Welcome to this episode of the SDAS podcast. Podcast news first.
We are still suffering from low listener amounts. This is not a good thing, as it makes it harder to get advertisers to pay us to play things and endorse their great stuff. So play our promo to your friends! IT is available at out main website, sdas.libsyn.com and www.stuffslashersaw.com/howtopodcast . Just click on the "Where do i get them" link. So. Show-note time
This episode is broken up into 2 parts. The first part, (this one) is a short (16 min) section with a talk by Cian Mac Mahon, A.K.A me on the wonders or podcasting and how it helps astronomy.
Links mentiond in this part are all at www.stuffslashersaw.com/howtopodcast . Scott Sigler's stuff, (free recordings of all 4 of his books, as well as a print version of Earthcore, his first) are available at scott.sigler.podshow.com (and www.podiobooks.com . in fact, podiobooks have lots of great stuff.). A link to the stuff by J.C is available at www.stuffslashersaw.com . skim through all the blog rubbish and find a nice little moving picture at the bottem left advertising his first book, 7Th son, Descent.
That should be all! Look out for the second half of this episode, in which Albert White (spelling?) shall be talking about the horrors of light polution, and all in all finishes this rather strange episode of the SDAS podcast.
Visit us online and comment at sdas.libsyn.com and www.stuffslashersaw.com and the most important www.southdublinastronomy.org
Email me at talktome@stuffslashersaw.com

Also, this episode will be making a guest appearance on my podcast, which has quite the number of listeners, in order to try to drive up subscribers.

So i am late. Oh well. Two sections for you today, This and part one of episode 2.

This is part three of episode two of the SDAS podcast.
Could you all tell your friends about this podcast, as our listenership is dropping.
Thanks,
Cian Mac Mahon
talktome@stuffslashersaw.com
sdas.libsyn.com
www.stuffslashersaw.com

Do not listion to this episode before getting episode 2 part 1. You have been warned.

In order to get more listeners, we have had to start a promo push. So you may be hearing promo's at the end of each episode. but only the first 25-50 of you who download. Its complicated stuff.

Before we get into the nitty gritty of the shownotes, i would like to point out that this is the first of THREE sections to this episode. so dont worry when the file unexpectedly stops. Download the next section in a few days time.
Also, i have a few lovely jubbly bookmarks for he IAS event. since there is NO chance i can ship on out to you for the event its self, i am gonna give them away based on the amazing artwork on the front. if you would like one, please email your name and address to talktome@stuffslashersaw.com and if you are one of the lucky people, i shall send you one. Of course, i am only willing to spend 1 euro on Postage, so if you dont live in Ireland, i will still take the entries, but we may have to figure out how you can pay the postage.
Remember that if you dont live in Ireland, there is a good chance that you will be the only person in your country to own one of these.

Now, lets get on to the shownotes, Taken form www.southdublinastronomy.org.


Supernovae and Asteroids: Meeting on Thursday, October 5th

At our October meeting Dave McDonald gave probably the most fascinating talk we have had to date when he spoke about the role the amateur astronomer can play in supporting the professional community and also how there are so many facets of the hobby we can be involved in.

I was thinking afterwards that whenever my interest in astronomy wanes a little I normally thumb through a few chapters of Tim Ferris' "Seeing in the Dark" -- a brilliant book that conveys what it is like to do amateur astronomy and also be at the cutting edge of amateur-professional collaborations.

To this I'd now add Dave's talk. A couple of people said the talk really encouraged them to go outside and look up at the sky afresh. A great discussion on the IFAS Advanced Observing Program ensued too and more details on this project can be found at http://www.irishastronomy.org/boards/viewtopic.php?p=33829

Many thanks Dave and Fíona for dropping by and linking up with SDAS.


Observing nights

The SDAS will host club observing nights on the following dates between October 2006 and December 2006. The fact we are at the whim Irish weather means it is often difficult to find a night where are guaranteed clear skies but to set definite dates means people know well in advance that a group of us will be down at our current site in the car park at Cloon Wood (on the Enniskerry to Glencree Road -- OS Sheet 56).

