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"Smoking Stars"
By Dr. Simon Jeffery of Armagh Observatory
Monday November 10 2008 at 8:00pm
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Dr. Simon
Jeffery was born in Newcastle upon Tyne on 8th July
1958. He gained a BSc in Physics at Imperial College London
in 1979. He then moved to St. Andrews where he did his PhD
researching Stellar Evolution.
He has
been a research astronomer at Armagh Observatory since 1996
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It is well known that stars, like most fires, emit light.
What is less well known is that some stars also emit soot. Dirty
black stuff that shuts off the starlight and pollutes the
space around the star.
Some stars are minor polluters, others are spectacular. Why
are they so dirty? Carbon -- created by nuclear reactions deep
inside the star -- is forced to the surface, and then thrown
into outer space, where it
condenses as soot.
The talk will look at the extraordinary stories of these polluting
stars, stars like R Coronae Borealis and FG Sagittae, like
Mira and V838 Monoceros. It will also try to explain the
amazing processes that can turn a star inside
out.
His recent research has been into stellar evolution and stellar
atmospheres. In this lecture he will be talking about his
research and new findings and the giant leap forward in the last
few years in our understanding of how stellar sytems work.
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Book seats HERE
Order DVD HERE
Physics Bldg, Trinity
College, Dublin 2.
Near the Westland Row or Lincoln Place entrances
MAP
of Campus
Directions and maps: How to get to Trinity
College
Map of area
around Trinity College
Admission: € 7 (€
5 members and concessions)
This lecture is also available to members nationwide
on DVD, which you can order by credit card online HERE or by calling (01) 847 0777 (alternatively post a
cheque or postal order to: September 2008 DVD, Astronomy Ireland, PO. Box
2888, Dublin 5.) As a sample, a low-resolution version will be
available FREE on this website. DVDs of this and past
lectures are just €7 each (add €5 for P&P for any number of
DVDs).
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