Space Week events and Br Guy in Ireland

jfSDAS

Hi all,

Lots happening for Space Week ( http://www.spaceweek.ie/ ) this year which runs from October 4th to 10th, plus Octocon, Br Guy Consolmagno in Kerry, and a number of other talks.

Some Space Week highlights include ...

• Oct 3rd, Dublin: DCU host four talks on the theme of Gravity and Relativity (see http://www.spaceweek.ie/events/gravity/ )
• Oct 4th, Cork: "Diary of a Martian Beekeeper", a play by Niamh Shaw (see http://www.spaceweek.ie/events/diary-of-a-martian-beekeeper-wed/ )
• Oct 4th, Dublin: A talk by Prof Jose Groh on massive stars (see http://www.spaceweek.ie/events/public-talk-entitled-live-fast-die-hard-studies-monster-stars-eso/ )
• Oct 5th, Mayo: A talk about Sputnik (see http://www.spaceweek.ie/events/space-race-sputnik-put-man-moon/ )
• Oct 7th, Birr: Rocket launches by Trinity Space Society and UCC (see http://www.spaceweek.ie/events/rocket-launch/ )
• Oct 10th, Tralee: A talk on ESA missions to Mars by Con McCarthy (see http://www.spaceweek.ie/events/esa-missions-mars-con-mccarthy/ )

Blackrock Castle Observatory in Cork will also hold a number of other events for schools and the general public. See the Space Week web site for further details.

Kevin Nolan of the Planetary Society has asked me give a special mention to his forthcoming talk in The National Gallery of Ireland on October 5th which will be about the Voyager and Cassini missions. Kevin is an excellent speaker and regularly gives lectures to clubs and groups around Ireland. See http://www.spaceweek.ie/events/voyager-reconnaissance-solar-system-toward-stars/

Octocon, the annual Science Fiction Convention, will run from October 6th to 8th in the Camden Court Hotel, Dublin. A galaxy of guests will be present and all weekend various activities and dealer stands are available for attendees. See http://2017.octocon.com/ for more information.

October 16th is when we celebrate arguably Ireland's greatest scientist, William Rowan Hamilton. Dunsink Observatory hosts the annual Hamilton Walk from the observatory to Broome Bridge where there is a plaque commemorating Hamilton's discovery of Quaternions. Information about the Walk is at https://www.dias.ie/2017/09/19/annual-hamilton-walk-16th-october-2017/

The Royal Irish Academy will host their annual Hamilton Day lecture on October 16th in TCD. More details are at https://www.ria.ie/hamilton-day-lecture-2017-random-mountains-and-random-distances

Hamilton Day also falls during Maths Week Ireland which runs from October 14th to 22nd. The Week reaches a huge audience and many events run throughout. Check out http://www.mathsweek.ie/

The EPA Climate Change lecture series has run for a number of years and on October 26th next there will be a talk titled "Communicating Climate Change - Why So Difficult?" which will be held in The Mansion House, Dublin. See http://www.epa.ie/newsandevents/events/climatechangelecture.html for more information. These are really excellent talks which have seen world renowned scientists speak about the challenges facing us. Past lectures can be viewed at http://www.epa.ie/climate/communicatingclimatescience/climatechangelectureseriesandpresentations/ as can the forthcoming lecture which will be live-streamed.

The Science Gallery have a number of events scheduled and they can be seen at https://dublin.sciencegallery.com/

A weekend-long series of events is planned for the Mayo Dark Sky Festival and it features local and international speakers on the programme. The Festival runs from October 27th to 29th and the full schedule can be found at https://www.mayodarkskyfestival.ie/

The Statutory Lecture of the Dublin Institute of Advanced Studies will be held on October 19th in UCD. Titled "Brave New Worlds", Prof Giovanna Tinetti of University College London will speak about extra-solar planets. You can book at https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/brave-new-worlds-the-planets-in-our-galaxy-tickets-37247044914

Dunsink Observatory will host two talks on October 11th about the Cherenkov Telescope Array (with which Ireland has involvement). You can book for these at https://www.dias.ie/2017/09/26/cta-public-event-in-dunsink/ -- click directly on https://payments.dias.ie/ to book Public Nights at the Observatory too.

