Deirdre Kelleghan

Wide Awake in Texas by Deirdre Kelleghan

2011-01-31T14:29:00.000-08:00

As I flew over Pennsylvania the pathways among the green hills and valleys looked like someone had sprayed them on with silly string, such was their random pattern, from my birds eye view.

The green fields soon gave way to the scorched dry plains of Texas, the ground below reminded me of those little watercolour blocks from my painting sets as a child. The colour and even the smell of Burnt Sienna came back to me. Texas is in a drought situation, there has been no rain for months, the cotton was scorched by the sun, in the barren Raw Umber fields of earth.

The water table had dropped, wells ran dry, and farmers were resorting to selling off cattle as they have little water for them. Cotton farmers have insurance on their crops but that would hardly make up for the loss.

The standard temperature for where I was staying had been consistent at 100 – 105 F for months, buildings were according to many Texans, overcooled. Air-conditioning was a very necessary and welcome tool in the effort to keep the population chilled.

The Astronomical League Convention was held at The University of Texas at Arlington.

The campus was huge and seemed very new. The many trees planted around the grounds were home to a population of grey squirrels that seem to be charging about everywhere I looked.

The welcome I received from the members of the Astronomical League was as great as the legendary Irish welcome. I was greeted with hand shakes, smiles, hugs and photographic moments. I felt very much at home right away, in this extension of the global astronomical family.

I was enjoying Kelly Beatty’s talk on the future of astronomy when half way through I was invited to go on a trip into Dallas. Mr Ed Flaspoehler from the Texas Astronomical Society of Dallas kindly drove Joanne Hailey secretary of the Astronomical League and I to an unforgettable tour of The Sixth Floor Museum in Dealy Plaza. This is a permanent exhibition about the life and untimely death of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy.

Downtown Dallas in the museum I stood reading the graphic hand written medical notes about JFK’s physical state when he came into the care of Parkland Memorial Hospital on November 22^nd 1963. In the next section of the exhibit the Kennedy moon speech “We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard,” was running on a screen. I did not expect to get emotional about it but I did. I had one of those full circle moments that keep happening with increasing frequency these days.

The Kennedy moon speeches are worth reading, for the spirit of exploration that they inevitably sowed in the minds of many people who were witness, like my self to the Apollo lunar program.

The brand new planetarium in Arlington University in Texas brought back memories of La Géode IMAX Cinema in the City of Science in Paris. In 1989 seated in the Parisian Géode I sailed the high seas on a virtual journey with Christopher Columbus to the Americas.

In America in 2006 in the UTA planetarium I was blasted from my seat to view our planet from space and travel to the edge of our solar system and beyond on a virtual tour that would probably be the closest that I will ever be to the real thing. At one point I was flying under Saturn’s rings just like Cassini, looking up through the rings at this magnificent ball of butterscotch gas.

After a brief sojourn to where stars are born the seated participants went into reverse warp drive, past the gas giants and Mars back to the Arlington campus dome, which was graphically reproducing exactly what was outside the building.

When we recovered from our awesome solar system tour, we were invited by Bob Bonadurer to have a closer look at anything in the virtual night sky. Terry Mann the new President of The Astronomical League requested a trip to Ireland for my benefit. The digital display projected the sky at 53.2000ºN,- 6.1000º W which was of course daytime in Ireland, so the programme showed the sun up but the sky as if it were night, a bit like an eclipse but for longer. Our next treat was the Southern skies from down under a very unique view that I had only previously seen in books.

That evening according to the many seasoned astronomers in attendance, the UTA planetarium show “The Stars at Night are Big and Bright “was the best show of its kind they had ever seen.

A public star party followed and Ed from TAS kindly let me use his Meade LX 90 to do a sketch from the University campus for my collection. I chose to do a quick sketch of Copernicus as it grabbed my attention in the hot Texan evening. Earlier I had picked up some great sketching paper called Rite in the Rain, it has lovely properties and takes pencil very well, and it is resistant to damp. I look forward to using it in the Irish winter where ordinary sketching paper buckles and messes up the work. So yes I bought paper that resists wet in a hot dry climate for a cold damp wet Irish winter.

I did not get to attend every talk over the two days, but the presentations I did attend were very interesting and informative. I found Dr Mike Reynolds presentation on Meteoritics particularly enlightening and humorous. On screen he showed many types of these space travelling rocks from his collection, some of which displayed extraordinary jewel like, but certainly extraterrestrial properties.

After the excellent Star Bar B Que, I was completely wrapped up in Marni Berendsen's very interactive and entertaining talk about the Night Sky Network. She demonstrated the tool kits which very simply explain the answers to very common questions in astronomy. She used a spoon, foam and some sticks to explain why objects are seen upside down in a telescope. An explanation I will forever remember and repeat many times.

She turned many astronomers there into hot Blue Stars, Planets, Extra Solar Planets and Sun’s, in her story of where habitable earth like planets might be, and why they would be in a certain position in relation to earth like suns. Yellow and blue cellophane, small white spheres on sticks and volunteers from the audience provided the visual explanation for this lesson.

These simple methods to explain astronomical ideas to the public are part of The Night Sky Network TookKits. Not available outside of the United States but a pdf download is here on

http://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/docs/0ScopeManual.pdf gives full instructions on telescope questions only and the bits and pieces are easily sourced. A keen amateur astronomer provided the link it is a large file (13MB) but it is very useful.

The Awards Banquet in UTA produced one of the best meals I have ever had at one of these events, and the whole convention was well run and well presented. The winners of the Astronomy Day award could not attend, but Kelly Beatty made a point of reading out many of the events carried out by The Iranian Astronomical Society. This included the lights of a large town being turned out for one hour to enable the population to see the night sky free of light pollution a great idea, one to emulate and a high bar set by the Persian astronomers for 2007.

Among many awards given that night I was delighted to receive on behalf of the Irish Astronomical Society an Honourable Mention Award for our Sun Moon and Stars for Chernobyl Astronomy Day Event in Dublin. I would like to see other Irish clubs joining in this global outreach event next year details on http://www.astroleague.org/al/astroday/astroday.html

The Texas Astronomical Society of Dallas were the warm hosts of ALCON 2006 I look forward to meeting them all again at some future get together of sky watchers.

Deadly Moons and Spacemen at Draiocht Arts Centre and Send a Message to Venus

2009-12-15T03:28:00.000-08:00

Messages From Earth

Send your Message to Venus on Akatsuki

http://planetary.org/special/fromearth/akatsuki

ARTstronomy at Draiocht
If you are out Christmas shopping in Blanchardstown
drop into Draiocht Arts Centre to see Deadly Moons and Spacemen
This beautiful expression of work by local school children will really impress. Draiocht is open Monday to Saturday from 10 am to 6pm admission is free
A video about this community art project is here below.

"I learned that Science and Art can mix"

A sentence written by one of the young
children taking part. Many thanks to Sarah Beirne
and staff at Draiocht for the very professional manor in which the work is displayed.

2009-12-07T14:59:00.000-08:00

Deadly Moons Art Astronomy workshop
at Draiocht Arts Centre

One of the many beautiful images created in Draiocht Arts Centre just prior to Science Week . Scoil Oilibheir , St Frances Xivier NS , Scoil Bhirde Cailini in Blanchardstown took part .

This drawing of Atlas with its mother planet Saturn as a backdrop was drawn by a young child who attended my Deadly Moon workshop.

Using soft pastels this child reproduced with great visual intuitiveness one of Cassini's many images. Over 80 individual drawings were produced during the workshops. The same children had an opportunity to visit Dunsink Observatory during Science Week. Then they had a follow up series of arts visits by Anne Kelly who helped them produce 3D works based on the whole experience.

Feel free to visit this unique exhibition at Draiocht between Dec 14th and Jan 14th.
The launch is at 7:30 pm on Monday Dec 14th all welcome . 01 8852622
http://www.draiocht.ie/index.php

What's Up for December 2009
Many thanks to Jane Houston Jones
for these little gems throughout the year.
The beautiful Orion Nebula features .

A peep into my Science Week

2009-11-19T04:54:00.000-08:00

Our Moon in False color by a four year old
from Rathfarnham Educate Together Junior School.
A lot of color and energy in small children's work, they get on with the drawings and are delighted to produce something. Most children taking part in my workshops were between 8 and 12 years old.

November 9th to November 15th was Science Week 2009.
I offered my drawing workshops and talks. Hundreds of children
took part in my drawing events in various venues
mostly libraries, in Dublin City ,Dunsink Observatory, Monaghan , Drogheda ,Bunclody, New Ross,Malahide, Ballyfermot, Rathfarnham ,Blanchardstown,Oldcastle and Navan.

Here are just a few exceptional drawings that I would like
to share with you. They are wonderful for several reasons
either the child was very young or was particularly interested
and produced a great piece on the day.
In both workshops Deadly Moons or Rapid Rockets & Wicked Robots
the children only have half an hour for the drawing section.

Apollo 11 Splashdown
by an 8 yr old
in Malahide Library
during Science Week

All drawings in pastel
on black paper.
We share drawing methods
fun and learning together.

We shared our colors
We share our ideas
We share paper
We share our knowledge

A lot of children under 12
knew Neil Armstrong was
the first man on the moon.

A few knew Buzz Aldrin
and two children named
Michael Collins , amazing !!!

We talk about Apollo
We talk about LCROSS
We talk about ice on the moon.
We talk about future moon bases and vehicles.
We talk about viewing Jupiter
We talk about The European Space Agency
We talk about Our Sun , Our Moon , Our Solar System
We talk about Our beautiful Earth

A young child draws the Huygens Probe landing on Saturn's moon Titan at a session in Drogheda Library.I was really impressed by the attention to detail some children gave in the short time frame available.

Most children had never heard
of Cassini or Huygens.

Most children were not aware
that there are robots on Mars.

It is important to share space exploration
as it is happening .

One or two children knew about LCROSS
Most children knew about Galileo
but most had never heard of International Year of Astronomy 2009 . They have now.

Mars Science Laboratory
Curiosity by an 8 year old in Malahide Library You can join these little Irish space artists and send your name to Mars on Curiosity here

http://marsparticipate.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/participate/sendyourname/

Everyone who attended my talks or workshops were invited to send their names to Mars.

The New Lunar Exploration Rover
by a child in Navan Library
Here is the link to the Constellation Program back to the Moon
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/constellation/main/index.html

NASA has developed a rover to explore the Moon and Mars eventually.
Watch and be in TOTAL AWE

http://www.youtube.com/user/NASAanalogTV

http://www.youtube.com/user/NASAanalogTV#p/c/E364BF268AC691BB/5/KdWGgialfjM

You can catch up on all
Science Week events here
http://www.scienceweek.ie/index.asp

Interview with Dr Brian O'Halloran an Irish Scientist working on the Herschel Space Telescope

2009-10-25T04:13:00.000-07:00

Dr Brian O'Halloran was interviewed by Deirdre Kelleghan
at Dunsink Observatory.Dr O'Halloran was the IAS guest
speaker on October 19th 2009, he kindly agreed to this
interview a few minutes before he delivered his presentation.

The interview was recorded with a mobile phone so
turn up the sound for best hearing.

The talk on the Herschel Space Telescope was excellent
and it was great to hear about Brian's work on SPIRE

You can follow Herschel at The European Space Agency here

You can follow Herschel on Twitter here

The interview will be broadcast on Phoenix 92.5FM
October 31st Saturday at 3:15 pm.
The station broadcasts to Dublin 15.

Irish Astronomical Society Events coming up

October 30th Free Public Observing at the Martello Tower Car
Park Sandymount 8pm - 10pm. Someone will be there to talk
to you no matter what the weather is like.
Telephone 0876398143

November 16th Telescope workshop
in Dunsink Observatory 8pm. If you want to get the best out
of your scope or have a new scope and
would like to get to know how to use it , come along and we will help you out.

The ESO education
and Public Outreach Department
The Jewel Box Star Cluster.

The combination of images taken by three exceptional telescopes,
the ESO Very Large Telescope on Cerro Paranal , the MPG/ESO
2.2-metre telescope at ESO’s La Silla observatory and the
NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, has allowed the
stunning Jewel Box star cluster to be seen in a whole new light.

The release, images and video are available on
http://www.eso.org/public/outreach/press-rel/pr-2009/pr-40-09.html

Whats Up for October 2009
The Andromeda Galaxy

Stunning Mars Image for you - Herschel Exclusive at Dunsink

2009-10-15T14:56:00.000-07:00

A wonderful explanation of this stunning image from the surface of Mars by Phil Platt
can be found here http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/category/astronomy/ click the link and read it.
Much more on the HiRSE website here http://www.uahirise.org/

The incredible Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter’s HiRISE camera took the image

What can I say about this image ? it shouts out a story, it seeks and deserves our
attention , it brings focus to our spirit , and helps us wrap ourselves in the fabric
and the beauty of the surface of this awesome planet.

If you are up early in the morning ( Oct 16th) Venus , Saturn and Mercury will join
a lovely crescent moon on the eastern horizon 07:00 enjoy

Don't forget Monday October 19th in Dunsink, e mail John Murphy
to reserve a seat . johnmurphy474@gmail.com

See you there

Deirdre

2009-09-30T16:22:00.000-07:00

Cassini Scientist for a Day Essay Competition

WOW !! A really cool competition open to all students in Ireland

(11 to 18 years).

Just 500 words on why Cassini should image either Saturn and its Rings, Tethy's and Saturns Rings or Titan Saturn's largest moon.

So if you are a teacher , have a good read and a good look at the video's and requirements.

Perhaps you have a budding scientist sitting in your class room ? Feel free to pass on this information to a teacher or a pupil you know .

Prizes include vouchers for Amazon, a trip to London and, if you’re specific target is chosen, Cassini itself will take an image of your chosen subject!

The Cassini Mission to Saturn and Titan is one of the greatest exploration missions of our time.

This is your chance to be part of this wonderful science experience.

