Category: Event

Br Guy Consolmagno SJ Vatican Astronomer visits Bray Co Wicklow - COSMOS 2013 Irelands leading Star Party April 12th - 14th

3/25/2013

Turn Left at Orion signed for the school library

St Cronans National School Bray had a very special visitor on Wednesday March 20. None other than the Vatican Astronomer Br Guy Consolmagno SJ. Originally I had invited him to drop in and shake hands with St Cronans Stargazers our astronomy club, but he very generously offered to give a talk for the whole school. 500 boys and their teachers were treated to a wonderfully pitched talk about the Vatican Observatory, the pope’s interest in the subject, the wonders of astronomy and all things that give joy in the vast universe in which we live.

The boys asked very intelligent questions, Br Guy gave them a listening ear, his answers inspired and intrigued the entire audience. Br Guy Consolmagno SJ is an American research astronomer and planetary scientist at the Vatican Observatory. He presented Principal Maeve Tierney with a signed copy of his famous book Turn Left at Orion for the school library.

Br Guy was delighted to visit Bray, after lunch in the Martello and a walk on the prom he dipped his hands in the Irish Sea, a rare moment for him in his busy global speaking schedule.

I first met Br Guy back in 2005 at the Whirlpool Star Party, at the time I had no clue who he was but we had a warm conversation about binoculars and observing. I was invited to this premier event to give a talk about Enceladus ( one of Saturn’s ice moons) and found out next day that Guy was there to deliver a talk about Turn Left at Orion.

We met up again during International Year of Astronomy 2009. Br Guy was on a speaking tour in Ireland. The first of his talks was at the Dublin Institute of Advanced Studies and Dunsink Observatory, followed by Gonzaga College. We then continued on to COSMOS (Now - Irelands leading Star Party) in Tullamore and then to Blackrock Castle Observatory in Cork. If my memory serves me right, Guy delivered six different talks in five days to varying audiences everyone of them a polished gem in communicating the science and wonder of astronomy.

More information on the Vatican and Br Guy Consolmagno click here.

COSMOS 2013 April 12th - 14th Details here

Slide show from Br Guy Consolmagno's visit to Bray below
- School visit images by Bernard Kelleghan

COSMOS 2013 see ye there !

Get the moon in your head - What's up for September 2012 - International Observe the moon night 2012

9/10/2012

Almost Full Moon Lunation 12.75 days Sketch

Get the Moon in your head

‘At conjunction the moon occupies a position between the sun and the earth; it is then illuminated by the sun’s rays on the side which is turned away from the earth. The other hemisphere, which faces the earth, is covered with darkness; hence the moon does not illuminate the surface of the earth at all. Next departing gradually from the sun, the moon comes to be lighted partly upon the side it turns toward us, and its whitish horns, still very thin, illuminate the earth with a faint light. The sun’s illumination of the moon increasing now as the moon approaches first quarter, a reflection of that light to the earth also increases. Soon the splendour on the moon extends to a semicircle, and our nights grow brighter; at length the entire visible face of the moon is irradiated by the suns resplendent rays, and at full moon the whole surface of the earth shines in a flood of moon light. Now the moon, waning, sends us her beams more weakly, and the earth is less strongly lighted; at length the moon returns to conjunction with the sun, and black night covers the earth.’

Extract from Sidereus Nuncius (The Starry Messenger) 1610 by Galileo Galilei translation by Stillman Drake from the book Discoveries and Opinions of Galileo.

Now there ye have it, direct and clear from the master Galileo. Read it slowly, imagine it, and animate it in your mind. Observe it for yourself, spend time with the moon soon you will understand its movements.

Galileo was a great man for sharing the moon through his telescope. He shared with other scientists, princes, students, the pope, and artists. He was compelled to share it as it was such a magnificent sight even in his small telescope. He wrote Starry Messenger to share his drawings and observations of the moon, far and wide.

The way Galileo writes about the moon pulls you in to be part of his exploration. He thereby transports his readers to share his thoughts as he figures out the lunar surface, phases and features of the moon observed over 400 years ago. Today you can still find freshness pouring from his enquiring mind in his descriptive writing.

Sharing the moon with the public is an affliction borne with large smiles by many astronomers all over this planet. It’s amazing that there are so many people today that have never had an up close and personal view of the moon in a telescope. International observe the moon night invites astronomers to show the moon to people on September 22nd. This is a global event, with an increasing bubble of participants.

If you have binoculars or a telescope consider joining in and showing the moon to your neighbours. Register here its easy.

Check the map for other IFAS clubs sharing the moon on the night

The moon is a constant in our existence; our eyes are drawn by it to look up from all over the planet. Galileo made sense of the moon for us, at great risk to his freedom. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin lifted the entire planet by landing on it for the first time back in 1969. On September 22nd you can easily pick out the Sea of Tranquillity with your eyes. Wink at the moon is an action request from Neil Armstrong’s family, to honour his memory. It’s also a really cool simple public outreach exercise.