The Irish Astronomical Society will have their monthly Sidewalk Astronomy telescope nights this coming weekend in Sandymount (Friday) and Clontarf (Saturday). See http://www.irishastrosoc.org/events/events.htm and bookmark to check back on future Sidewalk Astronomy dates. The Society will be host their touring Astrophotography Exhibition in Dun Laoghaire library in November.

Finally, Br Guy Consolmagno, co-author of "Turn Left at Orion" and a world-renowned astronomy populariser, will give a public lecture in Cahersiveen on Tuesday, October 17th. Br Guy has been invited by those involved with the Kerry Dark Sky Reserve. He will give one talk to local schools on the Tuesday and follows that will a public lecture at 8pm in Coláiste na Sceilge, Cahersiveen. The talk will be titled "The Heavens Proclaim: Astronomy and the Vatican". See also https://www.killarneytoday.com/stars-dark-sky-reserve/

I'm sure I've left something out

John

P.S., don't forget about checking astronomy club web sites such as those linked to via www.irishastronomy.org for details of club lectures during the month ahead.

ps200306

jf, do you have any idea if Br Guy is speaking anywhere else on his trip? I'm dying to ask him if he's ever planning to organise another trip to the VLT like he did a couple of years ago.

jfSDAS

Hi ps,

Br Guy is only visiting God's own kingdom ( ) on this trip unfortunately. It's a short stay and more of a break too from a very hectic recent schedule. I'd love to get down hear the talk also but can't get away from Dublin ... unless I go - cough - sick for the day

There's a new club in Leitrim and they've asked me drop Br Guy a note about maybe coming back next year. That's on my to-do list at the moment.

The Kerry Dark Sky Reserve will host a Messier Festival the weekend before St. Patrick's Day next year and also have the long-running Skellig Star Party in August.

John

jfSDAS

More events ...

Oct 4th: IAA lecture in Queen's University Belfast - "Cloudy with a chance of flares: the importance of space weather forecasting". By Dr Sophie Murray of TCD. See http://www.irishastro.org/

Oct 13th: Public lecture "Life in a finely tuned cosmos" at Armagh Observatory. More details at http://www.armagh.co.uk/event/life-in-a-finely-tuned-cosmos-public-talk-by-visiting-professors-geraint-lewis-and-luke-barnes/

Oct 14th: Terry Moseley will give a talk in the Irish Peatland Conservation Council site at Lullymore, Rathangan, Co. Kildare. The event runs from 7pm to 10pm. It's not listed at http://www.ipcc.ie/ but may be updated in the next few days.

Oct 31st: The newly created Dark Matter Day (presumably because of Halloween and the mysterious) has a number of worldwide events listed at https://www.darkmatterday.com/

jfSDAS

Yet more happening this month!

The Irish Meteorological Society's talk on October 19th is titled "Climate Assessments - An Insider's Perspective". It will be given by Peter Thorne, Director of the Irish Climate Analysis Research Unit at NUI Maynooth. More details at https://www.irishmetsociety.org/

Dunsink Observatory will have a public lecture on Friday, October 20th in advance of an all-day workshop about the Nemetode Meteor Camera network on the Saturday. Book for the Friday evening lecture at https://payments.dias.ie/ -- I'm not 100% sure the talk's topic and probably was told it but have forgotten due to a zillion other things going on!

Information about the meteor camera workshop will be posted soon on the IFAS forum at https://www.irishastronomy.org/ -- more about Nemetode's work at http://www.nemetode.org/ which features set-ups across the UK and Ireland. You'd be surprised what the Dunsink meteor cameras have been picking up; from herons, planes, the ISS, and yes, bright meteors too. No fireballs yet like that recorded in the sky over China this week!

Mid-month is when I think the Phoenix Park Visitor Centre is hosting the IAS/IFAS astrophotography exhibition that has been touring venues since first run in The Botanic Gardens last year. No info on the Centre's site yet but someone did mention to me last weekend the exhibition is scheduled to be displayed there soon.

Booking is now open for Br Guy's talk in Cahersiveen on October 17th. See https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/the-heavens-proclaim-astronomy-and-the-vatican-tickets-38537090475