“Studying the Dawn of Galaxy Formation: New Insights and Challenges from Next-Generation Observatories”, Mon 13 Nov 2023, 8 pm

A Cork Astronomy Club public lecture held in UCC’s Ashley Cummins Building

Cork Astronomy Club is delighted to welcome back Dr Michael Tremmel to give his assessment of the impact of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).   What do we know now that we didn’t know two years ago, and what do we hope to find out next? 

Dr Tremmel will go on to outline the current cutting edge of data, not only from JWST but also from upcoming telescopes ─ Vera Rubin and the Legacy Survey of Space and Time, Euclid, WFIRST, LISA (not a telescope per se but a gravitational wave detector).  He will ask, where are we going in the near future and what challenges does this pose for astrophysicists? Abstract below.

Dr Tremmel lectures in Galactic and Extragalactic Astrophysics at UCC’s School of Physics.  He’s a computational astrophysicist studying galaxy evolution and supermassive black holes using cosmological simulations.  Held a postdoctoral fellowship at Yale University.

Below, Dr Tremmel rescuing Schrödinger’s cat.  We’ve used this one before but we like it so much that we don’t apologise for using it again.  

Where and when

Venue: UCC’s Ashley Cummins Building, near UCC’s College Road entrance. Previously known as Civil Engineering buidling.   Directions here.

Start time is 8 pm prompt, so please arrive 10 minutes early.

This lecture is open to all. There will also be club announcements and a sky this month presentation, and if you are new to our Club you will get a feel for our activities.

When we finish at 9.45, you can stay and chat for a few minutes after the end of the formal meeting, with tea and coffee served.

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Abstract

I give an overview of results from the last year of JWST observations of galaxies and black holes and preview some of the science coming from near-future observatories like Vera Rubin, Euclid, the Roman Space Telescope, and the Later Interferometer Space Antenna. The wealth of new data coming in the next decade from various astrophysics missions stands to revolutionize our view of the Early Universe (and, really, it already has!), in particular our theories of the formation of the first galaxies, stars, and massive black holes. This unprecedented view, which will come from both light and gravitational waves, will present new challenges to our models of how galaxies form. From the simulation side, this new era of multimessenger astrophysics will require advancements in our theoretical models in order to fully interpret and contextualize these new observations.

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“There and back again: A Universe’s tale”, Mon 9 October 2023, 8 pm

A Cork Astronomy Club public lecture held in UCC’s Ashley Cummins Building

The story of our Universe has been unfolding for 13.7 billion years, but the pages of this story have only been accessible to us for the last 59 years. Join us as UCC’s Dr Mark Kennedy tries to get through 13.7 billion years of history in 50 minutes (at a whooping pace of 274 million years per minute!)

Dr Kennedy (pictured) lectures in UCC’s School of Physics, and is working on the “Invisible Monsters” project, attempting to find the hidden population of black holes using machine learning and next generation all-sky surveys.

Where and when

Venue: UCC’s Ashley Cummins Building, near UCC’s College Road entrance. Previously known as Civil Engineering buidling.   Directions here.

Start time is 8 pm prompt, so please arrive 10 minutes early.

This lecture is open to all. There will also be club announcements and a sky this month presentation, and if you are new to our Club you will get a feel for our activities.

When we finish at 9.45, you can stay and chat for a few minutes after the end of the formal meeting, with tea and coffee served.

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“Be a citizen scientist – How amateur astronomers contribute to science”, Mon 11 Sept 2023

A Cork Astronomy Club public lecture held in UCC’s Ashley Cummins Building

Not all science is done by scientists.  Amateur astronomers have made significant contributions to measuring light pollution and identifying best and worst localities, yielding results that sometimes contradict satellite data.  The science of Jupiter’s atmosphere has advanced as far as it has in large part by professional scientists having access to images uploaded by amateur observers to special websites.   

Outreach Officer at MTU’s Blackrock Castle Observatory, Frances McCarthy is one of our Club’s favourite speakers. We learnt about a wide variety of opportunities for amateur astronomers to make their mark,  with different sponsors, amongst them Exoplanet Watch, EU-Citizen.Science, Globe At Night, NASA citizen science, The American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO).  