Weather permitting I will be on the promenade near Bray head with St Cronan’s Stargazers and our telescopes from 19:00 hrs till 20:30 approx September 22nd.

What's up for September 2012 from Jane Houston Jones

Action Sun at St Pauls Senior Girls School Dublin 12 - What's up for July 2012 from Jane Houston Jones

7/5/2012

WOW !! this is huge in the hall

St Pauls Senior Girls National School in Greenhill’s Dublin 12 is just a few minutes’ walk from the house where I grew up. It was fortuitous to have the opportunity to carry out my third Action Sun for a school in this area.

On June 25th 47 young girls from third class, took part in building the sun. This was a very positive group all eager to get going and get busy. Streamers of orange and red paper flew through the air in vast amounts. In a short time the photosphere began to grow in the schools courtyard.

The activity of Action Sun supports the school curriculum in its art as it uses mixed media to create the sun. The program uses paint and paper to convey activity and explosive movement on the solar disc. Action Sun also supports primary school art as it enables children to use the characteristics of the materials to make structures and features on the solar disc. Making the sun in this way is both creative and explorative. Learning a little science through the arts facilitates the use of many kinds of intelligences. The learning process in the making is as valuable as the finished suns. Textures and spatial organisation also comes into the creation of this work. The girls at St Pauls School were very good at working as a group, helping each other out. They also made good decisions during the activity which showed they were an excellent team. This is kinesthetic learning, learning by doing.

Action Sun compliments science in the primary school curriculum on several levels. A short information talk in between making the suns features informs the children about our suns role in the solar system. We talk about the scale of the sun and the Earth. We talk about the energy of the sun and its function in relation to the other planets. The mini talks make sure that the children understand that the sun is our main source of heat and light. By building the sun the children learn by hands on investigation. The children literally explore the physical features of the sun with their hands in mini scale. A quick review of the evaluation sheets shows the quality of the learning. Several children not only drew sketches of the complex sun but also put in arrows to the different features and labelled them all correctly. The action of throwing the paper was very popular, signing their names was also a highlight and for some children carrying the sun into the hall was the stand out moment of the day.

When I look at the sun in my solar telescope I see a huge amount of detail and very often in the past I have shared that view with children. However it takes a long time to show this view to a large group as the sun presents as a small disc with tiny features. It is difficult for children to comprehend the enormous scale of our nearest star. I put Action Sun together to bridge that gap and help more people achieve some understanding of this wonderful star in safety with a big fun element.

The features of the sun itself were totally new to this young group, but at the end of the programme words like photosphere, chromosphere, filaments, prominences and sunspots were all a little more familiar. We closed our eyes at the end of the build and held our faces up to the sun to feel its heat and remind ourselves that it takes eight minutes for its light to get to us here on Earth, a 93 million mile smile. Building the sun took about 90 minutes. The 7.9 X 4.9 meter tarpaulin was pre prepared at home using four litres of matte black masonry paint. During the activity we used approx 3,500 individual pre cut pieces of crepe paper ,15 litres of washable PVA glue, 6 litres of yellow paint , 1 litre of red paint, plus the energy of forty seven eight and nine year old third class girls.

My thanks to Sarah Jayne Reid for setting up Action Sun at St Pauls and to Phil Curran for all her efforts prior to, during and post the build. Thanks to Ms Keating, Ms Daly and Principal Sr Maureen for their support during the activity. NASA Sun Earth Day bookmarks, posters and other educational material were provided to the teachers. The solar feature data for this Action Sun was an observation of the disc made from my PST earlier that morning. The Solar Dynamics Observatory website was pointed out to the girls so they could continue to watch the sun safely.

What's Up for July 2012 from Jane Houston Jones

Action Sun – Lets bring the Sun to Earth © by Deirdre Kelleghan - What's Up for June 2012 from Jane Houston Jones - The Transit of Venus

6/6/2012

As I approached the City of Kilkenny medieval towers and spires broke the dull May skyline. Pure yellow rapeseed fields painted sunshine on the landscape. Rich green wheat moved slowly in the cold breeze each side of the motorway.

