From: TerryMosel@aol.com Date: Mon, 15 Apr 2002 15:57:32 EDT Subject: Occultation, Lecture & radio prog. Hi all, Please pray to the weather gods! After a glorious spell of good weather, the forecast is less than good for tomorrow night's Saturn occultation. But I always live in hope, and you never know. All are welcome at the IAA public observing night at the Lower Car Park (below the road), Ulster Folk & Transport Museum, Cultra, Holywood, Co Down, from about 9 p.m. - unless the weather is absolutely hopeless. Bring your own telescopes & binoculars if you can. If it's clear we'll try for Mercury at about 9.00, then we can observe the Moon itself, Jupiter, Saturn, & Comet Ikeya-Zhang. Venus & Mars will also be visible, but not rewarding as far as telescopic views are concerned. And of course anything else that's visible. Full details are in STARDUST for you lucky IAA members; for others, to summarise, the times are approximately: Location Occ of Titan Occ of Saturn Notes (all times are U.T.! Armagh 20.46 20.53 - 21.22 Belfast 20.45 20.51 - 21.23 Cork 20.57 21.09? Graze, max about 21.12 Dublin 20.50 20.57 - 21.12 Galway 20.51 20.59 - 21.18 Limerick 20.53 21.02 - 21.16 Schull 21.01 No occultation Rhea occult. about 21.13 Tullamore 20.50 20.57 - 21.20 Waterford 20.54 21.03 - 21.18 You won't see another occultation of a naked-eye planet at night-time from anywhere in these Islands for almost 30 years - so make the most of this one! Remember: add 1 hour for BST! Let's have reports & photos if you are lucky - Good luck to all. The next IAA lecture is on Wednesday evening, 17th, when John Nooney from Co Westmeath will give a talk entitled "Astronomy from Clonkill Observatory" - his own excellent facility. It's at 7.30 p.m., Lecture room 5, Stranmillis College, Belfast: admission is free and all are welcome. Finally, did any poor insomniac happen to tape "This New Day" on Sunday (yesterday) morning on BBC Radio Ulster from about 07.20 to 08.00? (The first choice guest, Brad Pitt, had to pull out at short notice, so I was the reserve.) But seriously, it was live, and I didn't have time to set up a tape recorder in advance that morning in the rush out to the studio. My aunt wants to hear it, for some reason. If anyone has a tape, I would gladly send you another blank one in exchange, or whatever you wish. Good luck again, Terry
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