From: TerryMoselaol.com
Date: Tue, 28 Feb 2006 18:36:12 EST
Subject: Lectures, IAA at WWT, Comet, RRS, Eclipse meets, 'Life-stars', LunarPhase Pro
Hi all,
1. The next SDAS meeting will be on Thursday, 2nd March in Gonzaga College,
Ranelagh, at 8pm. Dr Ian Sanders, Geology Department, TCD, will talk on
Meteorites and the first five million years of the Solar System.
2. The next IAA meeting will be on Wed 8 March, 7.30 p.m., Stranmillis
College, Stranmillis Road, Belfast. This will be a double-header, featuring a
presentation on the forthcoming Total Eclipse by Yours Truly, particularly
covering the IFAS eclipse trip to Turkey; and a 'Hand-On Telescopes' session, by
various IAA members. This will give you a chance to see how to assemble, mount,
and use a wide variety of telescopes and mounts. Everything you were afraid
to ask, and more, in other words! Admission free, including light
refreshments. All welcome.
3. 4th & 5th March: The annual Rocky Road Show, Ulster Museum, Stranmillis
Road, Belfast will, as usual, feature our very own planet, and the IAA will
have a stand showing the Earth, other planets etc, & as usual our members'
excellent collection of meteorites, including one of the largest pieces of a
Martian meteorite in private hands! The Museum is open from lunchtime on Sat &
Sun afternoon.
4. IAA AT WWT. Moon, Planets, Mobile Planetarium at Castle Espie: The IAA's
annual public observing & mobile planetarium evening will also be on 4 March,
at WWT, Castle Espie, near Comber, Co Down, from about 7.30 p.m. We'll have
the usual selection of telescopes & big binocs for viewing if clear, and I've
even arranged a pass of the ISS that evening specially for us. The
indefatigable, informative, energetic & entertaining Robert Hill will be doing his
usual shows in the portable planetarium; Derek Heatly, the IAA's own
'Ulsternaut' will be talking about his upcoming flight into space; and we'll have other
talks, exhibition material etc as usual. Normal WWT admission charges apply,
except for IAA members bringing a telescope or binocs, or helping with the
event. So come along, even with just your binocs!
5. Hail to
a new comet! Now visible in the morning sky is C/2006 A1 (Pojmanski) which
was discovered on photographs on 1st January. It has only been visible from
more southerly latitudes until now. It is steadily moving north, and will
brighten for the next few days or maybe a week, before starting to fade again. It
will be a morning object for us in early March when it may reach magnitude 5,
and so will be visible to the unaided eye from a dark site. More detailed
predictions can be found at the excellent www.aerith.net
6. Pre-Eclipse Meeting: On Thursday, March 9th, SDAS will have a special
pre-total solar eclipse meeting in Gonzaga College, Ranelagh, at 8pm. All
welcome on the night to come along whether going to the eclipse in Turkey or Africa
or not.
7. SETI? If you want to listen out, or look for, signals from 'LGM', among
the stars which are most like the Sun in terms of possibly hosting
life-bearing planets, are, it seems, Beta CVn (Beta in Canes Venatici), and 51 Pegasi.
Good luck!
8. LunarPhase Pro: This may be of interest:
" Hi Terry, I have a couple of announcements that may (or may not) be of
interest:
(1.) My LunarPhase Pro software is featured on the cover CD of the current
(March) issue of Sky at Night magazine. It's a full working copy of Version 1
of the software. There's an offer in the magazine for readers to upgrade to
Version 2 at a 15% discount.
(2.) V2.51 of LunarPhase Pro has just been released. Details at:
lunarphasepro.nightskyobserver.com
(3.) I've put together an
Astronomy Toolbar for Internet Explorer or Firefox that can be downloaded from:
www.nightskyobserver.com/AstronomyToolbar
(4.) I've also set up a new Astronomy Forum at my website:
forum.nightskyobserver.com for anyone who's
interested in chatting about astronomy or space (it's not aimed at at a purely
Irish audience).
I don't know where you get the time to do all that you do! :-)
Best wishes, Gary Nugent"
9. You might like to note the new broadband email address for Andy McCrea,
prop of 'North Down Telescopes': s.mccrea980btinternet.com.