At Kilkenny Castle on National Drawing Day my Action Sun participants were young families randomly stopping by and taking part for short periods. Small children throwing crepe paper photosphere clumps with smiles on their tiny faces. Just as well for the completion of the project that two boys Max Gronowski aged 12 and Daragh Lynch aged 12 got stuck into it from the start. They helped paint the acrylic / glue base, the root for two of the suns atmospheres. As the solar build progressed my information spiel became simply a three and a half hour conversation with the boys. They asked questions, I answered; we discussed the photosphere as we threw our orange paint dipped paper targeting the empty spaces on this sixteen foot highly textured sun. They asked ‘where did the sun come from’? What will happen to the sun in the future? How big is the sun? They could not wait to fill in the photosphere and move on to apply the chromosphere. We talked about solar telescopes, space telescopes, the dangers of looking at the sun, the Venus Transit, Apollo 11, becoming an astronaut, Mars, going to Mars, Mars Science Laboratory, photosynthesis, energy and light. At that point Action sun had become a constructive dialogue with two very tenacious boys. Some parents came to help for a while and we were joined for the last hour or so by Matthew Shortall aged 9 who helped to make our photosphere denser which on a solar disc of that diameter was a very big task. Daragh said it would be great if we had music to work by, ‘what kind of music?’ I asked,   Beethoven was the unexpected reply.

We had dragged the sun through the clouds and reproduced it on the ground. Groups of adults got answers to ‘what’s going on here? Is that the sun? ‘Ha ha I have not seen that for weeks’. ‘Does it really look like that?’ ‘What are the black things?’

Max helped place the sunspots using my drawing made directly from the Solar Dynamics Observatory website at 09:02 IST. We made the filaments, I added the prominences; local papers took photographs of the creation. The sun never showed its face at Kilkenny Castle that day but as each hour went by the sun on Earth was growing brighter every minute as our build continued.

Venus, a black polystyrene ball on the end of a stick, demonstrated the transit   as seen from Ireland against the newly created sun. The Earth had escaped from my car earlier and spent   the day in the middle of my driveway.

We actually ran out of time, our photosphere big as it became, was just not dense enough and the boys knew it. Our red thinly spaced solar chromospheric   paper   fluttered in the wind. Sticky hands and paint splattered tee shirts told the story of almost four hours of creative work.

For their wonderful effort I gave the boys NASA Sun Earth Day packs. They helped me give out Venus Transit information to all who passed by. Max, Darragh and Matthew signed their names proudly to the giant canvas as they had done most of the work. The 7.9 X 4.9 meter Action Sun will hang at Dunsink Observatory during Solarfest on June 23rd. The photosphere will be complete by then.

Action Sun first light was with St Cronans Stargazers children’s school club on May 4th 2012. Sixteen boys and I constructed an eight foot solar disc based on my early morning observations. This eager group worked on the sun interspaced by pockets of solar information delivered in short bursts which punctuated the action.   Link to blog

Action Sun was funded by Dublin City of Science 2012 and The Butler Gallery Kilkenny Castle , Kilkenny City. Action Sun was a NASA Sun Earth Day event also
Action Sun – is an indoor or outdoor activity which allows groups of children to participate in building a large solar disc or several solar discs. This Earth built sun mimics the photosphere and chromosphere of the sun, includes sunspots, filaments, and prominences present on the sun ideally in real time. The materials are simple, paper, glue and paint. It is kinaesthetic participatory learning for young children. The activity educates and supports science through art and the creative process.

Slide show of Action Sun at Kilkenny Castle

What's Up for June 2012 from Jane Houston Jones - The Transit of Venus of course :-)

Action Sun - Let's bring the sun to Earth - What's Up for May 2012 from Jane Houston Jones

5/10/2012

Action Sun image by Bernard Kelleghan

On May 4th 2012 children from St Cronans Stargazers Astronomy Club in Bray took the sun from the sky and brought it down to Earth. We used a 10ft X 8ft plastic sheet, crepe paper, acrylic paint washable glue and plenty of energy. It was a very cloudy day but a brief look at the sun in the early am gave me a good view of the large sunspot in Active Region 1471. I took the rest of the data from the space telescope Nasa Solar Dynamics Observatory. ‘The sun now’ on its website shows the status of the sun in many light views in real time.

By building the sun the children were literally exploring the physical features of the sun with their hands in mini scale.

Exploring astronomy via art is a very varied learning for all participants. Even finding out a little about what we see in the sky during our entire lifetimes is enhancing for life. Understanding where we are helps us understand who we are.

Art expressing unique awe and wonder at the magnificence of our stars role, in every second of every day of our lives is unavoidably beautiful.

Astronomy and Art are for everyone, each person has something to express, each has their own life journey to make, to live, to experience. The action of bringing the Sun to the ground, bringing it down to Earth is a deep experience that can only have a positive effect. Action Sun invites children to be creative, expressive, and informed.

During the activity I emphasised to the children the dangers of looking at the sun. Action Sun is a very safe way of exploring our star in a way that enhances a child’s knowledge and encourages curiosity and further learning.

During the making of our sun in Bray we had just finished the photosphere when spontaneously some of the children bowed down to the paper sun. This was a funny happy moment, so totally unexpected, it came out of nowhere. When we were carrying the finished sun into the school, the smallest child began singing ‘here comes the sun’
I was amazed that a 2012 child would know that song and even more surprised that he sang away. The singing soon became a group effort as we struggled through the double doors into the hall.

