“Brave new worlds: the planets in our galaxy” by Professor Giovanna Tinetti, University College London  (abstract)

Prof. Giovanna Tinetti (Professor of Physics and Astronomy, University College London)

l-r : Prof. Gerry Wrixon (Chairman, Governing Board of the School of Cosmic Physics, DIAS) Prof. Giovanna Tinetti (Professor of Physics and Astronomy, University College London) Dr Eucharia Meehan (Registrar and CEO of DIAS)

l-r: Prof. Gerry Wrixon (Chairman, Governing Board of the School of Cosmic Physics, DIAS), Dr Eucharia Meehan (Registrar and CEO of DIAS), Prof. Chris Bean (Head of the Geophysics Section, School of Cosmic Physics, DIAS), Prof. Giovanna Tinetti (Professor of Physics and Astronomy, University College London), Prof. Luke Drury (Director of the School of Cosmic Physics, DIAS and Head of the Astronomy & Astrophysics Section), Dr Deirdre Coffey (Lecturer/Assistant Professor of Astronomy and Space Science at UCD School of Physics), Prof. Martin Grünewald (Professor of Experimental Physics and Head of the UCD School of Physics)

Tonight RTE 1 screens a documentary on how Ireland built part the largest radio telescope in the World. LOFAR (The Low-Frequency Array) is an international effort to study the Universe at the lowest radio frequencies, straddling either side of the familiar VHF band. Historical resonances abound in that the radio telescope is on the same site as the famous Leviathan of Parsonstown, once the largest optical telescope in the World. Amazingly there is so little radio interference nearby, that it is the radio equivalent of a pristine site high in the Andes when it comes to seeing the stars!

DIAS is a partner in LOFAR and will use it to study the birth of stars and planets. We will also contribute to the complex software required to operate such a telescope across the European continent with our international partners.

The LOFAR Telescope in Birr, County Offaly. DIAS is part of the Irish consortium that constructed it and we will use it to study how stars like our Sun are born and also how they die.

DIAS welcomes the wonderful news that Ireland will join the European Southern Observatory (ESO). It means Irish astronomers will now have access to world-class observing facilities and Irish companies will be involved in building the biggest telescope on the Planet (shown below), the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT). ESO membership has been a major objective of DIAS for many years. We look forward not only to pushing the boundaries of the known Universe with our ESO partners but also building the cutting-edge instruments that make such research possible.

Further reaction and information can be had from the Astronomical Science Group of Ireland (ASGI) website.

The E-ELT will the biggest telescope in the World when completed. Situated high in the Andes in Chile, it will probe the early history of the Universe, discover how stars and planets form, examine the black hole at the centre of the Milky Way, and a myriad of other puzzles in Astrophysics. Image courtesy of ESO.