All information regarding the Cassini Scientist for a Day Essay Competition re Ireland www.maths.qmul.ac.uk/schools/cassini

Watch all the videos at http://www.youtube.com/user/CassiniScientist4Day#play/uploads/0/nrn4hPdY6KU

Deadline for submission in Ireland is 30th Oct
Good Luck

Dublin Institute of Advanced Studies - Statutory Lecture 2009 Oct 12th 2009 8pm UCD

All from Nothing: the structuring of our UniverseTelescopes are time-machines. They allow us to see into the distant past. Our deepest images show the Universe not as it is today, but as it was just 400,000 years after the Big Bang. At that time there were no galaxies, no stars, no planets,
no people, no familiar elements other than hydrogen and helium. The cosmos contained
nothing but weak sound waves in a near-uniform fog. Spercomputers can compress thirteen billion years of cosmic evolution into a few months of calculation to show how these sound waves
developed into the rich structure we see around us today. A study of their harmonic content gives clues to their origin. They appear to be an echo of quantum zero-point fluctuations occurring a tiny fraction of a second after the Big Bang. Thusour
entire world may be a consequence of the nature of this early vacuum.
In a very real sense, everything may have come from nothing.

Lecture Theater C005
Health Sciences Building
University College Dublin
October 12th 2009 8 p.m.
Professor Simon D.M. White
Director at the Max Plank Institute for Astrophysics

Irish Astronomical Society October Talk
- All welcome its free click on the image see it large

Lets DO It in the Park again

October 22nd - Wicklow Mountains National Park - 7:30 pm - 9:30 pm - Upper Lake Car Park

A call for telescopes and their people to help show our moon , Jupiter's moons
and the lovely Jupiter to the public in the park .

Our last major public outreach event 100 Hours of Astronomy brought amateur astronomers
in this country together to share the night sky with the public. What an incredible amount of public service astronomy went on that week in April .

We all learned from that very positive experience , and now we have the opportunity to to do it again and build on what we learned.

Let me know asap if you are taking part and what you intend to do in your area. No need to get complicated , just share the sky in your neighbourhood . Watch the IFAS forum for updates
http://www.irishastronomy.org/cms/

A familiar voice talks Stars

@365DaysOfAstro Sept. 30 podcast: The Delight of Stars by Brother Guy Consolmagno http://bit.ly/YYhpM

2009-09-30T02:04:00.000-07:00

The Exhibition Gallery at Birr Castle Science Centre
Images by Bernard Kelleghan

In the Footsteps of Galileo an exhibition of astronomical sketches
has opened in Birr Castle Science Centre Co Offaly.

The exhibition displays 51 observational sketches by astronomers
from all over the world, and over 100 children's moon drawings .

A lovely mixed audience of astronomers, artists , educators , children
and the general public attended the launch .

Dr Carolina Odman International Program Manager for UNAWE ie Universe Awareness for Young Children opened the exhibition for me, and gave a talk on UNAWE's teachings to young children about the scale and beauty of the universe.

The Seventh Earl of Rosse spoke about the uniqueness of
the exhibition and said
"it's a pleasure to see In the Footsteps of Galileo
in the shadow of the Leviathan."

I said a few words on behalf of the contributors and also spoke
about astronomical drawing , why we do it ,
the learning through observation experience, that brings the subject to the page.

Sir Patrick Moore who has donated six sketches to the display sent
a message of good will with regrets for been unable to attend himself.

To my great delight Lord Rosse framed four original sketches from
his ancestor The 3rd Earl of Rosse .
These sketches include the world famous Whirlpool Galaxy
and the Crab Nebula sketched using the Leviathan.

The Seventh Earl of Rosse on his knees before
the Whirlpool Galaxy sketched by his ancestor
The Third Earl . Deirdre Kelleghan , Dr Carolina Odman
and Lady Rosse look on

Children's moon drawings from Dublin, Louth, Cork, Offaly
New York and elsewhere add to the International flavor

The Exhibition runs till November 1st 2009 and is
open everyday from 9 am - 6 pm

Deirdre reports on the astronomical sketching exhibition at Birr Castle in Ireland

2009-09-22T02:26:00.001-07:00

Deirdre reports on the astronomical sketching exhibition at Birr Castle in Ireland

Posted using ShareThis

Falling Man

2009-09-11T05:38:00.000-07:00

Remembering The Falling Man 911

Across the entire global community there seems to be no alignment of agreement on ethics in relation to the journalistic press or the photo journalistic press. There are varying degrees of standard guidelines and principles for all the strata of output in the media in the twenty first century.

The cultural evolution theory developed by the nineteenth century anthropologist Lewis Henry Morgan is a stiff ethnocentric model that I found difficult to place over any society in the world. He put forward the idea that societies developed from the first stage of savagery onto barbarism then finally reaching civilization.

I found this view a little narrow and a little shallow until I began to focus on the microcosm of society that is the world’s press, in this context the model sat very well.
All aspects of Morgan’s cultural evolution theory reside in both the shallowness and depths of the worlds printed and broadcast media. From tabloids to broadsheets, from rolling news to in-depth reports directly from the centre of disasters and war.

The savage, the barbarian, and the civilized exist together. These various media formats feed us their view of world events static and unfolding. The savage paparazzi, who dive to lower and lower depths of unethical behavior to achieve images for reward. The barbaric photojournalism of war and human suffering and the attempt at civility by the more ethically sensitive media, that at least tries to find a balance towards, honor of the individual and human dignity.

It is a fact that a picture paints a thousand words. A photograph is revealing to the viewer and revealing of its subject. One image etched in my mind as regards ethical issues and the privacy of the individual is the 2001 image of “The Falling Man” .

This image appeared in newspapers across the globe in the day’s post 911; it is heralded as an iconic image in the same vain as the Unknown Soldier.

In a documentary made at the time, it was put forward as a heroic image of an American in an elegant gracefully fall.

The fact is, this is an image of a man in the last few seconds of his life. A very private moment stolen by the click, click, click, of a press photographer. The photojournalist job that day was to get exclusive graphic images to sell to the networks.

Now, one could argue that the latter was perhaps in the public interest or that the public has a right to know allowing ethical considerations being overridden.

Journalism and the freedom of the press has an ethnology all of its own. The victim falling to his death on 911 did not go to work to become an icon of a tragic day.
It is unfortunate how a murdered man becomes a reluctant hero in his dying moments and somehow brings a badge of honor to the photojournalist who captured this barbarism.

The photograph was subsequently used to eventfully identify the man but that also brought up issues which evoked anger and shame. Somehow the people who fell from the twin towers that day became referred to as jumpers. This implied that they committed suicide which their families associated with shame.

Journalists and photojournalists have a responsibility to bring us news, to investigate on our behalf. They also have a responsibility to attempt to achieve equilibrium between their story gathering abilities and the right to the privacy and dignity of an individual.

Where is the point that people must relinquish their privacy as they perhaps become celebrities? If you rise your head above the parapet you are it seems, automatically relieved of autonomy over your private life. Moral sensitivity good taste and compassion are required on the part of journalists especially when they are reporting about victims of accidents or other tragedies.

If you die because of an act of terrorism and your dying image is captured on film you become an overnight celebrity, a hero, an icon, somehow transmuted from an ordinary individual to someone owned by the world? In your life perhaps you were an unremarkable person and in your death you become a moral dilemma, something to be honed and cooked up into a media offering for the masses to digest.

RIP to all victims of 911

ALCON 2009 New York

2009-08-13T06:23:00.000-07:00

Viewed from 37.000 feet the landscape of Canada was laced with thousands of steel blue pools. Meandering river channels etched life into a combat green background. Shoals of puffy cumulus raced beneath me in several layers, of white and grey. The Air Lingus shamrock tipped wing sliced through the atmosphere toward a New York landing.....................

Below are a few micro moments from my trip to New York for ALCON 2009

Deadly Moons Art Astronomy workshop
at The Astronomical Leagues Convention
in Hofstra University New York.
Deadly Moons will be part of Heritage Week at Newgrange
next Saturday August 22nd details to follow.
e mail skysketcher@gmail.com

The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled.
Plutarch

Deirdre Linda and Galileo at Custer Observatory Long Island

The Amateur Observers Society of New York were my hosts
Linda Prince did a great job organising children from the
Science Camp at Hofstra and local children from her
young astronomers group to attend the workshop.
http://www.aosny.org/

A few images from my visit to ALCON in New York

Deirdre gets The Astronomical Leagues Master Outreach Award
one of 25 given out this year and the first International one :-)
Presented by Dr Mike Reynolds Outreach Chair for the League.
I do not do outreach for awards , but it was nice to get one.

Apollo 19 LEM built but never launched to the moon
on exhibit at The Cradle of Aviation Long Island NY

Biggest highlight - Seeing the Apollo 19 Lunar Lander at The Cradle of Aviation
Biggest shock - The size of the empty space at ground zero
Best fun - The Star B Q at the Custer Institute Long Island
Most satisfying - The cross cultural success of Deadly Moons
Most interesting - Hayden Planetarium and The Natural History Museum
Best building - The Guggenheim
Most extraordinary fun - Meeting Twitter followers :-)
Most beautiful - a huge Stibnite Crystal from China in the Natural History Museum
Very classy - The collection of Poetry given to all at the Star B Que
compiled by Robert Chapin published by Harvey Miller.
Very pleased with the reaction to my other two talks.
Enjoyed - The people , the friendships, the children , the heat, the scopes , the city , the transport, the food, the laughing , the learning, the fun.
Biggest giggle , the role playing at Vivian Whites workshop ( sorry Vivian we collapsed )
good workshop tho :-)

The NY children's moons on exhibition at ALCON
alongside astronomical sketches from Sir Patrick Moore CBE
Deirdre , Jane Houston Jones , Michael Portuesi , and Bill Crispeno

The outstanding Guggenheim Museum
where I saw an exhibition of drawings by Frank Lloyd Wright
with Linda Prince and Stu Parker an astronomer from New Zealand
We had a hot dog picnic in Central Park before heading to
Ground Zero, and after dinner later I was happy to join in
Music Under the Stars , a public star party at an Irish
Concert in Massapequa . We viewed the moon
and Jupiter in a variety of scopes. I gave away Eyes in the Skies DVD's from ESA :-)

http://www.hellofromearth.net/
Send a message to Gliese 581d on this website

What's Up for August 2009

2009-07-28T07:51:00.000-07:00

On August 3rd I head to Hofstra University in Long Island New York for ALCON. The Astronomical League's annual convention.

The Astronomical League is the largest organisation for amateur astronomers in the world.
I am proud to be a member , or as overseas members
are described " a member at large"

Deirdre will be " at large" at their annual convention , and am delighted to be contributing to the event. with two talks and a workshop.
Details by clicking on the ALCON EXPO Logo above.

Upcoming events in Armagh Planetarium a great day out .!!!
I recommend Manor Park Restaurant beside the observatory , very nice indeed.
French wonderful :-)

2 College Hill
Armagh, BT61 9DN, United Kingdom

028 3751 5353‎

The events are as follows:

1. Public Lecture "Cosmos versus Canvas: Tensions between Art and Science in Astronomy Images", 7.30 pm Tuesday 4 August 2009, in the Armagh Planetarium

Dr Jayanne English of the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada will deliver a free public lecture in the Armagh Planetarium on Tuesday 4 August at 7.30 pm. The title and brief summary of the lecture are:

"Cosmos versus Canvas: Tensions between Art and Science in Astronomy Images"

Dr English is an outstanding speaker who uses bold colour images from telescopes to act as extraordinary ambassadors for astronomers because they provoke huge curiosity in people's minds. The images are especially popular during the International Year of Astronomy, but raise the question whether the snapshots are documenting physical reality or are merely artistic "space-scapes" created by digitally manipulating astronomical images. The lecture will provide a tour of how original black and white data, for example from the Hubble Space Telescope, are converted into the familiar colour images gracing newspapers and magazines. Each image can be regarded as a battlefield where the attempt by scientists to represent their discoveries accurately all but drowns out the artistic voice of visual literacy. Yet sometimes in this battle between cultures of science and visual art, both sides win. This struggle will be presented from the perspective of a professional astronomer who has also trained as an artist.

This public lecture is part of the Armagh Observatory's programme of events to support the United Nations International Year of Astronomy 2009.

For tickets to the public lecture, please contact Neil Cullen at the Armagh Planetarium; Tel: 028-3752-4725; Fax: 028-3752-6187; email: neil@armaghplanet.com or Aileen McKee at the Armagh Observatory; Tel: 028-3752-2928; Fax: 028-3752-7174; e-mail: ambn@arm.ac.uk.

2. European Heritage Open Day, Saturday 12 September 2009

The Observatory will open its doors to visitors on Saturday 12 September as part of the annual European Heritage Open Days events organized by the Environment and Heritage Service of the Northern Ireland Environment Agency. These open days are a Europe-wide celebration of our heritage, culture and architecture. Many countries in Europe will be taking part by opening, free of charge, properties not usually accessible to the general public. Guided tours will be available at: 11:00, 12:00, 14:00, 15:00 and 16:00.

3. Public Lecture "What is Light?", 7.30 pm Thursday 17 September 2009, in the Market Place Theatre, Armagh

Leo Enright, a broadcaster on Space Exploration and Science will deliver a free public lecture in the Market Place Theatre on Thursday 17 September at 7.30 pm. The title and brief summary of the lecture are:

"What is Light?"

Leo Enright explores the history of Ireland's sometimes tenuous connection with luminosity - while naming and shaming some modern big wicks. He will focus on the importance of continuing public access to dark skies, especially during the present 'Golden Age' of astronomy, whilst noting that historically Ireland has sometimes been defined by the absence of light - as why else would the Romans have called it Hibernia?

The public lecture is being given as part of the 9th European Symposium for the Protection of the Night Sky that takes place from 17 - 19 September 2009 in the Market Place Theatre, Armagh.

For tickets to this public lecture, please contact Aileen McKee at the Armagh Observatory; Tel: 028-3752-2928; Fax: 028-3752-7174; e-mail: ambn@arm.ac.uk.

4. Public Lecture "Why Are We Here?", 8.00 pm Thursday 22 October 2009, in St. Patrick's Trian, Armagh

Dr Martin Hendry of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Glasgow will deliver a free public lecture in the Rotunda Theatre, St. Patrick's Trian, on Thursday 22 October at 8.00 pm. The title and brief summary of the lecture are:

"Why Are We Here?"

Since the dawn of civilisation human cultures have sought to understand our place in the universe, asking "big questions" about our cosmic origins. Modern cosmology provides some startling answers to these questions: not only is the universe expanding, but we believe the expansion to be accelerating - driven by a mysterious "dark energy" that challenges our ideas about gravity and the very nature of space and time. Moreover our runaway universe appears to be rather delicately balanced, in the sense that small changes in the laws of nature would result in a very different cosmos - most likely unsuitable for life like us. What does all of this mean for our cosmic origins? Is our universe unique, or do we belong to a "multiverse" - a vast ensemble of universes, each with its own laws of nature? In his lecture, Dr Hendry will explore these, and other, questions posed by the latest cosmological discoveries, and discuss what implications they might have for the existence of life in the universe.