Action Sun supports Art in the curriculum as it uses mixed media to create the sun. We used paint and paper to convey action ,and explosive movement on the solar disc. Action Sun enables children to use the characteristics of the materials to make the structures and features on the solar disc. Making the sun in this way is both creative and explorative.

Making is the technological component of the Science Curriculum. Action Sun provides the child with an opportunity to make the sun, and thereby investigate its properties in their school yard.

Action Sun is a cooperative activity encouraging social skills and group learning. The goal is to bring the sun to Earth to examine it and observe it safely. We were not just aiming for an understanding of the subject matter but were making connections between head, hand and heart while cultivating the capacity to discover systems. Observation and wonder equals sustained learning.

Action Sun supports Geography in primary education as the Solar System is part of the lesson plans. The Sun is the central hub of our solar system and is therefore one of the most important objects in our daily lives.

When the Action Sun piece was hung in the hall , the children said ' the suns up , the suns up' with smiling faces, what a happy moment.
Action Sun was created by Deirdre Kelleghan slide show below
On this occasion Action Sun was funded by Dublin City of Science 2012 Many thanks to Paedar O'Briain and Paula O'Donnall for their invaluable help on the day
Many thanks to my husband Bernard for taking the image above , a wonderful job.
Many thanks to principal Maeve Teirney for saying YES !
Many thanks to John for hanging the sun in the school hall, a big job. !
Many thanks to the Bray People for covering the event in the paper
This was also a NASA Sun Earth Day Venus Transit registered event.
The childrens work also had the honour of being Astronomy Sketch of the Day
on May 5th2012

Next Action Sun was on May 19th at Kilkenny Castle National Drawing Day 2012

Whats up for May 2012 from Jane Houston Jones

Deirdre gets invited by NASA to the Mars Science Laboratory Launch at Cape Canaveral - What's Up for November 2011 from Jane Houston Jones

11/6/2011

Back in April 2011 I told my mam, that I had put her name on a spacecraft called Curiosity for a journey to Mars. She said ‘what good will it do me? I told her that her name will travel approximately 150 million miles into space and land on the red planet in August 2012. Her name will join millions of forward thinking people who have been inspired   to send their names on this adventure into the future.

I have a vision I said to her, that when in time humans build a sustainable habitat on Mars, a museum housing the pre pioneers will display their names along with the robot explorers. She looked at me after I explained the mission and its purpose and she said to me as she often did

‘You’re mad ' but she had her little bird smile on and was soon sleeping peacefully.

We can only imagine that a display many hundreds of years ahead will be spectacular. The future is ours to dream about, dreams are our nets cast forward in time to pull us along and help us grow.

Mara Science Laboratory aka Curiosity , is one of our best chances to date to find evidence for life on another world. What an incredible twist that would be in our human trials and tribulations to understand our Universe.

Mam died from cancer on July 16th, 2011, on November 25th Mars Science Laboratory will launch from Cape Canaveral carrying a special tiny payload, a microchip of names and dreams. I think my family would agree with me that it is more satisfying and uplifting that we look at Mars and think of her going into the future instead of being in the past. 4990 Irish people (including me) put their names on Curiosity out of 12,464,445 people worldwide.

I feel totally blessed that I have been invited to what is called The Mars Science Laboratory Tweetup. This adventure will tick the box on one of my top ten bucket list, must do in life things.

With weeks to go to the launch and months to the landing we will be widely informed about this spectacular mission. August 2012 will see the cruise stage punch into the Martian atmosphere to deliver mankind’s heaviest robot to the surface of the red planet. MSL will land at Gale Crater hopefully to the silent applause of rock locked microbes ready for their moment in history

An interesting fact was put my way by my dear friend Jane Houston Jones. On Mars there is a crater called Wicklow named after the county in Ireland where I live. Jane and I will meet up once again at the MSL launch; it’s been five years since Jane visited me in Wicklow. It is so poignant that we should meet at this event, one of the most important missions in robotic space exploration and science.

Apollo 11 on TV was the first watershed eye opener toward my continued interest in space exploration. To be actually at the MSL launch and to also see a Saturn V rocket for myself will be my second booster shot / watershed for the future.

The MSL entry decent and landing sequence planned for 2012 has to be the most exciting landing ever conceived in the history of robotic advantures. It reminds me of Space 1999 a TV series by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson that I loved back in the 70’s (they used sky cranes). It also has all the drama of an action thriller. Oh if only a camera was in place at Gale crater to bring us live coverage of this historic space epic. I cannot wait, to see how this mission and my visit to Cape Canaveral unfolds you can follow my visit via my Tweets.

Deirdre Kelleghan is @skysketcher follow also   @MarsCuriosity and @NASAJPL and @NASATweetup