-ireland.com

Space Education Summer School, Alpbach, Austria, 17-26 July 2007

"Astrobiology:- Life Detection in and from Space

As in previous years the Austrian Space Agency, now incorporated into
the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG), is running a ten-day Summer
School on a leading-edge Space Science topic from 17th to 26th July 2007.
The event will be held at Alpbach (Tyrol, Austria), and this year's
topic is "Astrobiology:- Life Detection in and from Space".

The objection of the Alpbach Summer School is to provide young science
and engineering graduates, whether postgraduate students or already in
the workplace, with an opportunity to advance their education in the
field of space science and space technology.

Candidates should apply directly to the Austrian Research Promotion Agency
(FFG) in order to be considered for the course, and applications need
to reach FFG before March 31st 2007.  Applicants should already hold a
primary degree or equivalent in science or engineering.


This Austrian Summer School endeavours to limit the number of
participants to 60, from across the full range of European countries.
Details can be found on the website.
Enterprise Ireland funding (approx 1,500 euro) - to cover course fees,
travel, accommodation etc - will be available for a number of successful
Irish candidates.  Once notified by FFG, such candidates should make
contact with Enterprise Ireland to discuss financial support.


Contact Rita Ward, Enterprise Ireland: Tel: 01-4920706;
E-mail:  rita.wardenterprise-ireland.com

Enterprise Ireland, Tel:  +353 (0) 1 8082000, Web: www.enterprise-ireland.com

 
 4. ASGI meeting, 3-4 April. The Spring meeting of the Astronomical
 science Group of Ireland will be held at QUB on Tuesday & Wednesday,
 3-4 April. The meeting will begin late morning on the 3rd to allow time
 to travel to Belfast.
 A meeting website with suggestions for accommodation and travel
 directions is under construction and will be linked soon off the ASGI
 meetings page

Please note that these meetings are at a professional level, and so
most of the talks are not suited for the average amateur! Members
of affiliated Societies such as the IAA are entitled to attend, but
please let the organiser, Mihalis Mathioudakis (M.Mathioudakisqub.ac.uk), 
know if you plan to attend so that he can gauge numbers.

Clear Skies,

Terry Moseley

 














Last Revised: 2007 February 26th 



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