For tickets to this public lecture, please contact Aileen McKee at the Armagh Observatory; Tel: 028-3752-2928; Fax: 028-3752-7174; e-mail: ambn@arm.ac.uk.

The BAA have a U TUBE page click here.
A familiar face here, the exuberant John Mason, several other videos on the link above.
That's all for now
Deirdre

2009-07-12T05:03:00.001-07:00

At Deirdre 's talk Astronomy and other COOL STUFF in Pembrook Library in Dublin July 8th
Astronomy and other COOL STUFF is a fun talk for 8yr olds + part of Dublin City Libraries Summer events. Please contact the libraries directly if you wish to come , all welcome , its free.

Still to come this month
Deadly Moons - Astronomy Art Workshop Wexford Town Library 11am July 14th
Phone +353 53 9121637

Rapid Rockets and Wicked Robots - Astronomy Art Workshop Donaghmede Library 11am
Telephone: +353 1 8482833 July 15th

Astronomy and other COOL STUFF
Finglas Library on July 16th at 11 am
Telephone: +353 1 8344906

Active Region 1024 July 6th 09:15 UT PST 40 8mm TVP eyepiece. Pastels and Staedtler Ergosoft Pencils on black paper. Seeing - Wilson Scale 3 Some very fine detail visible , the AR was not as busy as the 4th of July. The flares were less active. I just managed this one sketch before the clouds rolled in again. The AR fibrils stood out very clearly from time to time , the plage was much less vibrant than July 4th. The mottling held well defined patterns over large areas. One of the sunspots appeared larger than previous and the penumbra was visible without going up and down the bandwidth of the scope. I sketched in the spots alone first then tuned the scope to pick out the other details visible in the h alpha. That day I decided to use pencil over pastel to try to achieve as exact a sketch as I could. My drawing covers approx 100,000
square miles of the solar disc.

The link to this sketch made the front page
of Spaceweather on July 6th

There are some lectures left at TARA in July
Contact them directly,click into the image to see it larger.

That's all for now - Enjoy Jane Houston Jones What's Up for July below here

2009-07-12T04:58:00.000-07:00

2009-06-25T04:36:00.000-07:00

A series of still images telling the story of a mural painted by the children of 5th class from O'Connell's Boys National School in Dublin City . Deirdre Kelleghan spoke to the children about the project and this is the result. The mural was initiated by Sarah - Jayne Reid , the school were very supportive to the whole effort.

This mural kicked off on April 23rd and finished on
Tuesday June 23rd.
I was invited to give a presentation to the children from 5th class.

Sarah-Jayne Reid a friend and Arts Facilitator kindly got me involved and it took off from there.

Sarah-Jayne helped the children to express their ideas on the wall.
I did a presentation about Apollo, Our Solar System, Robotic Exploration and some lunar and solar observing with the children.

Many thanks to the teachers and pupils from O'Connell's Boys National School for welcoming me to their classrooms. Thanks to Sarah - Jayne Reid for the invite to get involved with these very creative Dublin school children. Thanks also to Dr Carolina Odman from UNAWE for the Cornerstones interest in sharing the enthusiasm shown by these Irish children.

UNAWE Special Focus Children's Voices http://www.unawe.org/joomla/

Children enjoy the 3D images from Stereo

SOLARFEST 2009 was really good last weekend .
89 Euro was collected in lieu of HB Ice Cream for Downs Syndrome Ireland.
6 more blocks of HB Ice Cream are yet to be exchanged for euros, any takers ???? :-)

Nick Howes - Astronomy Now speaking at Dunsink during SOLARFEST
Thanks to all the speakers , the standard set a high bar for 2010.
Thanks to all who donated and to all who attended . I would hope to have a bigger
event next year with a more expansive program. Many thanks to DIAS for funding the
event , and to Hilary O Donnell for her continued support.
Thanks to Goddard Space Center for the excellent solar outreach material.

That's all for now more to come :-)

Deirdre Kelleghan - skysketcher@gmail.com
Outreach Coordinator IFAS
http://www.irishastronomy.org/
http://www.deirdrekelleghan.com/
https://twitter.com/skysketcher

2009-04-26T11:05:00.000-07:00

Click in to see all the venues where
National Drawing Day will go on !! :-)
Contact details end of poster.

What's Up for May 2009 features our sun :-)

What's going on ?

Introduction to Astronomy in Ireland -

Deirdre Kelleghan Outreach Coordinator IFAS

May 12th 2009 Ballymun Library 6:30 pm
Ballymun Library, Main St., Ballymun, Dublin 1 Tel. 842 1890, Email. ballymunlibrary@dublincity.ie Free talk

Ireland and The Moon Landings: Some personal reminiscences
An illustrated talk with Professor Denis O’Sullivan of NASA, to commemorate Irish involvement in the Apollo Space missions from 1969-1972
Dublin City Library & Archive, Pearse St. - Thursday 14th May at 6.30p Booking Essential on 01 6744873. Admission Free.

National Drawing Day 2009 May 23rd 3 pm in conjunction with The National Gallery of Ireland. Dunsink Observatory Moon drawing workshop contact Deirdre 0872893828 Free

My Museum Series May 24th National Museum Kildare Street Dublin.
Deadly Moons a Moon drawing workshop for children
with Deirdre Kelleghan Free event

Deadly Moons is an art/astronomy drawing workshop which has been absorbed into UNAWE ie Universe Awareness for Young Children. A cornerstone project for International Year of Astronomy 2009.

Enceladus by a pupil from Scoil Oilibhéir Blanchardstown

May Events Darwin 200

________________________________

Bealtaine Festival of Outdoor Science

Location: Southeast Ireland
Date: 17th - 24th May 2009

The annual Bealtaine festival of outdoor science in the Southeast is organised by CALMAST at Waterford IT and will have as its theme this year : Biodiversity through natural selection. Over 50 events scheduled.

________________________________

Is the Human Y Chromosome Running Out of Time?

Location: Royal College of Surgeons - O'Flanagan lecture Theatre
Date: Wednesday 20 May 2009 7 pm

This year in honour of Charles Darwin's 200th year anniversary, Professor Jennifer A. Marshall Graves will give the annual RCSI outreach lecture - the theme Evolution. In this exciting lecture, Professor Jenny Graves outlines why the human Y chromosome is running out of time and how it could lose its last 45 genes in just 10 million years. What happens when SRY disappears? Would this be the end of the line for humans? Professor Graves explains the latest scientific research and discuss why, as the human Y runs out of options, new sex determining genes may evolve, potentially leading to different hominid species. Jenny is an inspirational speaker and this event promises to be one of the most entertaining events in our calendar this year.

________________________________

The X Club - Thomas Henry Huxley

Location: National Location: National Museum of Ireland - Archaeology, Kildare Street, Dublin 2
Audience: Ages 8-12
Date: Saturday 6 June 2009

Known as Darwin's Bulldog, Huxley was one of the first anatomists to link birds to dinosaurs. Join an anatomy class with a difference!

Booking essential - contact BookingsKS@museum.ie or 01-6486332

If you would like a moon drawing workshop for your school or group contact me
skysketcher@gmail.com

Easter Proms in Scarlet and Sunshine Yellow

2009-04-13T05:31:00.000-07:00

PST 40 mm/8mm TVP eyepiece
Sketch 1 = 12:50 UT 11/04/09

Sketch 2 = 16:30 UT 11/04/09

Sketch 3 = 17:00 UT 11/04/09

Easter Saturday, a text from a friend snaps me out
of my miserable cold and entices me to look at
prominences on the solar limb. An active busy prom on the NW limb about 350 degrees PA ,
was accompanied by a spike like ribbon of plasma.What to use ? ink? pastel? pencil ? what suits my mood.?
Relax your sick an inner voice said, go the easy route have some fun.

Gorgeous Windsor and Newton inks in their individual packages always makes me smile.
Sunshine Yellow , with the Summer Sunburst dolly girl , yep cool plasma in a jar.

My new teeny tiny watercolor brushes, a mother's day gift.

I only managed three sketches in between large dawdling clouds.
Occasionally fast moving grey cumulus spilled into my h alpha view like squid ink
bursting, obscuring , the billions of tons of material in my target.

A relaxing slow afternoon , following the sun around my garden, with Miss Sunshine Yellow on a tiny brush.

Easter Sunday

The interesting prom dance continues , Sunshine Yellow to begin but I am itching to try new watercolors and the tiniest brush on the planet. Looking at my box of full pans, Scarlet seems the closest block to h alpha realism.

Sketch 4 = 14:20 UT 12/04/09

!5:00UT

16:30UT

17:10UT
Oh the joy of tiny action, tiny brush strokes, tiny imperceptible movement. Time lapsed drawings capturing monumental energy, flinging itself thousands of miles into space. Leaping energy anchored to our star by its massive gravity.

I decide on alternate ink and watercolor sketches as an experiment , why not.

14:40UT

15:20UT

I shield my eyes from the sunlight in order to see these features erupting outward from our star. My cat helps herself to a drink of scarlet tinted water , she likes to get involved.

17:00 UT my Mimosa tree is getting in the way of my prom. I have to move my whole shebang left twenty feet and backwards to catch the falling disc.

Time to throw dinner in the oven.

16:00UT

Watercolor tends to dry quickly in the sun, ink stays wet on the brush for longer. Both ink and watercolor work well for prominences, shade works , helps evaporation. The suns heat crystallises the ink on the rim of the bottle.

17:45 UT Tiny leafs swaying in the breeze block ginormous proms. I follow sun beams between trees to watch the distant show.

16:45UT

My tiny 5/0 brush barely exists , just a few strands.

17:55 UT My little block of scarlet sits neatly on my tripod head.
My oven is beeping , time to do the veg.

After finishing the set , I get the urge to super size the last two sketches , one ink, one watercolor.
I watch skinny twigs thirty feet away obscuring my view. They move like window wipers , my prom flickers. Another move backwards a quick view , two quick final sketches.

17:05 UT

17:20UT
Best to rescue the dinner now. Stuffed chicken , roast honey glazed ham, roast potatoes , york cabbage and carrots. Eaglehawk Cabernet Sauvignon and Ortas Rasteau Cote De Rhone. Chocolate

2009-04-07T12:52:00.001-07:00

What's Up for April with Jane Houston Jones

IAS April Talk
Stephen Roche has taken a leap forward in his
imaging of night sky objects from his garden
in Waterford. Do come along and see for yourself
the stunning astro photo's he is producing these days.

Other April events in the Darwin 200 series

UCC Darwin Exhibition
This fascinating little exhibition contains some real gems from the
Universities library, Natural History and Geology collections.
Among the speciments on display are animals collected (and stuffed) by Darwin
on the Beagle voyage and among the books is a first edition of "The Origin
of Species" which was on the libraries lending shelves until the 1960's
and which contains "Darwin-denying" margin notes. The exhibition was due
to end last week but has been extended to run until Easter. Please
contact the Boole Library to check it is still on!

Alien Evolution
Location: Blackrock Castle Observatory
Date: April 6 - April 19 2009 from 11 am
The Alien Evolution workshop takes a fun look at how aliens might have
evolved on very different planets. Spend a morning making aliens over
the Easter break at Blackrock Castle Observatory. Just drop in any day
from next Monday April 6 to Sunday April 19 from 11am for the one and a
half hour workshops. Price €5.00 per child. Suitable for children aged
6-10. Younger children are welcome if accompanied by a parent.

Debating Darwin
RTE Radio 1
New six-part series presented by Damien Walshe, produced by Peter Mooney
Friday nights at 8:30pm, episodes also available for download after the
broadcast dates
Further details: http://www.rte.ie/radio1/debatingdarwin/1084146.html

2009-04-06T06:14:00.001-07:00

One Hundred Hours of Astronomy in a nutshell

Many families enjoyed a good look at the night sky with members of The IAS and SDAS in Glendalough.

When you go down to the woods these days
you sure get a BIG surprise!!!

Saturn and our lovely Moon in Glendalough in International Year of Astronomy :-)

April 4th 2009 210 people attended this free public star party in Wicklow Mountains National Park.
The Irish Astronomical Society ran this event as part of 100 Hours of Astronomy, a cornerstone project for International Year of Astronomy 2009.
As well as being for 100 Hours it was also a Saturn Observation Campaign event. Cassini bookmarks and Saturn moon cards were given to all attending.
This event was part of 20 events in Ireland the majority of which were under the Irish Federation of Astronomical Societies umbrella.
Our lovely moon and Saturn were the main targets, but many constellations were shown to the eager families who formed long queues at each of the eight telescopes. Many thanks to Michael Murphy, Val Dunne, David Branigan, Keith Deveney, James Kelly,Philip Lardner and Paul from The Dublin Institute of Advanced Studies who shared the wonderful sky with great energy and enthusiasm.
Thanks also to Wicklow Mountains National Park, Ian Edwards, John Kinsella and the park staff for being so attentive.

Other IAS events for 100 Hours

E learning in the bus provided by Dublin City Libraries Thursday April 2nd in Bluebell Dublin.

Teacher Rosin O'Shea is delighted to get Cassini information on the e learning bus. April 2nd

The bus driver gets a look at a lovely prom on the SW limb of the sun.
20 Children and their teachers get to look at the solar disc and prom

Dublin City Libraries e learning bus
outside Our Lady of the Wayside NS
in Bluebell on a blue day in Dublin April 2nd

Deirdre heads to the Central Library in the ILAC center to do a talk on Galileo April 2nd 6pm

e learning with astronomy software April 3rd Sandymount Dublin.

Denis from DIAS checks out Michael O'Connells meteorite collection at Dunsink Observatory on April 2nd

Observing with in the dome
Dunsink Observatory April 2nd

Michael O' Connell from MAC
gives a great public talk
on Meteorites

2009-03-21T08:07:00.000-07:00

Br Guy Consolmagno is the special International Guest Speaker of the Dublin Institute of Advanced Studies.
Br Guys visit is supported by DIAS, Blackrock Castle Observatory , Gonzaga College COSMOS , SDAS and The Irish Astronomical Society.

Guy Consolmagno at Gonzaga College

Talk title: The Galileo Wars. March 26th 8pm

Science is always shaped by what is happening in the broader society that supports it, and the science of the 17th century was no different. We examine how Galileo's work challenged the science of the day; how it was shaped by the fortunes of the Spanish during the 30 Years War; and the effect on science in the Catholic world after his famous trial.

