Well, it's only a few months away from this years
Shannonside Astronomy Club Burren Starparty.
Following on from last year we are still determined to make our event
a 'starparty' in the true sense of the word rather than another 'lecture' led event, something we feel is sorely lacking in this country.
We are, as always, at the mercy of the weather but here's hoping for clear skies in Clare for that weekend!
But! Not to disappoint the traditionalists,
the Saturday speakers for this year can now be confirmed as;
Thomas J. Bopp
Thomas Bopp, co-discoverer of Comet Hale-Bopp in 1995.
Arguably the most widely observed comet of the twentieth century and
one of the brightest seen for many decades.
It was visible to the naked eye for a record 18 months,
twice as long as the previous record holder, the Great Comet of 1811.
Thomas will recount the fascinating story of his discovery accompanied
by a personal selection of images from the NASA archives.
Prof. Michael G. Hinchey
Limerick native Michael is a computer scientist and
Co-Director at the Irish Software Engineering Research Centre Lero, at the University of Limerick.
Michael was until recently the Director of the Software Engineering Lab at
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Centre
where he spearheaded a project that developed systems which use the
concept of a swarm where thousands of devices co-ordinate and work
together on missions such as upcoming Mars exploration missions.
''Instead of sending just two rover machines, the idea is to send
hundreds of tiny robots — on the ground and in the air — that would
scatter over a wide distance. If a few get lost, it won’t affect the success
of the mission. There is often a 20-minute delay on signals from
spacecraft or rovers back to mission control so if these devices can fix
the problem on the spot because they have autonomic properties — which
means they can self-heal and repair each other — it would ensure better
success for a mission.''
Michael received his PhD in Computer Science from University of
Cambridge, UK, and an MSc in Computation from University of Oxford.
He is a Fellow of the IEE, Institute of Mathematics and Its Applications,
Chartered Mathematician, Chartered Professional Engineer, Visiting
Professor at The Queen's University of Belfast. and Senior Member of the IEEE.
While in the US Michael was also a Research Professor at Virginia Tech,
and the founding editor-in-chief of the NASA journal
Innovations in Systems and Software Engineering.
Michael will talk about the development of these robitic systems and future missions which will use them.
Robin Scagell
Robin is a writer of several Philips stargazing guides and night sky atlases.
He is a broadcaster on astronomy who runs Galaxy Picture Library,
which is devoted to photographs of astronomy and space.
Robin’s background includes working at the Kodak Research Laboratory
as a research assistant, Manchester University as an observer and
photographer, and for publisher Marshall Cavendish.
Robin is currently the Vice President of the well renowned
Society for Popular Astronomy.
Robin will give an in-depth talk on opservational astronomy.
There is one other speaker (unconfirmed as of today)
but I will announce their taking part either way very soon.
Looking forward to meeting you all again down Clare way in the Autumn!