If you want to see the sun like never before then do not miss a talk entitled “Our Dynamic Sun and Its Earth Connections in 3D” which will be held at the Westwood House Hotel next Monday evening at 8pm.
Organised by the Galway Astronomy Club the talk will be presented by ex-Nasa scientist Dr Peter Gallagher from Trinity College.
Our star, the sun, is a huge ball of gas one billion miles across and contains approximately 99 per cent of the total solar system mass. One hundred and nine Earths would be required to fit across the sun's disk while its interior could hold over 1.3 million Earths. Its outer and usually quiet layer is called the photosphere and has a temperature of 6,000°C, but without warning, this relatively calm layer can be torn asunder by sudden outbursts on a scale unknown on Earth. Catastrophic events with incredible energy stretch up to halfway across the visible solar surface, suddenly and unpredictably open up and expel their contents into space with a solar flare, defying the sun's enormous gravity.
All are welcome to attend the talk. After the meeting and weather permitting a suite of powerful telescopes will be set up outside the hotel showing Saturn, Venus, and Mars. For further info call 0868434003 or log onto www.galwayastronomyclub.ie