Guy Consolmagno at Dunsink Observatory Friday March 27th 6:45 pm sharp - send me an e mail if you want to come to this , limited seating.

skysketcher@gmail.com

Talk Title: Pluto and Planets X: Is Pluto a Planet? And Why Does It Matter?

Less than 15 years ago, the first "trans-Neptunian Object" besides Pluto was discovered. Within the past five years, a rush of new discoveries have revealed a number of bodies whose size rivals that of Pluto. What are these objects? Where did they come from, and what can they tell us about the origin and evolution of the solar system? How are these objects found, and why they only being discovered now? Finally, are they indeed new planets? Who gets to say, and how is this determined? What did the IAU finally decide, and how was that decision reached? Observing these objects, and observing their observers, is a revealing story in both the science and politics of planetary astronomy.

Guy Consolmagno at COSMOS Saturday March 28th

Talk title :Are Asteroids Fluffy? http://www.midlandsastronomy.com/

Recent spaceprobe visits to asteroids, the discovery of satellites in orbit around asteroids, and an analysis of how asteroids perturb other solar system bodies, plus advances in radar and infrared measurements to give us asteroid sized and shapes, has led to reliable determination of asteroid densities. In addition, these data allow an exploration of how small body shapes, densities, and spin states are related, allowing the lessons of the asteroid belt to be applied to trans-Neptunian objects and a possible definition of the boundary between small solar system objects and dwarf planets. When compared to the densities of the meteorites believed to come from the asteroid belt, a new understanding is emerging of how asteroids are put together -- with implications both for the origin of planets and for fhttp://www.midlandsastronomy.com/uture human encounters with Near Earth Objects.

For more details about COSMOS look here http://www.midlandsastronomy.com/

For Details of Br Guys Visit to Blackrock Castle Observatory look here

http://www.bco.ie/IYA/vatican.html

What's UP for March - Galileo's Saturn from Jane Houston Jones

nightskysketcher

2009-02-19T14:02:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone , now the Dublin Institute of Advanced Studies have kindly set up a talk and a workshop in Dunsink for your pleasure.
Myself and the IAS would like to invite all IFAS club reps and members to come along to Dunsink Observatory on Saturday February 28th.

Dunsink Observatory is a great venue, with a bright future.
Come along and see what it is like, come along and we can all
have a talk about how amateur astronomy clubs in this country
can perhaps get involved with Dunsink.
4pm till late o clock

Bring your laptops
Bring your telescopes if you like.
Bring your cameras
Let me know it you intend to come along skysketcher@gmail.com
The talk will be given by a DIAS scientist and will be on
the subjects of radio and optical astronomy.

The workshop will be on a new scientific database on the
Jetset Project.
http://www.jetsets.org/home.html

JETSET is a four-year Marie Curie Research Training Network (RTN) designed to build a vibrant interdisciplinary European Research and Training community centered on rigorous and novel approaches to plasma jet studies, with a focus on flows produced during star formation.

A bit to eat , a cup of tea, and with a bit of luck a spot
of observing will end the afternoon/evening session.

Give me some idea of how many will come along to this ,thanks

March Speaker please note the date March 9th

Click on poster to see it bigger
Next speaker is John Flannery on March 9th
Binary Stars Double the Fun

Here are a few pics from Professor Mike Redfern and Dave McDonalds talks in Dunsink on Monday 16th Feb
Once again our thanks goes to Hilary O'Donnell for her support on the night, and to to DIAS for making such a great venue available to the Irish Astronomical Society.

Professor Mike Redfern as Galileo checks out the South Telescope

Dave McDonald Mike Redfern and Deirdre Kelleghan
in the Dome at Dunsink

Booklet available in Dublin City Libraries on our public events in March, April and May which are in conjunction with Dublin City Libraries and Dunsink Observatory

Other interesting events around the place.
Darwin 200

Climate change, plant extinction and evolution:

Location: LTEE3, Hamilton Building, Trinity College
Date: 26th February 2009 4pm

Fossil plant groups have waxed and waned over geological time since their first tentative steps onto land over 450 million years ago. This talk will place the composition of current world vegetation into a 'deep time' perspective by illustrating the macroevolotionary and macroecological patterns of different plant groups over the last 450 million years. more...

Darwin Exhibition Opens at UCC Library

(Exhibition of specimens collected by Charles Darwin)

Location: UCC library

Audience: General public

Date: Opening February 12th 2009

Contact: Siobhan Bowman 021 4902282; e-mail s.bowman@ucc.ie

A special exhibtion opened on Feb 12th highlighting Cork's connections to the man credited with devloping and explaining the theory of evolution by natural selection.

The exhibit includes species colected by Darwin in Maldonado, Patagonia, In South America during the HMS Beagle voyage ( 1831 -1836). Also on display will be a first edition of Darwin's 'On the Origin of Species', part of the UCC library's Special Collection.

Further details: http://www.ucc.ie/en/mandc/news/fullstory,69761,en.html

Darwin's Study

(Exhibition)

Location: National Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin, Dublin

Audience: General Public

Date: Opening 12th February 2009 Weekdays 9am - 5pm

Contact: Natinal Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin, Dublin 9. Phone: +353 (0)1 804 0319.

The exhibition "Darwin's Study" is now open, on weekdays 9-5 in the herbarium, see:
http://www.botanicgardens.ie/news/20090209.htm
This small exhibition will be expanded soon, adding some new pages showing other facets of Darwin's life.

Whirlpool 2008 Summary

2008-10-02T04:19:00.000-07:00

The Leviathan at Birr Castle

2008 Whirlpool Star Party Summary
Quotes of the weekend

Ian Ridpath said that Deirdre and Sally were
"An explosive combustible combination" we took it as a compliment:-)
He also claimed to be our warm up act , he had a wry sense of humour.
http://www.ianridpath.com/

Ian's presentation on the history of the constellations held everyone in tow for the first hour.
He delivered a very interesting comprehensive overview of how the constellations got their names.

After a short break our talk " A Tale of Two Skysketchers " was next. Sally Russell and I were very pleased with the response and interest from the audience. Our ppt was about our lunar and solar sketching adventures. We left out our messier objects, comets and planets as it would have been toooooooooooo long .
Sally Russell's Cloudynights Gallery link

http://www.cloudynights.com/photopost/showgallery.php?thumb=1&cat=500&si=TheChemist&perpage=12&sort=2&stype=&ppuser=

Our class keep an eye on the lunar video
Frank Ryan Jr ponders Theophilus

We followed our presentation after lunch with a very well attended hands on workshop on astronomical sketching !!!
We had live video footage of the lunar surface (video by John Adair provided by Sally) showing a choice of craters and sketching targets. We offered printed photographs ( Sally originals ) a choice of black or white paper and many choices of
materials for our victims oh oops I mean our volunteers :-)
The workshop was Sally's idea and it was great to be part of it.

The hour long sketch session went by in a blink , we moved around in the crowd to answer questions and to suggest ways of dealing with the lunar images. Wonderful sketches were produced by our pupils and those sketches then became part of the Deadly Moon exhibition.

Sally Russell talks sketching with Jeff Young
Dee and Jeff discuss methods of solar sketching

Damian Peach showed his superb planetary and lunar images. He gave us a peep into how he achieves some of the best astro images on the planet. http://www.damianpeach.com/

Aaron Golden's after dinner talk The David Lunt Memorial Lecture was on filters.

Dr Niall Smith waxed lyrically about Blackrock Castle Observatory and its varied functions.
He gave quite an interesting look into the outreach and research aspects that are central to the BCO year.http://www.bco.ie/

Dr Lorraine Hanlon told us about ' Watcher " a robotic ground based telescope located in South Africa searching for Gamma Ray Bursts. The program will have an outreach element which should be worth getting involved in later on.

Professor Judith Pipher lit up the place with beautiful images from the Spitzer Space Telescope . Judith is an expert in infra red astronomy , she explained the breakdown of colors in a infra red photographic image very well indeed.She amazed everyone by admitting that the imaging chip on Spitzer was only 0.0065 Mega Pixels. http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-01/uor-ajp013007.php

Many thanks to Shannonside Astronomy Club for a wonderful Whirlpool
http://www.shannonsideastronomyclub.com/20081.htm
Whirlpool summary By Frank Ryan Shannonside Secretary

Celestial Pawnee

2007-12-26T08:52:00.000-08:00

Celestial Pawnee by Deirdre Kelleghan

The Pawnee were a North American Plains Indian tribe. They lived along the Platte, Loup and Republican rivers in Nebraska from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century.

The name Pawnee comes from the native word Pariki meaning “Horn” which referred to their typical hairstyle. The Pawnee were a proud people with a strong sense of identity. Their description of themselves is Chatick - si - Chaticks, which means “Men of Men”. Indeed this title is very apt as the Pawnee were very often the scouts leading the Calvary across lands to which they had key knowledge. The Pawnee familiarity with the night sky gave them a unique edge when travelling by night. They were also known as the “Wolf People” cloaking themselves in the mantel of a wolfs cunning and courage.

The Pawnee had several distinct groups and of these the Skidi Pawnee or the Wolf Pawnee were considered some of the best astronomers of the Native American tribes. Centuries ago the Pawnee observed the stars passing over the smoke holes of their lodges and tee pees. In the autumn when they noticed the Pleiades shining through the smoke holes at midnight, they knew the winter solstice was only one month away. Six months later they observed the Circle of Chiefs or Corona Borealis above the smoke holes at midnight; it was one month from the longest day or summer solstice.

Corona Borealis is an important constellation in the mythical past of nearly all the tribes of the plains. The Pawnee believed the Circle of Chiefs were the guardians of the Tirawaatius.

Tirawa Atius (atius = "lord") was the great god, he created everything and catered to the needs of every living thing. Known to us as the Milky Way, Tirawa Atius created the Path of the Departing Spirits.
The Pawnee chiefs painted their faces with blue lines representing the arc of heaven and the path of decent. They wore feather-down on their heads, a symbol of celestial life. The members of this group of chiefs did not dance or sing; they talk quietly and tried to be like the stars.

The Pawnee made sky charts from elk skin. These sky charts were kept in sacred bundles. Every household had a sacred bundle, which they believed were gifts from the stars. These powerful bundles are referenced as sometimes containing meteorites wrapped in animal skin star charts. The sacred bundles were only brought out to great ceremony when the Swimming Duck Cluster was rising in the morning sky.

Sacred bundles were a powerful part of Pawnee ceremonies linked to planting and harvesting. They contained tools necessary to those ceremonies, and the rituals and ceremonies associated with them were passed from generation to generation along with the bundles. Bundles were owned by women and inherited through the female line, but could be used by men only. To open or use a bundle without the proper ritual and ceremony invited disaster.

The Pawnee did not have a solar calendar of a lunar calendar; they marked their year purely with the observance of the stars. They had more star ceremonies and rituals than any other tribe. Their lodges were laid out in patterns, which mimicked the patterns of the constellations.

Their observations of the stars helped them to know when to plant and harvest crops and to know when to hunt bison.

These interesting people had a deep association with the cosmos.

The Pawnee were a matrilineal people, ancestral descent was through the mother and a young couple would traditionally move into the bride's parents' lodge.

Women and men were politically active with both sharing decision making responsibilities.

They viewed themselves as descendants of the stars. The believed Mars – The Red Morning Star Warrior and Venus – The White Star Woman mated and had a daughter from which the human race descended. So according to the Pawnee the first human was a woman. Furthermore they believed that the sun and the moon mated to create the first male child. The image created by the whole of the star patterns in the night sky was they believed the image of a wild bobcat. The wild bobcat with its spotted skin and its nocturnal habits represents the night sky and all the stars therein.

Newborn Pawnee children were wrapped in bobcat skin thereby they were considered to be wrapped in and protected by the heavens.

The Pleiades star cluster was worshiped by these earthbound tribal peoples.

Look as they rise, up rise

Over the line where sky meets earth

Seven Stars!

Lo! They are ascending, come to guide us.

Leading us safely, keeping us one.

Oh, Seven Stars,

Teach us to be, like you, united

The Pawnee people saw the United States as allies against their traditional enemies the Sioux, Cheyenne, and Comanche’s. The Pawnee gained fame as scouts for the United States Army, and a battalion of them served from 1865 to 1885 within the army on the Plains. Working for the US Cavalry as scouts was better than facing the ignominy of reservation life and the inevitable loss of their freedom and culture.

In the late 18th century the Pawnee Nation numbered some 10,000 individuals but in the 19th century
epidemics of both smallpox and cholera were responsible for wiping out most of these earthy people.

By the end of 1900 only 600 were left alive. Today records indicate that they are building up their numbers and up to 5,500 twenty first century Pawnees carry on their nation’s spirit. Today's Pawnees meet biannually and celebrate their rich culture.

2007-10-22T16:05:00.000-07:00

Talks 2004 -2008

January 16th 2008 - St Peters School Walkinstown 11:00am
Solar System and Robot Explorer talk for 28 children and their teacher

January 15th 2008 - Griffith Barracks Educate Together School 11:30am
Solar System and Robot Explorer Talk for 56 children and their teachers

December 4th Tullamore Presbyterian Hall for Tullamore AS Galileo, Galileo? Who on Earth was Galileo?

November 19th Dunsink Observatory talk on Galileo, Galileo? Who on Earth was Galileo

Thursday November 15th 11:30 am Rathfarnham Educate Together School

Solar System Presentation for 120 children

Wednesday November 14th Charleville Mall Library North Strand 12pm 40 Children

Wednesday November 14th Pembroke Library Ballsbridge 10am 40 Children
Talk - Our Solar System and some Robot Explorers

Tuesday November 13th Ballymun Library 3pm
Talk - A 2007 Journey Through Our Solar System 45 People

Monday November 12th Raheny Library 7pm 50 People
Talk - A 2007 Journey Through Our Solar System Talk - Our Solar System and some Robot Explorers

Tuesday November 4th Drop In Astronomy 17/Holmes for 30 Brownies and 20 Scouts in Delgany

October 19^th 2007 Public Star Party for Boy Scouts, Venture Scouts and the Public Bray Co Wicklow 8pm – 10pm

October 18^th 2007 Dunsink Observatory Public Observing Night

October 15^th 2007 Dunsink Observatory Hosting talk on Our Sun, Showing Cassini Essay’s I,2, and 3 for the 10^th Anniversary of the Cassini Launch

Plus a Members and Public Observing Session.