The arrangement each night is to ring John Flannery on 086-8181931 between 4pm and 6pm on the Friday evening to see if the observing night will go ahead (just in case there's a hurricane sweeping through the Dublin area!) If the observing session has a green light, then we'll meet up at the Monument in Enniskerry village at 8pm and drive up to Cloon from there (if you know the way, then just go direct to Cloon Wood). If Friday night is cloudy then the same arrangements apply for Saturday night. Members often arrange other observing nights between themselves so turn up at a meeting and scope out the possibility of linking up with other observers. Here's hoping for clear skies! Many thanks to those people who braved the elements on our first observing night in September; skies were cloudy, it was wet, but we saw a few nice deep-sky objects.

The dates for the rest of the year are;

  Friday, October 20th 2006 (Orionid meteor shower peaks the following night).
  Friday, November 17th 2006 (Leonid meteor shower peaks in the early hours of Friday).
  Friday, December 15th 2006 (we'll meet the night of the Geminid maximum on Dec 13/14 too).


IAS meeting on October 18th

The next IAS meeting is an open invite for us all to attend a lecture on the Cassini-Huygens mission at Saturn . The lecture will be given by Dr Caitriona Jackman, a Cassini mission scientist based at Imperial College London, and the talk will be at 7:30pm on Monday, October 16th in the Arts Block of UCD, Belfield (Theatre N). Admission tickets (actually, Cassini mission bookmarks) can be got from the Student's Union at UCD or at the door on the night.


Other events of interest

Octocon , the famed Science Fiction convention, is on this year in the Glenroyal Hotel, Maynooth, Co. Kildare on October 14th and 15th. Details at http://www.octocon.com/2006/


Seanie Morris in Tullamore Astronomical Society has circulated details of the Second Annual TAS Art Competition . The event is sponsored by Byrne's World of Wonder toy stores and there was a phenomenal amount of entries in 2005. I went down to the prize-giving last year and the standard of work was very high. The twelve winning pictures are used in a calendar put together by TAS members which also contains details of astronomical phenomena for the year ahead. A very worthwhile venture to support. More details at http://www.irishastronomy.org/boards/viewtopic.php?t=4820

The show-notes were written by John Flannary.

www.southdublinastronomy.com
sdas.libsyn.com
www.stuffslashersaw.com
talktome@stuffslashersaw.com

Here in SDAS, we need to get the word out in order to attract sponcers, in order to make this profitable, in order to get more equipment and pay the airfair of the ou-of-the country speakers. So we are going on a push.
This means that you may hear targeterd (and none targeted) advertisements at the end of this podcast. Or not. (we are set to only make the first 50 people listion. difficult stuff!). so dont be supprised!
Cian Mac Mahon
[EDIT]
we need all of our viewers to compleat our survay.

"What is this season one rubbish i hear you talking about?" you may be shouting at your screen while reading this. "I seem to remember 2 others before this!" Yes. Yes you do. But they were only "Teasers" as it were, the real Astro-Action (And yes...i am damned for life for saying that) is only just beginning! (And we finally have a Advertiser lined up! more on this later.)

So, in todays bulging-at-the-seams episode, we have a little ramble, followed by an exclusive Documentary by myself and Fintin in the Field, our first Roaming reporter, (if you want to become one as well, send me a detailed email about what you will tell us in your documentary) about what happens when lots of grown men who love Astronomy get to see a moon eclipse, followed by a nice talk on "Mr Messier and his Catalogue": The Messier catalogue is considered THE list of the "Best of" the sky's celestial sights beyond the Solar System. But how did the list come about, what were the first deep-sky objects to be discovered, and where can you find these showpieces of the heavens? This has been put together by none other then John Flannery.