He's still using the old one andrewmccreaa.freeserve.co.uk
too, pro tem, and I suggest
you use both for a while until he gets any bugs sorted out with the new
broadband one.
Clear Skies,
Terry Moseley.
aol.com Date: Tue, 28 Feb 2006 18:36:12 EST Subject: Lectures, IAA at WWT, Comet, RRS, Eclipse meets, 'Life-stars', LunarPhase Pro Hi all, 1. The next SDAS meeting will be on Thursday, 2nd March in Gonzaga College, Ranelagh, at 8pm. Dr Ian Sanders, Geology Department, TCD, will talk on Meteorites and the first five million years of the Solar System. 2. The next IAA meeting will be on Wed 8 March, 7.30 p.m., Stranmillis College, Stranmillis Road, Belfast. This will be a double-header, featuring a presentation on the forthcoming Total Eclipse by Yours Truly, particularly covering the IFAS eclipse trip to Turkey; and a 'Hand-On Telescopes' session, by various IAA members. This will give you a chance to see how to assemble, mount, and use a wide variety of telescopes and mounts. Everything you were afraid to ask, and more, in other words! Admission free, including light refreshments. All welcome. 3. 4th & 5th March: The annual Rocky Road Show, Ulster Museum, Stranmillis Road, Belfast will, as usual, feature our very own planet, and the IAA will have a stand showing the Earth, other planets etc, & as usual our members' excellent collection of meteorites, including one of the largest pieces of a Martian meteorite in private hands! The Museum is open from lunchtime on Sat & Sun afternoon. 4. IAA AT WWT. Moon, Planets, Mobile Planetarium at Castle Espie: The IAA's annual public observing & mobile planetarium evening will also be on 4 March, at WWT, Castle Espie, near Comber, Co Down, from about 7.30 p.m. We'll have the usual selection of telescopes & big binocs for viewing if clear, and I've even arranged a pass of the ISS that evening specially for us. The indefatigable, informative, energetic & entertaining Robert Hill will be doing his usual shows in the portable planetarium; Derek Heatly, the IAA's own 'Ulsternaut' will be talking about his upcoming flight into space; and we'll have other talks, exhibition material etc as usual. Normal WWT admission charges apply, except for IAA members bringing a telescope or binocs, or helping with the event. So come along, even with just your binocs! 5. Hail to a new comet! Now visible in the morning sky is C/2006 A1 (Pojmanski) which was discovered on photographs on 1st January. It has only been visible from more southerly latitudes until now. It is steadily moving north, and will brighten for the next few days or maybe a week, before starting to fade again. It will be a morning object for us in early March when it may reach magnitude 5, and so will be visible to the unaided eye from a dark site. More detailed predictions can be found at the excellent www.aerith.net 6. Pre-Eclipse Meeting: On Thursday, March 9th, SDAS will have a special pre-total solar eclipse meeting in Gonzaga College, Ranelagh, at 8pm. All welcome on the night to come along whether going to the eclipse in Turkey or Africa or not. 7. SETI? If you want to listen out, or look for, signals from 'LGM', among the stars which are most like the Sun in terms of possibly hosting life-bearing planets, are, it seems, Beta CVn (Beta in Canes Venatici), and 51 Pegasi. Good luck! 8. LunarPhase Pro: This may be of interest: " Hi Terry, I have a couple of announcements that may (or may not) be of interest: (1.) My LunarPhase Pro software is featured on the cover CD of the current (March) issue of Sky at Night magazine. It's a full working copy of Version 1 of the software. There's an offer in the magazine for readers to upgrade to Version 2 at a 15% discount. (2.) V2.51 of LunarPhase Pro has just been released. Details at: lunarphasepro.nightskyobserver.com (3.) I've put together an Astronomy Toolbar for Internet Explorer or Firefox that can be downloaded from: www.nightskyobserver.com/AstronomyToolbar (4.) I've also set up a new Astronomy Forum at my website: forum.nightskyobserver.com for anyone who's interested in chatting about astronomy or space (it's not aimed at at a purely Irish audience). I don't know where you get the time to do all that you do! :-) Best wishes, Gary Nugent" 9. You might like to note the new broadband email address for Andy McCrea, prop of 'North Down Telescopes': s.mccrea980