October 5th - 7th 2007 Whirlpool Star Party Birr Co Offaly Space in Art Exhibition

October 4^th 2007 Space in Art Exhibition of Children’s Art Celebrating 50 years of Space Exploration. Hosting talk for Dr John Mason on the Future of Space Exploration Gonzaga College Dublin

October 4^th Space in Art Exhibition celebrating 50 years of Space Exploration

Gonzaga College Dublin 4pm – 10pm including TV interview RTE News

October 3^rd – Solar System Robot Explorer talk for AGM of Second Level Teachers

Dublin City Centre 12pm

October 3^rd 8pm – Solar System Robot Explorer talk for the public Dunsink Observatory

2007 Cassini in Wicklow National Park September 9th Public talk 30 people.

August 10^th – Dean Swift Summer Project Coolock, 11am
August 9^th Cassini Solar System Talk in the Adult Education Centre

A PowerPoint Solar System Presentation, followed by a showing of Cosmic Collisions DVD, plus showing the children a 3D Image of the Sun from STEREO

60 - 70 children in each group age 6 - 14
2007
July 3rd - Kimmage Manor Development Education Centre Dublin 12- 10:00am
July 4th - De La Salle School, Ballyfermot Dublin 10, 10:00 am
July 6th - ARC Offices, Crumlin, Dublin 12, 2:00pm
July 10th- Blessed Charles Centre, Harolds Cross, Dublin 6, 11:00am & 2:30pm
July 11th - Mendicity Institution, Dublin 8, 2:00pm
July 12th - Kimmage Manor Development Education Centre Dublin 12, 10:00am
July 16th - Ballyfermot Community Civic Centre, Dublin 10, 2:00pm

June 20^th UCD

Speech on our Special Address in the Universe 30 fellow class mates.

Look Up For UNICEF Ireland
April 20^th 2007 Very successful Public Star Party in Sandymount in aid of UNICEF Ireland

and part of Worldwide astronomy day Patricia Carroll, Val Dunne, John Murphy,Sarah Murphy and myself 70 attended

April 21^st2007 Clouded out in Sandymount but Patricia Carroll, John Murphy, Ben Murphy, Conor Murphy, Robin Moore, Elizabeth Caird, and myself talked astronomy for the evening in aid of UNICEF Ireland 35 attended

March 26^th 2007 Solar System talk Robot Explorer film in Luisne Spirituality Centre in Kilcoole Co Wicklow followed by great Star Party supported by Michael Murphy SDAS 40 attended

March 14^th 2007 Solar System talk plus Sun/Moon formation film for 51^st Wicklow Cub Scouts 54 attended

February 28^th 2007 I did a Cassini/Solar System talk for 28 Transition year students

in the Glencree Centre for Peace and Reconciliation run by Wicklow Uplands Council

February 8^th 2007 I gave a talk on Astronomical sketching in Gonzaga College

February 9^th 2007 I gave a Solar System/ Robot Explorer talk to 200 children in Castleknock Educate Together School

November 27^th 2006 Solar System and Cassini talk for St Andrews in Blackrock

25 attended

November 15^th 2006 In Belfast I gave a Cassini/Robot Explorer talk to the IAA

60 attended Stranmillis College

November 8^th 2006 Solar System/ Cassini talk for St Peters School Walkinstown

50 attended

October 16^th2006 University College Dublin arranging ,facilitating, and introducing Cassini talk by Dr Caitriona Jackman from the Magnetometer Team Imperial College London.

September 18^th 2006 Robot Explorer talk/ Young Speaker Ely House 25 + attended

Sun Moon and Stars for Chernobyl Children’s Project International
May 5^th and 6^th 2006 For this event I received an Honorable Mention Award from The Astronomical League in the United States in conjunction with Sky & Telescope Magazine. My concept, my arrangements.

I went to Texas to receive the award in September 2006.

This was a public outreach star party in Sandymount We showed Saturn, the Moon and Jupiter to 120 people.To raise money for Chernobyl Children’s Project
See Saturn in Your School Yard Event March 5^thand March 6th 2006

St Bridget’s National School Greystones Co Wicklow 120 children and parents

came to see and learn about Saturn and other celestial delights.

November 11^th 2005 Mars Moon Event St Bridget’s National School Greystones 330 people viewed Mars, the Earths moon and many other delights. I got Masterfoods to sponsor the event with Mars Bars and M&M’s

Limerick University 2006 May 3^rd, a little support with Cassini media for Dr Caitriona Jackman of Imperial College London Dr Jackman is on the Magnetometer team for the Cassini mission based in London.
September 18^th 2006 Robot Explorers Talk / Presentation in Ely Place Dublin for the The Irish Astronomical Society and the public.

Whirlpool Star Party Birr Co Offaly 2006 – Cassini Huygens stand Sept 29^th 30^th and Oct 1^st 2006 talking Cassini and giving away outreach educational material from JLP/NASA to astronomers and the public.

2006 July 3^rd Introducing Our Solar System a presentation for senior citizens in the TLC Northwood Clinic in Santry Dublin. Q&A

St Andrews National School, Blackrock, Dublin 2006 May 30^th

Ring World talk, screening, plus Power Point of the latest Saturn images with Q & A. 23 kids (private school)

2006 Dunsink Observatory March 15^th I gave a presentation to 55 members of the public plus Dunsink staff,about JPL’s Spirit of Exploration Robotic missions plus showing of Cassini Essay # 3. Talk plus Q&A

Gonzaga College Dublin. January 19^th 2006 Ring World, Power Point, Talk, Q&A to teenagers and astronomers.

Dunsink Observatory January 18^th 2006 Ring World talk, screening and Q&A for 40 members of the public on an Open night

March 15^th 2006 Dunsink Observatory 55 members of the public for my presentation on Robot Explorers Q&A

March 23 2006 Ring World / Apollo 17 Screening Griffith Barracks Educate Together School

90 Children and their teachers at my presentation on Saturn and Apollo

Ring World Monday 19^th December 2005 for The IAS Dublin

29 members of the public came to this Cassini/Saturn presentation.

July 20^th 2006 TLC Centre Santry Dublin

I did a Solar System presentation for 20 elderly people this afternoon. It was in the TLC Center Northwood, Santry in Dublin.

2006 Monday April 3rd, Johnstown Girls National School, Cabinteely Dublin 18.

PowerPoint presentation to 200 girls and their teachers on Cassini and Saturn

Donore Avenue Youth Center, Dublin 8. September 5 2006.

Cassini PowerPoint presentation: Cassini Spacecraft, and a selection of Saturn's moons shown to 18 children on a Summer Project activity week. Space Shuttle interactive DVD activates for this mixed age group.

June 13^th 2006 Cassini Essay and Space Shuttle in St Bridget’s National School Greystones

Saturn images and Space Shuttle presentation to 200 children 6-13yrs

Friday February 24^th 2006 St Bridget’s National School Greystones

Apollo and Spirit of Exploration presentation to 90 children age 8- 13 yrs

Galway Star Party January 28^th 2006 Ireland

Cassini Huygens stand at this public event for a day, talking Cassini to astronomers and the public.

December 2^nd 2005 Gonzaga College Enceladus presentation for South Dublin Astronomical Society and teenagers from the college.

Cassini Radio June 10^th 2005

Rhyme and Reason radio show for Dublin South FM –

reading two of my articles.

IAS May 27^th 2005 Cassini Talk plus images Ely Place Dublin for astronomers and the public.

2005 Whirlpool Star Party Birr Co Offaly October

PowerPoint presentation and talk on Enceladus to 160 people attending this convention, the biggest of its kind in Ireland.

2004 December 11^th - Screening of Ring World to 230 children in three different groups in 2004 November 29^th St Brigid’s National School Greystones. Cassini talk with models of Saturn Titan and Cassini to 5 and 6 years old’s two classes.

2004 November 29^th Talk to 10 year olds about Cassini and Saturn

St Brigid’s National School, Greystones

2004 November 26^th Talk to 4 classes about Cassini Saturn and Titan

St Brigid’s National School, Greystones with models of Saturn Titan and Cassini.

2007-09-23T07:32:00.000-07:00

Irelands Twenty First Whirlpool Star Party 2006 by Deirdre Kelleghan

Published in Reflector

On September 29^th,30,^th and October 1^st this year the provincial town of Birr will buzz with people whose common interest is the wonder of the night sky and a collective deep appreciation of the historic setting of Birr castle and Irish astronomy.

The cosmic wonder that is the Whirlpool Galaxy in Canes Venactici was observed in the 1840’s under the dark skies of Birr Castle in the midlands of Ireland. The instrument used was known as the Great Leviathan of Parsonstown. This 72-inch reflector was at that time, the largest telescope of its kind in the world. The light gathering abilities of its giant mirror enabled the 3^rd Earl of Rosse, William Parsons to view and draw the spiral nature of M51 in the spring of 1845.

First discovered in October 1773 by Charles Messier, it took the Great Leviathan to bring to the worlds notice its spiral structure. The Earl captured this through an accurate rendition of its nebulous nature, in a painting of the Whirlpool which is much admired today. The Galaxy is also known as Rosse’s Nebula or Lord Rosse’s Question Mark. William Parsons is credited with assigning the name Whirlpool to this spiral Galaxy.

William Parsons, drawings of M51 in 1845 closely resemble some modern photographs. I like to think of the light from M51, thirty seven million light years away and sixty five thousand light years across, traveling down the wooden telescope tube in April 1845 to the eye of the beholder William Parsons and onto his page, a frozen moment in time. One has to ponder what William would say if he could view the Hubble images of this beautiful structure today.

William’s earlier drawings in 1844 using his 36 inch reflector of M1 did look a bit crab like and the name is now synonymous with this Messier object.

Birr Castle has been a home and a working place to many distinguished astronomers over the years. Some of the most interesting work I think was done by Otto Boeddicker who spent a lot of time observing and drawing the Milky Way from the grounds of the castle. His drawings are outstanding and if you take the time to really look at them and indeed to invert them in Photoshop you will be in awe of the detail and the quality of the skies Heir Boeddicker recorded with the assiduity of his eyes and his dexterity of his hand, a testament to the light pollution free and dark skies of nineteenth century Ireland.

The quality of the telescope and the appetite of for discovery and science placed Birr and Ireland at the center of the astronomical world. Every year for the past twenty years the world is reminded of Ireland's past and present involvement in the pursuit of celestial delights. Shannonside Astronomy Club has hosted the now world famous Whirlpool Star Party for the last two decades and in 2006 the twenty first occasion of this prestigious event is well on in the planning stages.

Over the years the Whirlpool has been a magnet for such luminaries as the John Dobson, David Levy, and Kelly Beatty to name but a few.

The twenty first Whirlpool Star Party, has its share of illustrious speakers lining up to make it one of the most interesting gathering of astronomers ever to grace its platform.

Special guests this year include the eminent American astronomer Jane Houston Jones, Senior Outreach Specialist for the Cassini Program at JPL. Morris Jones one of California’s most respected astronomers will also intrigue the attendees with his considerable knowledge and experience.

The Cassini mission to Saturn and the Saturnian system is one of the most visually breathtaking and scientifically rich space exploration missions of our time. The Saturn Observation Campaign is unique as it splices interest in robotic space exploration with amateur astronomy. This Cassini outreach program endeavors to educate at many levels in an eclectic manner to a global audience.

Jane and Morris have many awards for their astronomical achievements, including having a minor planet named in their honor (22338) Janemojo 1992 LE. This was for their work in bringing the wonder of the night sky to the public with their prolific outreach sidewalk astronomy sessions.

NASA research pilot Triple Nickel will tell Whirlpool attendees about his work training astronauts for weightlessness through stomach churning parabolic flight. Triple also helps shuttle pilots to feel like they have landed the Space Shuttle hundreds of times without even blasting off. He uses the Johnson Space Center Shuttle Training Aircraft (STA) to accomplish this simulated experience which prepares the pilots for the real life achievement on their return from space.

The Great Leviathan is under repair and maintenance and it is hoped that it will rise to the occasion and thrill astronomers from around the world who will attend the twenty first Whirlpool Star party and who will enjoy the experience of observing in Birr Castle.

Just a little view of the presentations to come at Whirlpool 2006 in Ireland, more speaker confirmations and details will be available shortly

Apollo 11 Moon Landing Memories

2007-09-20T14:28:00.000-07:00

July 20 1969, I was just 12 years old. I lived in a regular suburban house with regular suburban parents, I was the eldest of five at the time, and as with most families then we had to be in bed at 8pm on weeknights, maybe 9.30pm at weekend’s school holidays or not that was the way it was. I was really interested in the Moon landing and really wanted to see it Telefis Eireann were going to cover the story with a special programme. I must have pestered them just the right way and at just the right time, and I was allowed much to my surprise to stay up and see how the story unfolded. Pic - My airfix model of The Eagle Lander.

Telefis Eireann didn’t start broadcasting until 6pm in those days and the Moon coverage programme started at 9pm and was presented by Kevin O’Kelly. We had a small black and white TV with a rabbit ear aerial, it had lots of dots on the screen and problems with the vertical and horizontal hold, as TV’s of that era often suffered with this affliction, unpredictably and always inappropriately. Televisions from 1969 had the original rolling news way before Sky! ‘Hitting the box’ as it was referred to, was the required cure when twiddling the dials at the back did not fix the problem. Late into the night only my Dad and I were still watching fine-tuning and adjusting the TV to get the best picture. There were lots of previews and progress reports, and chat about what was going to happen. I had never been up so late in my life, but this was the biggest moment in the history of space exploration up to then and I was going to see it live from the surface of the Moon. I remember a lot of beeps and tech talk from Houston (Houston Texas was the mission control center for the Apollo mission) to the Command Module and from Houston to the Lunar Lander, and the tiny triangular window which was the view from the Eagle as it came in to land on the surface of the Moon.

Apollo 11Transcript

EAGLE: 540 Feet, down at 30 feet per second …down at 15 … 400 feet down a 9…forward…350 feet down a 4… 300 feet, down 3½ … 47 forward… 1½ down…13 foreword…11 forward coming down nicely…200 feet, 4½ down…5½ down…5 percent…75feet …6 forward …lights on…down 2½…kicking some dust… 30 feet, 2½ faint shadow…4 forward… 4 forward… drifting to right a little …OK…

HOUSTON: 30 Seconds fuel remaining

EAGLE: Contact light! OK, engine stop…descent engine command override off…

HOUSTON: We copy you down, Eagle

EAGLE: Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed!