Email me at talktome@stuffslashersaw.com
vist the podcasts webpage at sdas.libsyn.com
visit the SDAS at www.southdublinastronomy.org
visit me, Cian Mac Mahon at my homepage at www.stuffslashersaw.com

Now, have fun!
Cian Mac Mahon

Welcome back to the show!

Hi again, just to let you lot of podcasties know that i will be doing a talk on  "Podcasting: Stars online" (how podcasts can change the way we look at astronomy) at September 18th, Ely House, 8 Ely Place, Dublin 2 for the Irish Astronomical society. Not sure how the Charging in works, but if you want to know how i podcast, turn up and ask me there.
Cian Mac Mahon

Well, loyal people who have kept up with us through the holidays, we have served up more then 500 helpings of Astronomy Club fun, which I think is quite amazing for  show which only has a handful of episodes!

Well, we are back, and with some more great content. Lets look through what is going on with episode 3 (and we will be monthly again until the end of the school year!)

The topic for the evening is "Mr Messier and his Catalogue". The Messier catalogue is considered THE list of the "Best of" the sky's celestial sights beyond the Solar System. But how did the list come about, what were the first deep-sky objects to be discovered, and where can you find these showpieces of the heavens? Come along on the evening and find out. All welcome and no admission charge.

"How may i come along?" I hear you ask...Well, contrary to popular belief, we are not situated in some deep hole under the stars, but in fact in Gonzaga Collage, Ranalagh, Dublin 6. Just say you come from the podcast, and I'm sure we can share some starbars with you if there is any to be had.
 
We are working on some great stuff with the podcast for the coming months, with the slight possibility of a few Video-editions of the SDAS podcast, (as since our audio editor guy is doing his JCert, he does not have time to mess up the timings with the slides) and a tiny tiny bit more.  (Think: working on sponsorship = more funds for the club = better talks!) All this is still speculation, but where there is a will there is a way!

Join us for our next episode, coming at ya round about next monday, (but probably sooner!)

Cian Mac Mahon, 
www.southdublinastronomy.org
www.stuffslashersaw.com

DOWNLOAD THE TIMESTAMPS!
this is the slideshwo for the "comets" talk in episode 2. it is a PDF so you need Adobe reader. to use this, you need the timestamps, which should appear under this file. download them .

thanks to John Flannery for making this.

this is the set of time stamps for the "comets" slideshow in episode2. i am going about this in a slightly round-about way, so please ad one hour to each of the timestamps.

 Its podcast time!

This week  we have 3 talkers,
John on Hairy Stars and Horrid Tails" . . . all about comets, their lore, and impact (literally!)
Aidan Corcoran talking about his recent trip to Mallorca to take part in the Open University's Observing Programme,
Brian and Chris (i think...) of the Ecliptomaniacs on their trip to Libya! Lots of lovely pics...


In club news,
Al White has been working hard on setting up the SDAS web site as a Wiki. For those new to the term, the site basically allows people create web pages and edit existing ones as long as they are registered on the site. We've discussed the site a bit recently and would like to see it mainly focussed on observing notes (e.g. what does M42, the Orion Nebula, look like in binoculars, a telescope, and a really big scope).

It's taken until now to get the basic contents of the messier objects complete, but finally we've done it. Some like M3 have images and explanatory text, others just have the starmap and basic information. What we need now is to fill in useful observational data for the objects. Thats where we need your help, please register and help expand our observational guide to the Messier Objects! and to correct whatver mistakes we have made so far!



in "things that are happining" news,

The Irish Astronomical Society in association with Chernobyl Children's Project International invites you to come along to Sandymount in Dublin, Martello Tower Car Park, May 5th and May 6th 2006. 9:00 pm till 10:30pm-ish. We will show you the first quarter moon, the planet Saturn and maybe the planet Jupiter, all weather permitting of course. You can see details on www.irishastrosoc.org

This event is free, but we would urge you to consider donating to this charity in this the Twentieth year of the disaster to help relieve the ongoing suffering of the victims.

