From: TerryMoselaol.com
Date: Wed, 27 Apr 2005 19:44:32 EDT
Subject: HST images, Geology events, personal honour

Hi all,

1. Those of you lucky enough to have been at the excellent HST 15th 
anniversary event presented by Robert Hill & Tom Mason at the Ulster Museum last Sunday 
will have seen the two amazing 'anniversary' images. Now you can see them & 
download them from the Web. Thanks to IAA member Colin Campbell for the 
following info:
The images from last Sunday's event are downloadable from the Hubble web site 
http://hubblesite.org/:

For 'desktop wallpaper' resolution versions:
http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/newsdesk/archive/releases/2005/12/image/a
http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/newsdesk/archive/releases/2005/12/image/b

For the truly massive 'print your own poster' versions:

http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/newsdesk/archive/releases/2005/12/image/a+warn

http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/newsdesk/archive/releases/2005/12/image/b+warn

2. Dr Mike Simms (Ulster Museum) asked me to mention these 3 geology events, 
concerning our own particular planet:
"Hi Terry, there are a couple of geology events being run by Geological 
Survey Northern Ireland on the BH weekend, one at Scrabo and one at Fermanagh, and 
a gold-panning event down in the Mournes on May 8th. IAA members, particularly 
those with kids, may like to get along. It's not really astronomical, but 
Earth is a planet so it could be marketed as 'planetary geology'!"

A. FANTASTIC FERMANAGH FOSSIL DAY AT MARBLE ARCH CAVES GEOPARK
Fantastic Fermanagh Fossils is a family fun day to let people get a hands-on 
view of what the geology of Fermanagh is, particularly within the Geopark. The 
event will centre mainly on fossils and all exhibitions will be interactive. 
Individual events include fossil fishing, stonework fossil crafts, the rock 
detective, and find-a-fossil.  Rockwatch, the club for young geologists is 
co-hosting the event, and there will be plenty of opportunity to find out more 
about Rockwatch and other events that they
run. The event is free, but normal cave tour admission prices still apply 
with Rockwatch members receiving 50% discount. 
   Meeting Place: Marble Arch Caves European Geopark; May 2nd 2005, 10am- 4 
p.m.  Contact: Kirsten Lemon @ 028 6634 8855.

B. "From Desert to Reservoir", Scrabo Country Park, Newtownards, Co Down, 2 
May, 11 a.m. in main car park. Learn how the Sherwood sandstone became a 
groundwater reservoir. Contact Peter McConvey, 028 9038 8462.

C. "Join the Rush For Gold", Mourne Mountains, 8 May, 2 p.m., at the Leitrim 
River, on the B25 Hilltown to Rostrevor Road, about 1.5km South of Hilltown. 
Contact Marie Cowan, Tel 028 9038 8462.

3. I was absolutely flabbergasted, but really highly honoured, to receive the 
IAA's highest award, the 'Opik Award', at the AGM earlier this evening! I had 
not the faintest idea it was coming. The award, named after the late 
world-famous astronomer & cosmologist Dr Ernst Opik who worked at Armagh Observatory, 
is for 'Exceptional Service to Astronomy', and has only been awarded once 
before, to the one and only David Beesley. The award was presented by Prof Mark 
Bailey, Director of Armagh Observatory: thanks for coming from Armagh specially, 
Mark!  It was to have been presented by Dr Opik's grandson, Lembit Opik MP, 
(Lib Dem), but he was sort of otherwise engaged with the coming election, so he 
sent a very nice personal video instead.
  (That award even trumped another nice personal surprise earlier this month, 
when I was invited to join the Editorial Board of the BBC's Sky At Night 
Magazine, first issue due about 25 May.)
  All I can say is thanks to all concerned - I'll try to write a proper and 
more coherent 'Thank You' in the next issue of IAA magazine 'Stardust'.

Clear Skies,

Terry Moseley

Last Revised: 2005 April 28th WWW contact:webmaster@arm.ac.uk

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