Touchdown 9 18 pm A Caption on the TV screen saying “man on the Moon”, overlaid onto live shots of Houston control room.

There was continuous coverage in preparation for the Moonwalk, which was originally scheduled for 2.00am but delayed. Pictures of mission control, the sound of Houston - Apollo conversations and then the first TV pictures from the lunar surface just few minutes before the Moonwalk. I remember the endless hours waiting for the hatch to open, Kevin O’Kelly had to do a lot of talking, and a lot of speculation about what was going on and just what the two astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were doing inside the lunar landing module.

Many people all over Ireland waited and waited to see this monumental moment and at last at 3.56am Neil Armstrong came down the ladder and said those words “One small step for man one giant leap for mankind” it was a chokingly emotional thing to see live on TV a man standing on the surface of the Moon 250,000 miles from Earth the first man ever to be on another world. At 4.16 am Armstrong was joined on the lunar surface by Buzz Aldrin. I remember how they bounced around in the Moons weaker gravity and I remember the American flag being placed on the lunar surface. Collins orbited the Moon in the Command Module waiting for Armstrong and Aldrin to blast off when their incredible visit was over and re -dock for the journey home. I had to get some sleep and my dad had to go to work the next day, as it was Monday so we went to bed even though it was amazing television. Next morning Telefis Eireann had a special broadcast at 6.26am to cover the lift off from the Moon, I don’t remember seeing that live, I think I saw it on the news later in the evening.

For many days after the Moonwalk was repeated on TV. It really was an incredible achievement and the astronauts were so courageous because if something went wrong with the Lunar Module there was no way back to Earth for them and Michael Collins would have had a crushingly lonely trip home if he could have done it by himself.

The Apollo 11 crew left among other things a 9 by 7 inch stainless steel plaque on the Moon, to commemorate the landing and provide basic information of the visit to any other beings that may eventually see it. The plaque reads:

Here men from the Planet Earth first set foot upon the Moon, July 1969, A.D.

We came in peace for all mankind.

The plaque depicts the two sides of planet Earth, and is signed by the three astronauts, Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins as well as US President Richard Nixon.

On the return journey to earth I recall the splash down and recovery. A large aircraft carrier in the Pacific Ocean, a partly clouded sky and the world’s press, everyone waiting for to see the parachute bringing the Apollo crew back to Earth. I recall the crew displayed in an oblong chamber with big windows and people looking in at them. The reason for the chamber was the paranoia about Moon bugs or Moon viruses that might have contaminated the astronauts, all of them even though Collins did not set foot on the surface. So they endured this quarantine and later on August 13 they had a ticker tape parade in New York, which I saw, on the news. This was to honor these brave men who had been on an extraordinary journey and had survived.

Back in February 1969 when I was 11years old, I had bought National Geographic Magazine it came with supplement map of the Moon showing the proposed landing sites for the Apollo missions. It says in the bottom left hand corner of the map about the proposed Apollo 11 mission for July 1969

THE MOST DARING EXCURSION IN THE HISTORY OF HUMAN ENDEAVOR IS ABOUT TO TURN THE MOON INTO EARTHS STEPPING STONE TO THE UNIVERSE

Interestingly enough, while the Moon has not as yet become a launch pad to the universe, July 20 1969 is linked directly to my life today. My interest in space exploration has led me to write several articles on the subject and these have been published in amateur astronomy magazines.

In November 2004 I had the pleasure of attending the National Concert Hall to see Buzz Aldrin Face to Face with Gay Byrne an amazing interview with the second man on the moon. Colonel Aldrin is an extremely interesting man and he held the packed hall for over two hours with his recollections of his life and his historic visit to the moon. I was proud to join in the standing ovation at the end of this prestigious event.

I am also a member of the Saturn Observation Campaign the purpose of which is to bring awareness of Saturn and of the Cassini Huygens to people in general and I have had some success with this also. Image below , showing Ring World in Greystones .

The senior outreach specialist for the Cassini Huygens mission Jane H Jones has provided me with posters, collector cards, tattoos, bookmarks etc to give away to school children and in December 2004, I screened the wonderful DVD Ring World for 340 pupils and teachers over two days in a national school in Greystones. This was a big success and I provided as many classes as possible with promotional material. I also made my own models of Saturn and Titan and gave some classes a talk on the mission. Since then I have been back in this school showing some pupils the sites and sounds of Titan as provided by Cassini, the sounds really interested them and I had to play them more than once. These national school children have a real interest in space but have little or no knowledge of what is going on in the world of space exploration so its very rewarding to bring this information to their attention.

The Apollo 11 Moon landing in July 1969 had a profound effect on my life. It gave me an interest in astronomy and space that has stayed with me ever since.

Ring World in Greystones Dec 2004

I got a Tasco telescope for Christmas that year and in the spring I bought an Airfix Apollo 11 Eagle Lunar Lander Model, which I still have today. The National Geographic Map is in my study and is packed with Moon information, and is along with the Lunar Module some of my favorite things. I remember also queuing up with hundreds of people at the American Embassy in Ballsbridge to see the Moon rock when it came to Dublin. It was displayed in a large perspex or glass bubble held in a giant claw mounted like a precious diamond! I filed past the Moon rock in awe of this alien vision. I will never forget the Apollo 11 Moon landing as long as I live and I would hope to see people landing on Mars or on another world sometime in the future of my life.

2007-09-18T08:48:00.000-07:00

THE GENESIS MISSION

Deirdre Kelleghan September / October 2004 Arcturus

“ Man must rise above the Earth – to the top of the atmosphere and beyond – for only then will he fully understand the world in which he lives”

Socrates, 469 – 399 BC

NASA has a series of ‘Discovery’ probes, they are unmanned and designed to explore our solar system. Genesis, built at a cost of 200 million dollars, is one of these probes.

Inexpensive by NASA standards, the mission of Genesis is to capture retrieve and bring back particles of the solar wind to help explain the origins of our solar system. The solar wind is made up of parts of the solar corona rushing into interplanetary space at supersonic speed.

The Genesis Space Probe

Images Courtesy NASA/JPL- Caltech

The solar wind, blown continuously by the sun passes the Earth at an average speed of 400 kilometers per second and eventually blends with the interstellar medium

beyond the edge of the Solar System.

During its passage it sweeps up evaporated gases from Planets and Comets along with fine particles of meteoritic dust and even cosmic rays of galactic origin. The influence of the solar wind is felt throughout interplanetary space and it provokes in the Earths atmosphere

Polar Aurora and magnetic storms.

In November 2003, when I visited Iceland I witnessed this wonderful phenomenon. The experience of seeing the Aurora Borealis certainly brought home to me the magical movement of colors and the twisting display produced by the interaction of the solar wind and the Earth’s magnetic field. It’s amazing to think that the Genesis Mission will capture pure untainted particles of the solar wind.

The space probe Genesis was launched on August 8 2001 from the Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, Florida on a Delta 7341 rocket. It left Earth’s atmosphere and traveled out to a point

where gravity from the Earth and Sun are precisely balanced. This point is called the ‘L1 Lagrange Point’ and is clear of the Earth’s magnetosphere. In November 2001 Genesis went into orbit around the L1 point, and not around any object.

The solar wind streams off the Sun in all directions at speeds of 400 km/s (almost 1 million miles per hour). The source of the solar wind is the Sun's hot Corona. The Corona’s temperature

being so high that the

Sun's gravity cannot hold on to it.

The solar wind generated by our nearest star is quite different from the Earth’s surface.

Wind on Earth is created by differences in atmospheric pressures. This ‘wind’ carries about one million tons of hot

Plasma away from the Sun every second – this plasma consists of electrically charged particles with temperatures reaching 100,000 Kelvin’s

While in orbit, the Genesis space probe was bathed by the solar wind that is hurled out from the Sun. These solar wind particles are similar to material from which the planets are formed and include atoms, ions, and high-energy particles.

Once it was in position, the Genesis space probe uncovered its collectors. Particles of solar wind were embedded in the collector arrays, wafer’s made of ultra-pure silicon gold, sapphire and diamond in purest form. The samples of solar wind will be inside a capsule designed to re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere safely. After 884 days collecting solar samples the Sample Return Capsule is re-stowed. The space probe then sets out to return to Earth, just a few hours before re-entry the Sample Return Capsule will be separated from the space probe. This is where the mission takes on a Hollywood movie scenario.

On September 8^th 2004, an exciting mid-air recovery of the Sample Return Capsule will take place over the Utah desert. It has a specially designed heat shield to protect it from the 2000^oC heat generated during re-entry. Once it has done this, a special parachute will open to slow down the capsule and allow it to slowly glide towards the surface of the Earth. To protect this extra special cargo of sun particles a specially trained crew of military pilots assisted by Hollywood stunt aviators (from the movie industry) will catch the capsule with a specially designed hook. Mission designers do not want the samples to be damaged by a landing on hard ground. This will be achieved when the capsule reaches a sufficiently low altitude - a helicopter will snag the parachute lines before it reaches the ground. The solar wind samples will be stored and cataloged under ultra-pure cleanroom conditions and made available to the world’s scientific community for study. They will be the first samples from space since the Apollo 17 mission when it returned with moon rock in December 1972.

The Genesis space probe itself will head into orbit around the Sun to further investigate this phenomenal star.

The sample particles of the solar wind that Genesis brings back will help scientists to understand the composition of the Sun and the origins of our Solar system.

2007-09-18T08:42:00.000-07:00

Cosmic Lobster Pot

By Deirdre Kelleghan Published Realta March/April 2006

“There are infinite worlds both like and unlike this world of ours.

For the atoms being infinite in number, as was already proved, are borne on, far out into space. For those atoms which are of such nature that a world could be created by them, or made by them, have not been used up either on one world, or a limited number of worlds… So that there nowhere exists, an obstacle to the infinite number of worlds”

Epicurus 4 Century BC

I always visualise Cassini’s journey through the Saturnian system as a kind of orchestrated cosmic dance.Cassini moves silently at great speed in its petal shaped overlapping orbit. This precisely executed dance brings Cassini frequently through the icy ring plane north to south and then back again on the opposite side of the planet, south to north. This robot ship continues on its unparalleled odyssey of exploration. Onboard, Cassini is the custodian of twelve science instruments all primed to seek, gather, and process the offerings of this unique planetary system. Collectively they are performing one of the most important scientific probing’s of Saturn and its many moons in the history of space exploration.

One of these science instruments is the Cosmic Dust Analyser. The CDA looks a bit like a golden lobster pot, and that is not such a bad analogy. This apparatus is trawling the interplanetary ocean for particles of cosmic dust, micro particles that are the messengers of the origins of life.

Cosmic dust what is it; Cosmic dust are clouds or particles of dust and gases occurring throughout interplanetary ,and interstellar space this is a physical material that occurs in our solar system and in our universe. Interplanetary cosmic dust is only temporarily about as it is dissipated from its sources and swept out of the interplanetary sea, to interstellar space. Interstellar cosmic dust particles, the ejecta of dying stars, thrown out and mixed with interstellar gases and other gathered elements in space, recycle and create new stars and new beginnings of possible life. Interstellar dust and gas the building blocks of stars, planets and all life forms. This is I think a kind of the circular system that demonstrates one of the basic laws of the conservation of matter “In any physical or chemical change, matter is neither created nor destroyed but merely changed from one form to another”

The Cosmic Dust Analyser is a passive instrument, it does not send out anything to detect what it is designed for. It simply waits at its station onboard Cassini and its quarry comes to it.

The CDA instrument when it is struck by one or some of these cosmic particles, not only analyses its composition but amazingly enough it has to ability to determine its orbit, its trajectory i.e. where it has originated from, and therefore its source i.e. the particle or particles may be from a place outside the Saturnian system. Particles possibly from the Jovian system of from comets or meteoroids may stray into the trawling instrument. The CDA may at first seem to be a very straight forward instrument but it has a dizzying array of electronic and chemical sensors.

The Cassini orbiter has been cruising in the Saturnian environment for over one year now and has travelled billions of miles since it left Earth in October 1997. Cassini glides through space at an average speed of 12,000 miles per hour According to the Cassini website Giovanni Cassini (the gentleman that the Cassini spacecraft is named after) in the 17^th century would have gazed at cosmic dust in his telescope, probably looking at the wonderful Sagittarius or some of the larger nebulous objects like M42 or even Andromeda M31. Giovanni Cassini was also the first person to explain the zodiacal light phenomenon, demonstrating that it is of cosmic origin.

Giovanni - Dominique Cassini was born in Perinaldo Italy, on June 8, 1625. He became the head of the Observatoire de Paris in 1671; it was in this wonderful city he is credited with the discovery of the Saturnian moons Iapetus in 1671, Rhea in 1672, and Tethys and Dione in 1684. Imagine being able to do such observing with what would have been a comparatively small telescope. Imagine four hundred years later a space craft is in orbit in the Saturnian system sending back some of the greatest photographic images of all time. Cassini the ingenious robot bringing us the discoveries of Cassini the genius man.

Giovanni Cassini’s greatest gift to science was probably the discovery of the gap in Saturn’s rings, which now carries his name,’ The Cassini Division’. So the Cosmic Dust Analyser onboard the Cassini orbiter, is carrying on a science investigation that has its origins through his eyes, in the 17^th century, and now in the 21^st century through Cassini’s science packages.

The CDA is a cylindrical golden vessel, within the chamber lie two separate impact analyzers, a large one the High Rate Detector Target (HRD) and a smaller one the Chemical Analyser Target (CAT). Particles of matter traveling through space enter the Cosmic Dust Analyzer at random. The detection of particle impacts is achieved in two ways; one is through a High Rate Detection system, used for the high impact rates hitting the CDA during the ring plane crossings. This is for cosmic dust particles with a known speed. The High Rate Detector is primarily for carrying out measurements of particles in Saturn’s ring system.

The CAT system is for measuring the electrically charged dust particles, their speed, mass, chemical composition and even impact direction. A particle may impact on the big gold target (HRD) or the smaller (CAT) plate. These impacts cause the particles to vaporise and send there ions and atoms upward to be amplified by a multiplier device and analyzed and processed into data that tells the story of the particles in detail for Cassini’s scientists here on Earth. The Cosmic Dust Analyzer is reliably designed to measure impacts from a frequency as low as 1 impact per month to up to 10 ⁴ impacts per second.