If you can not make it to Dublin perhaps you would put something in the charity's bank account, just mark "Sun Moon and Stars Fundraiser" somewhere on the lodgement slip or cheque. Name of Bank: Permanent TSB, 1 Lapp's Quay, Cork, Ireland. Sort Code: 99-07-01. Account No 36410021. Chernobyl Children's Project International . . . http://www.chernobyl-international.com/news/

All of the news is copie/pasted of www.southdublinastronomy.org, so for much more up to date stuff, head over there!

websites,

The slideshow used by the Ecliptomaniacs in this episode. i will have time-stamps ou shortly http://www.ecliptomaniacs.com/2006/thumbnails.html

the clubs website, www.southdublinastronomy.org

the podcast site, where timestamps and slideshows will be released for this episode, sdas.libsyn.com


have fun, and see you all next month!

Cian Mac Mahon

Things should be a little less crowded on the recording, with only 3 speakers. Which means three slideshows for me to prepare and uploaded. Fun. Anyways, on to the "contents"

first up we have a nice talk about comets by John Flanery,

 

next, a late lybia account,

 

followed by a supprise 15 min talk! (i don't know what its gonna be about.)

 

Recently, NASA astronomers announced new evidence supporting the Big Bang theory, which states that the universe was once subatomic in size and, in only one trillionth of a second, expanded to astronomical proportions.

click here for more info.

Hello to any new listeners out there... Please do not draw conclusions about the quality of our podcasts from episode one. As stated before on these very pages, it is terrible if you are the sort of person who likes to see what is being talked about., since i am having great trouble posting ALL of the slide shows. the next episode, scheduled for recording around abouts the 4th of may, released around abouts 6th or 7th, where we shall (hopefully) have just one speaker and everything will be OK.

pictures taken by Albert White are avalible at
http://www.flickr.com/photos/albertw/sets/72057594096922769/

This is, as prommised, thomas Kinsellas slide show as a PDF. it starts in and around a hour into episode 1.

thanks to Albert White for reocrding this. watch out at "7:45" for johns "look at Venus", followed about 3 min later by " never mind Veuns! look at the shadow!"

i have a VO for the main SDAS site underway, and it should be in the next episode.

This is the video of the eclipse filmed by Paul Tipper

This is the promo for the SDAS podcast. have a listion, tell your friends to have a listion and help us get that magic 100 subscribers which will help us get sponsership for the large amount of data!

This is the first episode of the SDAS podcast. and it is quite a bit of a mess. as Evo Terra once said, "the first episode of any podcast is Cr@p".

we picked a bad time to record the first episode, and managed to get it on the day when we would be having aproxamitly 7 slide shows and 99 pictures to project on the screen. i have given up trying to time the slide shows, and as of 7/4/06 have still not got all of them off their creators.so i am uploading them as PDf files. you can get ADOBE ACROBAT to read these files, but i think most people already have this program, and if you don't, you should. now. on with the show notes.

first on the list, we have a few pictures Deirdre Kelleghan drew in her back garden of the sun. (pictures should be up sometime soon, with when they get shown in the format 00:00)the ecliptomaniacs presentation by Dan lynch (hopefully have the presentation out as pdf)John O'Neill talking about his cruise boat (pics later)Thomas kinsila with his ever amusing presentation. (pdf later)John: a little bit of everything

most videos should be up later in the month, around about in the next two weeks. i am sorting out  apromo, and you lot will be the first to hear about it.

Cian Mac Mahon

www.ecliptomaniacs.com
www.irishastrosoc.org

This is just a test recording, and i am not using all the crazy mics. (to take a look at the crazy mics go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/cianmm/tags/astronomy/)
Cian Mac Mahon

the start-up is under way! The first file should be hitting your aggregators (and when i say hitting, i mean it. we are talking up to 2 hours here!) round about monday, or maybe even closer!
Cian Mac Mahon