And Frances revealed the first citizen science project – Haleys’5 1715 eclipse map, shown below with Frances inset. Halley made the map with help of a numerous crew of observers assembled by the following appeal: “A Request to the Curious to observe what they could about it, but more especially to note the Time of Continuance of total Darkness …”  More about this here: “How Edmond Halley kicked off the golden age of eclipse mapping” 

Frances McCarthy with Halley’s map of the 1715 eclipse

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Lecture Schedule 2023-24

Cork Astronomy Club monthly lectures are open to all, and visitors are welcome.  Lectures are held t 8 pm in the Ashley Cummins Building at UCC .  Visitors who would like reminders should sign up for our monthly guest bulletin

Monthly meetings include a briefing on what to look for in the sky this month, as well as club announcements, enabling visitors to get a feel for our activities.  Tea and coffee are served after the meeting providing space for informal chats.

Mon 11th Sept 2023  ─ “Be a citizen scientist – How amateur astronomers contribute to science” – Frances McCarthy, Outreach Officer, MTU Blackrock Castle Observatory  

Mon 9th Oct 2023   “There and back again: A Universe’s tale” – Dr Mark Kennedy, lecturer, UCC School of Physics

Mon 13th Nov 2023  ─ “Studying the Dawn of Galaxy Formation: New Insights and Challenges from Next-Generation Observatories” – Dr Michael Tremmel, lecturer, UCC School of Physics

December 2023  ─ no lecture

Mon 8th Jan 2024  ─ title and speaker to be announced

Mon 12th Feb 2024  ─ title and speaker to be announced

Mon 11th March 2024 Club member Eddie Lyons on “The demise of the Late Heavy Bombardment theory”

Mon 8th April 2024 title and speaker to be announced

Mon 13th May 2024 programme to be announced

Three short presentations from members, Mon 8 May 2023

A Cork Astronomy Club public lecture held in UCC’s Ashley Cummins Building

Eddie Lyons ─ “Exploring Jupiter: Past, Present, Future”

Dan McLoughlin ─ “3-D printing: how does it work, what can it do for amateur astronomy?”   

Geoffrey Eastaway ─ “Uni-verse:  Poetry and astronomy”

Left to right: Geoffrey, Eddie, Dan

This was “Members Night”.  At the last monthly meeting of the season we invite three members to each make a short presentation on a topic of their choice.  The result was varied menu and an enjoyable evening.

Bears hibernate in the winter and Cork Astronomy Club hibernates in the summer.  Our next public lecture will be in September 2023, probably Monday 11th.

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Dr Michael Tremmel, Creating the Universe on a Computer, Mon 17 April 2023, 8 pm

A Cork Astronomy Club public lecture held in UCC’s Civil Engineering (Ashley Cummins) Building

Not all astronomy is done with a telescope. Large-scale computer simulations, run with the help of high performance computing facilities around the world, provide a unique view of the cosmos as well as crucial theoretical predictions that inform astronomical observations. Dr Tremmel, a lecturer in UCC’s School of Physics, gave an overview of how astrophysicists utilize simulations and conduct numerical experiments to better understand the formation and evolution of galaxies and the supermassive black holes at their centres.

The title of the lecture was “Creating the Universe on a Computer ─ How simulations help us study galaxies”.   We look forward to seeing Dr Tremmel again.

Above: Dr Tremmel rescues Schrödinger’s cat

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James Quain, “The Sundial ─ the world’s oldest clock”. Mon 13 Mar 2023

A Cork Astronomy Club public lecture held in UCC’s Civil Engineering Building

Telling the time is one of the earliest applications of astronomy, and the sundial, the earliest device to tell time of day and divide daylight into hours. James Quain, a member of Cork Astronomy Club with a lifelong interest in sundials, told how these installations work and the astronomy they are based on.

James illustrated how time is depicted, and discussed the development of sundials from the earliest known examples. 

Above: James with his Armillary Dial.

A sundial we learnt, consists of two parts: a gnomon to cast a shadow, and a dial plate.  We found out things we didn’t know we didn’t know … the extraordinary variety of sundials … James brought his own replica of a portable wooden dial as used by shepherds in the Pyrenees, and a model of the earliest known sundial consisting of two stones ─ another portable device used by the Pharaohs in 1500 BC. 

For most sundials (but not the shepherd’s dial) you need to know north.  But a solar compass from 1835 works the other way round.  It uses two very different sundials (image below), you turn it till they both agree, and hey presto, it’s facing South. The world’s largest sundial is at Jaipur in India, and the smallest consist of two metal rings that those who were rich enough in the 18th century kept in their pocket.