The CDA also has an articulation mechanism that enables it to move in accordance with the space crafts direction. It is an essential function, and has been shown to be most effective when Cassini swooped within one hundred and nine miles of the icy moon Enceladus in July 2005; CDA is profiled as “think, touch or taste” as it is a direct sensing instrument. The articulation mechanism at the base of the CDA enables it to achieve a 0 –270-degree sweep of its environment; it is attached to the obiter just below the High Gain Antenna.

The CDA needs very little power that in itself is a great quality for a science instrument operating in space. The CDA is producing output information that is invaluable to the understanding of the Saturnian system and that information combined with the other instruments is vital to the purpose of the mission. The CDA was a main player in the evidence for the venting of water ice vapour and particles discovered emanating from the south pole of Enceladus, in that close fly by of July 2005.

One of the objectives of the CDA instrument is to map the size and distribution of Saturnian ring material and to search for particles outside the extensive E ring. The quest is to analyze the chemical composition of ring particles and to determine dust and meteoroid particle distribution in the rings and in interplanetary space. These tasks are just a sample of the work set for the CDA. Because it has the ability to workout the direction a particle may have arrived from, it can therefore tell whether a particle is cometary or astroidial in origin.

The smaller inner chemical analyzer target plate is made of Rhodium; this element is the rarest of all non- radioactive metals on Earth. Rhodium is a rare lustrous silvery hard metal, a member of the platinum group and its properties include a low electrical resistance and a high resistance to corrosion.

The larger HRD is plated in Gold a soft metal which is chemically unreactive. Gold is one of the few elements to occur in a natural state. Gold is unaffected by air, water, all acids and alkalis. It is a good conductor of heat and electricity. Gold is a good reflector of infra red radiation and as it’s inert it makes an excellent coating for space satellites and instruments.

An electrically charged particle flying through the entrance grids at the front of the Dust Analyzer will induce a charged signal on the grids. The charge induced is directly proportional to the charge of the particle. This allows direct determination of its electric profile .The design of the plates leaves the signal shape created by the particle to be symmetrical allowing ease of measurement of the particle direction.

The CAT measures the electric charge carried by the dust particles, and also the impact direction, impact speed, mass and chemical composition.

In the case of the CAT plate, the dust particles’ hitting it generates ejecta made up of atoms and ions. The curved shape of the target plate at the bottom of the CAT focuses the ejecta toward the multiplier which amplifies the signal and it is within this action the information about the elemental components of the micrometeoroids is extracted and stored. The chemical analyzer has a special instrument controlled heater to decontaminate the analyzer target by heating it to 90 degrees. Thereby purifying it for its next tiny subject.

The sensor plate for the HRD is different from the CAT. It deals with High Velocity dust particles which create a large fast pulse, which is in turn also proportional to the impact particles mass and speed. The HRD is an independent instrument with its own memory and processor. Data from both detector plates is sent to Earth through the Deep Space Network and is gladly received and analyzed by awaiting scientists. It should be interesting to compare the cosmic dust analysis from the Saturnian system with those samples returned by Stardust from Comet Wild 2, which consists of cometary and interstellar dust particles. A fantastic task achieved recently bringing us closer to an understanding of our solar system and the cosmos, and the correlation of cometary dust, its origins and the solar bodies that we know.

The Chemical Analyzer Target is a development of the University of Kent in the United Kingdom. The High Rate Detector is a development of the University of Chicago. The Cosmic Dust Analyzer is cruising through space over one billion miles from planet Earth.

Just like the pixels in a photograph the tiny micro particles of cosmic dust will come together and play a part in revealing an image of the soup, the mix,the ingredients of the Universe. The Cosmic Dust Analyser continues to gather vital data on the rich tapestry of interplanetary space. It will weave a fine, complex but fascinating image of the Saturnian system at micro almost nano level.

2007-09-18T08:32:00.001-07:00

FOCUS ON SATURN

INTRODUCING THE SATURN OBSERVATION CAMPAIGN

By Deirdre Kelleghan Published Irelands Own December 2005

Artist’s conception shows Cassini –Huygens releasing the Huygens probe to Titan Image courtesy of NASA/JPL

VOYAGE TO SATURN

Cassini –Huygens is a spacecraft on a mission to explore the planet Saturn and the many moons of this giant world. Titan is Saturn’s largest moon and is particularly targeted for study. This spacecraft blasted off from Cape Canaveral Florida in October 1997 over seven years ago. To put the year in context that was the year that princess Diana died, Gianni Versace was killed, comet Hall- Bop was visible in our sky’s and the movie Titanic was on our screens. Traveling every day since then at an average speed of 54,000 miles per hour this surely is an epic journey.

ROBOT SPACESHIP

Cassini –Huygens is a robotic ship controlled from Earth on its journey of 3.5 billion miles, In July of this year Cassini went into orbit around Saturn and began its scientific study of this beautiful planet unique for its magnificent rings, its mysterious magnetosphere and its many moons (33 to date). This spaceship in made up of the Cassini main ship which carries on board the smaller Huygens probe. This mission is really science fiction becoming fact- Cassini is the largest spacecraft ever launched form earth, it is the size of a school bus and weighs 12,288lb, and is two stories tall, the Huygens probe is 8.86feet in diameter and weighs 766lb. Studying Saturn and its rings and moons may give us many clues to the origin of our solar system. A detailed examination will help us find out about the material from which Saturn is formed and evolved. The planet’s atmosphere is very interesting, with winds among the fastest in our solar system. Titan, Saturn’s largest moon holds unique mysteries, what is the surface made off? Information from the Hubble Space Telescope suggests there may be continents as well as oceans and lakes of liquid ethane on Titan. What kind of a place is this with chemical reactions in the atmosphere creating a variety of organic molecules that clump together and rain slowly down to the alien surface below? Cassini and its Huygens probe will try to answer these and many other questions about the Saturnian system.

CHRISTMAS PRESENT FOR TITAN

On Christmas day Cassini will release Huygens and the probe will start its 21-day decent to the surface of Titan. A day worth waiting for is January 14 2005 as this is the day the Huygens probe will parachute to the surface of Titan after its seven year journey to seek out new information and along with Cassini dramatically increase our knowledge of the solar system. The Huygens probe will gather information about Titans atmosphere, take many photographs and do other scientific wizardry, reporting back to Cassini all of these treats of information to the eagerly waiting scientists and news media here on earth. Cassini will tour the Saturnian system for four more years after that and I am sure will go down in history as one of NASA’s greatest achievements. You can follow this exciting mission on the Cassini Huygens website. http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/

The Christmas day release of the Huygens probe will be counted down on the website’s clock, days minutes and seconds to separation and then days minutes and seconds to one of the greatest achievements in the history of the exploration of our solar system touch down on Titan. You can become closely connected to this mission and the Saturn story by becoming a member of The Saturn Observation Campaign. This a project that gives amateur astronomers educators and enthusiasts of all abilities an opportunity to study the wonders of the beautiful planet Saturn. The Campaign encourages people to access a wide bank of knowledge about the planet Saturn and to share this information with others in their community. This project is also very much linked with the Cassini-Huygens Mission to Saturn and Titan.

The Saturn Observation Campaign is directed by NASA and JPL (JPL are the Jet Propulsion Laboratory Californian Institute of Technology, these are the people who manage the Cassini - Huygens Mission). The SOC website http://soc.jpl.nasa.gov/index.cfm gives an abundance of information about Saturn and the mission; these websites are an educators paradise and an enthusiasts dream. The SOC is targeted to bring Saturn and Cassini into the lives of people of all ages who are unaware of this jewel of a planet and the extraordinary efforts going on to understand it and further our knowledge of our solar system. To become a member of SOC you can fill out the application form on line or e-mail Jane Houston Jones at jane.h.jones@jpl.nasa.gov. Jane is the senior outreach specialist with the Cassini -Huygens Programme for NASA / JPL.and is a leading amateur astronomer in the United States of America.

AMAZING FACTS ABOUT CASSINI – HUYGENS

The total mission effort expended will exceed 20,000 work-years, or roughly 2/3 what it took to build the Great Pyramid at Giza. Nearly 5,000 people have worked on Cassini at one time or another. The spacecraft is the size and weight of an empty 30-passenger school bus. It contains 12km/s of wire and 58 computers. The gravity-assist gains of 22 km/s for cruise and 35km/s for the Saturn tour would not be possible using normal rocket engines without consuming millions of kilograms of fuel. The swingbys of Venus and Earth alone save the equivalent of 75 tonnes of fuel. Cassini is designed to withstand the heat or 2.7 Suns. Cassini will travel 3.5 billion kilometres to reach Saturn and another 2.4 billion kilometres during its 4-year tour. The spacecraft reached a maximum planet relative speed of 1112.700 km/h just before it fired its main rocket engine to brake into orbit about Saturn .The narrow angle camera can read a newspaper headline at a distance of nearly 1.6 kilometres. The spacecraft is so steady when pointing its instruments that its rate of movement is 100 times less than a clock’s hour hand. Over two trillion bits of data will be returned, equivalent to 2,400 sets of the Encyclopaedia Britannica. All of this information is received by large radio telescopes that must capture a signal whose power level is only 20 billionths of a billionth of one watt. Each of the three 70 meter Deep Space Network antennas used is as large as a football field. The signal typically takes at least an hour to reach the Earth from Saturn. The spacecraft will be carrying a small DVD containing 616,400 signatures from 81 different countries, including the signatures of Jean-Dominique Cassini and Christiaan Huygens the 17^th century astronomers. Their signatures were scanned in from ancient manuscripts and are very appropriately included on the disc. If Saturn’s rings were around the earth they would stretch almost to the moon, as they are 200.000 miles in diameter.

2007-09-18T08:25:00.000-07:00

I SENT MY ROCK TO ARIZONA

DEIRDRE KELLEGHAN Published Novem

ber /December 2004 in Orbit

In November 2001, I registered with

NASA to take part in the ‘SEND YOUR NAME TO MARS’ project. When the Mars Exploration Rover

2003 mission finally landed its two space probes on the surface of Mars, I knew then that my name and the names of 4 million other

people from around the world had also landed on the red planet. I have been following the progress of the mission since and I came across

another interactive project connected with the Mars mission. The venture is called ‘Rock Around the World’ and it calls on interested people to take part in a symbiotic and simultaneous experiment involving the analysis of rocks on Mars and on Earth.

This is an invitation from NASA to take part in a geological experiment where you literally send your rock to Arizona for NASA to analysis. You may think what is so special about that? well the equipment used to drill and analyse your rock is the same equipment used on Mars in the Mars Exploration Rover 2003 Mission.

I posted my rock to Arizona
in February 2004 and only recently I checked the Rock Around the World web site and got a nice surprise to discover my rock displayed on screen. A map of the World is presented on the page peppered with red dots; e

ach of the dots represents a rock received. On the map of Ireland there was only one red dot that day, I clicked on it and there was my rock from Ireland the spectra analysis was not completed as yet. The Rock Around the World project drills and analysis rocks from all over the World with the same newly developed drills (Rat’s) that are carried on board the Mars Rover

Explorers Spirit and Opportunity. In order to look at the interior of rocks, a field geologist on Earth uses a rock hammer. On the Mars Rovers, the job of a rock hammer is done by the RAT — the Rock Abrasion Tool. The RAT is positioned against a rock by the rover's instrument arm,

and uses a grinding wheel to remove dust and we

athered rock, exposing fresh rock underneath. The

RAT exposes an area nearly 5 cm (2 inches) in diameter, and grinds down to a depth of about 5 mm (0.2 inches).

The rock particles are then brought inside the Rover and analysis by the Mössbauer Spectrometer. The Mössbauer Spectrometer sensor head is small enough to fit in the palm of your hand. It is one of four instruments mounted on the turret at the end of the rover arm. Its electronics are housed inside the body of the Rover (in the Warm Electronics Box, or WEB). Measurements are taken by placing the instrument's sensor head directly against a rock or soil sample. One Mössbauer measurement takes about 12 hours.

The Rock around the World project gives the scientists the ability
to compare rock profiles on Mars with rock profiles on Earth. It tests these instruments capability and endurance. It develops a worldwide profile of rock samples. A database of interested people to perhaps get involved in future experiments this is a real time working study of these special drills (Rat’s) and the analysis of the data produced. The study would also help anticipate and problems that might occur with the drilling and the analysis of material focused on by Spirit and Opportunity as they go about their mission on the surface of Mars.

The Mars Rover Exploration Mission has been a resounding success and so far the rovers Spirit and Opportunity have surpassed their anticipated lifespan and are still being directed to different locations in the Gustav and
Meridiani area’s on Mars. The rovers have completed their primary requirements and are continuing their work on the red planet.

The rovers were designed to discover evidence of liquid water in Mar’s past, and they did so in dramatic fashion. Both rovers have had their missions officially extended by NASA to at least September, and will continue for as long as possible after that. People taking part in the Rock Around the World project will get:

§ A certificate of participation from NASA

§ Your rock will be

analyzed by space technology

§ An analysis of your rock

§ Your rock will be presented on the Rock Around the World website

§ Your rock will be placed in a museum of special rocks for study

§ The fun of taking part no matter what age you are

To take part in the Rock pr

oject you must send a rock to Arizona and fulfill certain requirements (Detailed below)

Minimum requirements	Optional requirements
A rock – Minimu m 2/ Maximum 6” (I sent a 2”X 4” rock)	Latitude /Longitude of location where rock was found This can be achieved precisely by logging on to www.heavansabove.com
Name	Name of geographic feature where rock was collected
Age	Copy of map with location Marked where rock was collected
Full Address	Photo of rock beside ruler for scale
Clean rock	Photo of location where rock was collected
I wrapped my rock in bubble wrap and then in a jiffy bag. It cost € 10 to se nd it.	Short paragraph describing area where rock was found
Send your rock to: Dr Phil Christensen Mars Space Flight Facil ity Arizona State University PO Box 876305 Temple, AZ 85287 – 6305 USA	Website:http://marsdata1.jpl.nasa.gov/rockworld/rocks

This is the photograph of my rock as it appears on the website and beside it one of the analyses, this rock is mostly quartz but interestingly has a reading of 6%Opal and is a common rock in the Bray area. My rock also had a general analysis and a metamorphic analysis available on the website my rock number is RAT W00520. Spirit and Opportunity have now spent over one year on the surface of Mars, the anniversary was on January 3^rd 2005 and both rovers have worked so well for over 380 Sol (a sol is a day on Mars).Both rovers have been covered in a thin layer of Martian dust but are still moving around well and still drilling rocks and sending back extraordinary photographs of the Martian surface. Check out the gallery which is updated regularly http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/press/spirit/.