Finally James took grave issue with Hilaire Belloc who wroteI am a Sundial and I make a botch, of what is done much better by a watch”

Workshop, April 15th

For Club members only, James followed this lecture up with a workshop. In small groups members made paper sundials, cutting out components and assembling, including set up & orientation.

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“Space flight, the human factor” – Cian O Regan, Mon 9 Jan 2023

A Cork Astronomy Club public lecture

Cian O Regan talked about human factors in space flight, problems that arise and what is being done to learn how best to cope with them. Cian is a PhD student at MTU, and his thesis will investigate these questions.

Cian wears a pilot’s cap in an aircraft cockpit, at left of lefthand photo.  The recorded behaviour of pilots in emergency situations provides useful data for his research.  Right: a hypothetical Mars astronaut controlling a drone.

Sending astronauts to the Moon and Mars will pose huge challenges for the astronauts both psychological and physical, challenges which far surpass what is encountered on the International Space Station.  How will astronauts respond and will their ability to perform their duties and to respond to emergencies be impaired?  What can be done to mitigate the ill effects?

The 5 hazards of human spaceflight are radiation, altered gravity fields, hostile and closed environments, distance from Earth, and isolation and confinement.   Human factors is a field of study to reduce error and increase productivity focussing on the interaction between the human and the machine.  

Avoid the Norman door!

We heard about a Norman door, all too common in public buildings – where the design tells you to do the opposite of what you’re supposed to do, and there has to be a sign to correct it. Normanism is to be avoided at all cost in designing spacecraft.  

There’s an optimum level of arousal to maximise human performance.  Boredom at the low end (think of a 6-month journey to Mars) and strong anxiety at the high end both impair human performance.  So is it worth sending humans at all, why not just send robots?  Because humans are so much more productive than robots ─ for now, anyway.

Human factors is the field of study to reduce error and increase productivity focussing on the interaction between the human and the machine. For space agencies these are urgent questions and Cian described what has been done so far to address them, and his own research.

The lecture was live streamed over Zoom.

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Prof Paul Callanan on the European Southern Observatory, Mon 13 Feb 2023

A Cork Astronomy Club public lecture held in UCC’s Civil Engineering Building

Dr Paul Callanan, Professor of Physics and Astronomy at UCC and honorary member of Cork Astronomy Club, gave his annual lecture. His topic – “The European Southern Observatory at 60”. Based in Chile’s Atacama Desert, it’s where Irish and other European astronomers can observe the southern sky. Prof Paul Callanan was a leading campaigner for Ireland to join the ESO and showed many startling images, and outlined the leading role the ESO plays in adaptive optics, and intricate system for stripping out the twinkle from objects viewed by ground-based telescopes.

Above, Prof Paul Callanan in UCC’s Crawford Observatory, and right, an ESO image of an exoplanet and star.

Another field in which ESO leads is the prodigous feat of obtaining images of exoplanets, Paul told us, illustrated by the slide shown above.

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“Satellites over-crowding the night sky?  Be a satellite detective” – Frances McCarthy, 14 Nov 2022, 8 pm

A new development in recent years is the launch of thousands of low earth orbit satellites,  with Elon Musk’s company Space X being the leader in the field.  Frances McCarthy, Education officer at Blackrock Castle Observatory (part of Munster Technical University) will describe how this cascade of satellites has become increasingly unwelcome to astronomers both amateur and professional as they attempt to make observations of the night sky.

Frances, photo above next to a wide field image of the night sky showing satellite tracks, is a favourite speaker with Cork Astronomy Club members. She will introduce Satellite Detectives, a scheme developed by Blackrock Castle Observatory,  and will encourage anyone interested in the night sky to help to catalogue and quantify the appearance of the satellite constellations.

Is this a legitimate concern? Are satellites more important than astronomy? What can be done to mitigate the effect on the night sky? Frances will address these questions and a lively discusson is likely to ensue.

Where and when

The venue is University College Cork’s Civil Engineering building.   Directions here.

Start time is 8 pm prompt, so please arrive 10 minutes early.

This lecture is open to all. There will also be club announcements and a sky this month presentation, and if you are new to our Club you will get a feel for our activities.

When we finish at 9.45, you can stay and chat for a few minutes after the end of the formal meeting, with tea and coffee served.

Lecture will be live streamed over Zoom. To get the link, email info@corkastronomyclub.com before 5pm on day of lecture.  Better still, sign up for our monthly guest bulletin .  

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