The next major step in Mars Exploration is taking shape with preparation of NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for launch in just seven months. This spacecraft is scheduled for launch on August 10^th 2005 and will in less than two years from now, will begin a series of global mapping, regional survey and targeted observations from a near-polar, low-altitude Mars orbit. These observations will be unprecedented in terms of the spatial resolution and coverage achieved by the orbiter's instruments as they observe the atmosphere and surface of Mars while probing its shallow subsurface as part of a "follow the water" strategy.

Below the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter in preparation.

This extraordinary picture of a meteorite

found by Opportunity on the surface of

Mars the first time a meteorite of any kind

has been found on another Planet!

2007-09-16T04:24:00.000-07:00

Dunsink Sketch by Deirdre Kelleghan

Galilei,Cardanus, Krafft, Eddington,Seleucus,Briggs, Briggs B, W Oceanus Procellarum
South Telescope build by Grubb Dublin 1868, Observatory Lane Rathmines

Objective by Cauchoix Paris 1829

Focal Length 18Ft 10.7inches/Objective 11.75 inch

Eyepiece? I hope to have more accurate details soon and will update
Dunsink Observatory Dublin

April 30th 2007
20:50UT - 21:57UT
Lunation 13.43 days
Illumination 98%.
Seeing Antoniadi III
T poor/hazy
300gm Daler Paper/Daler Soft Pastels/Conte Crayons/ Quilling
needle/Blending stick

I was fourteen years when old I first looked through the South Telescope in Dunsink Observatory. I had pestered my dad to bring me out there, a bit of a long drive in those days, before motorways.

Jupiter was on view that evening, it was crystal clear. The planet must have been quite high as I could look through the Grubb while standing on the floor of the observatory.

I had my own little Tasco scope on a short plastic tripod at the time, not much to see in it, but the moon always got a look. Ever since that viewing at Dunsink, I wanted to revisit that moment and look once again through the eyepiece of this well constructed classic telescope. Over the years I paid several visits to the observatory public nights, but always cloud, rain, life or all three got in the way.

I got an idea in my head a few months ago, I asked for time to sketch something through the eyepiece. This request yielded a positive answer, but it took time to set up.

April 30th 2007 I got a phone call from Professor Evert Meurs, “would you like to try tonight”? I was out the door and on the M50 with my gear in less then 10 minutes, it was an hour’s drive to the Observatory.

I was greeted warmly and the dome was opened, the scope set up, the steps in place.

My position for the next hour and ten minutes was probably the most uncomfortable sketching stance in which I had ever worked. I was neither seated or standing, no tracking, and a big telescope to move.

The Grubb was so well balanced, easy to operate, a joy to hold, and a privilege to use.

Left alone for the most part I quickly got into my zoned in or zoned out

(depends on your point view) sketching mode.

The eyepiece was low powered generating most likely 120X, used for public viewing. Other eyepieces maybe available if I get to repeat this astronomical adventure.

Apart from the difficult sketching position, I felt so at home in Dunsink Observatory, it felt so moreish. Up and down moving the steps, to follow the Moon as she charged along heading for her bed. My concentration waned after an hour, more work to do than in my garden. I was stiff the next morning but I was high as a kite.

I got to do something with this instrument made so carefully many years ago in Dublin.

A full circle moment in my life, moments, that seem, to happen with increasing frequency these days.

In brief periods, when the image was still I could see much more detail and finer tones of grey than in my Dob. Eddington gave me great shapes and that ridge was so so slender, only 2% of the Moon was in darkness and even a little of that was seeping through the blackness into the day.

I admire Arthur Stanley Eddington for his communication prowess during his life.

A poem he wrote came to mind on the way home,

“Oh leave the Wise our measures to collate
One thing at least is certain, light has weight
One thing is certain and the rest debate
Light rays, when near the Sun, do not go straight. “ A.S.Eddington

Apart from this poem being about gravitational lensing, the phrase “light has weight” sticks out to me as an artist. Drawing in the sunlit wall on the western side of Eddington, 138km or so of sunlit weight, which was up till that lunation invisible, non existent until our sun made it so.

I would like to thank Professor Meurs for the opportunity to do this sketch, it meant a lot to me and I enjoyed every second of it.

2007-09-16T04:15:00.000-07:00

Astronomical Sketching by Deirdre Kelleghan Published in Reflector 2006

I have sketched, drawn, and painted for most of my life, and I have had a love affair with the night sky for as long as I can remember. It is only in the last two years that I have combined both these interests into a new adventure.

This came about by the example and encouragement of a dear friend. She introduced me to the absorbing passion of astronomical sketching. This activity has given me an outrageous amount of pleasure and learning, and continues to do so.

I have discovered that to achieve a good sketch, you must look at what you want and not only observe it, but also absorb it. You must make a mental note of your target, and bring it from the subject through the eyepiece to your paper.

My telescope does not have a drive, so I move it with my head, my free hand, my knee or basically what ever it takes to follow my target, over the time I am attempting to capture it.

For a while I was pleased with my lunar pencil sketches but there was something not quite exact enough. The Moon is a melody of grey tones and I wanted to address that.

I went out and bought all the grey conte crayons I could find that matched the lunar greys. More recently I did the same for soft pastels.

Craters that penetrate the terminator and show their rims as glints of light in the blackness bring a tactile quality to a sketch. Shadows cast by Aristoteles and Eudoxus on a waxing crescent Moon sometimes appear like long black needles, taking my attention for hours.

Lately I have been focused on Palus Somni, the gossamer beach – like area on the north eastern rim of Mare Tranquillitatis. I think about how I will sketch its pale thin appearance. Low crescent Moons are difficult for a Dobsonian, so I often end up heaving it around to avoid trees and power cables.

Sketching is the best most intense way to learn the Moon. The ever changing symphony of shadows and light are a joy to observe and reproduce.

2007-09-16T03:59:00.000-07:00

BA Festival of Science Lecture Sept 8^th 2005 – Trinity College Dublin

Published in Realta 2005 Deirdre Kelleghan

Speaker – Professor Jocelyn Bell Brunell CBE – Oxford University

Professor Brunell came to Trinity College Dublin not to speak about her own field of radio Astronomy and her involvement in the discovery of Pulsars. The great professor came to deliver a lecture on Arthur Stanley Eddington (1882-1944) an English born astronomer who was instrumental in expounding the theories of Albert Einstein. Jocelyn Bell Brunell has an interest in the public understanding of science and has a penchant to present physics topics among non traditional groups.

A. S. Eddington was born in Kendal in 1882. As a child he had a fascination with numbers and Professor Burnell tells the anecdote of the child Eddington attempting to count all the stars in the sky and he was also driven to count all the words in the bible. He excelled academically and did a maths degree in the short space of two years. Shortly after graduating he won the Smiths prize and was appointed to the Royal Observatory Greenwich where he improved and developed practical observational techniques. She relayed that Eddington was a popular member of “The Dinner Club” as he did not drink and if you sat beside him at dinner you were likely to get his share of wine as well. He was made secretary of The Royal Observatory Greenwich in 1912 and at the age of 31 he became Plumian Professor of Cambridge. Eddington never married or had children, he was a Quaker by faith and his primary belief that there is god and good within everybody was significant in his life in that he did not get caught up in the mass hysteria of anti-German feeling that permeated in Europe prior to the outbreak of WW1. Eddington was a pacifist and he avoided the war as a consciences objector. He did get called to account for his stance but still managed to get out of fighting by being proved far too valuable a scientist.

Eddington was one of the few people to read and understand Albert Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, at that time German scientists were being expelled from The Royal Society and the scientific work of Germans was hardly getting any attention from the rest of the world. Albert Einstein gave up his nationality in 1901 and became a Swiss citizen, but this failed to protect him from the welling anti German climate of the time. Eddington with his fundamental belief in the good in everyone set out to prove Einstein’s ideas in a practical way. He used the solar eclipse of May 29^th 1919 to show one of the principals of Relativity. A known group of stars the Hades star cluster is observed at night as usual, then in the unusual circumstances of a total solar eclipse the sun is observed against the same star cluster, some of the stars in this cluster appeared out of position as their light had bent around the mass of the sun. Sir Arthur Edenton stationed himself on an island off the western coast of Africa and sent another group of British scientists to Brazil. Their measurements of several of the stars in the cluster showed that the light from these stars was indeed bent as it grazed the Sun, by the exact amount of Einstein's predictions.Eddingtons and his team in Brazil exposed 16 photographic plates in 5 minutes to capture the eclipse and the possible shift or apparent shift in the position of the stars.Eddington and his team were so busy in recording the eclipse that they did not get to see it or enjoy it in their pursuit of their goal. This research eventually confirmed Albert Einstein's theory that as light passes a very massive star; its path is bent due to gravity. Einstein became a celebrity overnight when the results were announced. Now this is a not so well written paragraph that fails to state clearly this concept so here is the way I have thought it trough.

The Hyades cluster is well known in the night sky

Eddington knew that the Suns position on the 19th of May 1919 was in front of the Hyades cluster in daylight at the moment of the solar eclipse.

One would expect one or some of the stars to be masked by the Sun as it is a very massive star, as the solar eclipse revealed the Hyades cluster in the temporary night in the daylight at the moment of the solar eclipse. The sun in fact appeared to sit along beside them in the sky and cause the apparent position of a few of them to shift a bit.

Eddington exposed photographic plates to record the eclipse and reveal that the stars of the cluster were not masked by the Suns mass, but the light from them was bent or curved by the Suns mass and gravitational field and continued to shine down on the earth, and appear on the developed plates.

As light from Stars is coming from a very great distance, it takes many thousands of years and light years to travel to our eyes or to Eddington's photographic plates.

The fact that the stars concerned appeared on his photographic plates and were not masked by the Sun, therefore Eddington proved this prediction of Einstein correct.

Because the light from a star is traveling through time and space - when it bends around a large mass like the Sun - therefore time and space are temporally bent or curved or misshapen.

This effect occurs close to the Sun at the 96 million mile mark and it is then the kink happens.
The apparent displacement of light results from the warping of space in the vicinity of the massive object through which light travels. The light never changes course, but merely follows the curvature of space. Astronomers now refer to this displacement of light as gravitational lensing.

According to Professor Brunell, Eddington was a wonderful communicator of science theory and was at the forefront of popularizing Einstein’s work. There were few people in the world at the time that could understand the theory of Relativity yet alone explain it. A poster at the time announcing on of his talks on the subject claimed it was “A Book for 12 Wise Men” Arthur Stanly Eddington made Albert Einstein’s work popular and famous by his understanding and his desire to qualify Einstein’s theory for general consumption.

Professor Jocelyn Bell Brunell in her lecture on September 8^th 2005 continued that wonderful achievement for both Albert Einstein and Arthur Eddington.

I would like to thank Professor Jocelyn Bell Brunell for her kind support in the development of this article.

What Lies Beneath by Deirdre Kelleghan Published December 2004 in Realta

2007-09-13T15:29:00.000-07:00

On Christmas Eve when you are cozy in your bed either wondering what you will get for Christmas or if the turkey you have will be big enough for your guests, way above your house, way above the sky, way above the atmosphere in fact over 1 billion miles above this planet Earth, a wonderful event will be happening!

This event is the release of the Huygens probe by the robot ship Cassini Huygens. The Huygens probe will then have a three-week journey to the surface of one of the most unusual moons in our solar system – the incredibly unique Titan.

A robot ship the size of a 30-seater bus built jointly by NASA, The European Space Agency and The Italian Space Agency. This spacecraft blasted off from Cape Canaveral Florida in October 1997 over seven years ago. This is the biggest spaceship ever launched from Earth and every day since Cassini left our planet it has been traveling an average speed of 54,000 miles an hour. Cassini –Huygens is a spacecraft on a mission to explore the planet Saturn and the many moons of this giant world. Titan is Saturn’s largest moon and is particularly targeted for study. To put 1997 in context that was the year that princess Diana died, Gianni Versace was killed, Comet Hale- Bopp was visible in our skies and the movie Titanic was on our screens.

The Huygens probe is detachable from Cassini and is managed by the European Space Agency, and even though it is only about 8 feet in diameter it is packed with instruments to measure all it can in the atmosphere of the strangely beautiful moon Titan.

The atmosphere on Titan is so thick that visible light cannot escape from it. This moons dry cold atmosphere causes a 300km thick layer of orangey smog to build up around it. Titan is singularly unique as it is the only moon in our solar system that has an atmosphere.

On January 14 2005 the 8 foot wide Huygens probe protected by a heat shield will drop down and literally parachute into this unknown alien moon. The probe will take hundreds of photographs and sample the atmosphere and take stock of the physical and chemical components of this moon and will beam the data to the orbiting Cassini hopefully before its power runs out. The probe has enough power for only 3½ hours work, the uploaded data received by Cassini will then be sent to Earth via the Deep Space Network i.e. 3 massive communication dishes based in California, Madrid and Australia

Image courtesy of BBC

VENT TUBE WORMS LIVING WITHOUT THE SUN

Found deep on the ocean floor near hydrothermal vents. This extreme environment with no sunlight, high pressures, and a cocktail of chemicals that would kill most forms of life is a comfortable home for these creatures, so perhaps similar forms of life are capable of existing in the sun starved surface of Titan. These and many more questions may be answered in just a few weeks.

If this mission is a success, I think it will be a major achievement for NASA and the ESA and I hope it will encourage people to read more about the many space exploration missions that are under way and are in the pipeline for the very near future.

So sleep well on Christmas Eve and do take a look in the sky in the direction of Saturn and be amazed at what is happening so far above your house, many miles out in space so very very far from our living planet Earth. Check out www.heavansabove.com for the location of the planet Saturn.

SATURN KEY FACTS

Diameter 74,975 miles
Density 0.69 g/cm³
Length of Day 10hr 40mins
Length of Year 29.42 Earth Years
Rings 7
Known Moons 33
Composition of Atmosphere Hydrogen

Helium Methane Ammonia and other hydrocarbons.

TITAN KEY FACTS

Distance to Saturn 759,200 miles
Diameter 3,199 miles
Density 1.82 g/cm³
Surface Temp - 181 ^o C
Surface Pressure 1.5 bars (1½ at sea level on Earth)
Composition of Atmosphere Nitrogen Methane and other hydrocarbons.