Armagh Planetarium - Mars Viewing Evenings

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ARMAGH PLANETARIUM WELCOMES ESA GUESTS

On 18th August Armagh Planetarium was pleased to welcome Dr Mark Doherty and Professor David Southwood from the European Space Agency (ESA). As part of their visit Dr Doherty and Professor Southwood presented lectures outlining some of ESA's current space science projects.

Professor David Southwood is the Director of Science at the European Space Agency and is based in Paris. His work takes him all over the world, and he is involved in critical decisions about the launching of ESA missions from Kourou in Guyana. He is a space physicist who has spent most of his academic career at Imperial College in London, with extended periods in the USA at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) as a postdoctoral researcher, and later as a visiting professor. During his visit to Armagh, which was to promote and publicise the collaboration between ESA and the Armagh Planetarium, he presented an overview of ESA's activities in space exploration. He made the point that everyone in Europe should know about this work as it is funded by all EU taxpayers.

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DR MARK DOHERTY (ESA), PROFESSOR DAVID SOUTHWOOD (ESA), AND DR TOM MASON DIRECTOR OF ARMAGH PLANETARIUM WITH A MODEL OF THE BEAGLE 2 MARTIAN LANDER.

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Dr Mark Doherty is an Armagh native. After leaving school, he went on to study at London and Oxford Universities before carrying on his research work into cloud formation in the USA. He is Head of Earth Observation Exploitation Development at ESA's European Space Research Institute (ESRIN) facility at Frascati, south of Rome. During his visit to Armagh he was pleased that this was the first time that he had been invited back to his home city to deliver an address on his work. He showed the amazing range of data that is being collected by Earth Observation satellites launched by ESA, and made the point that ESA is a world leader in this technology.

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PLANETARIUM PRESENTERS JULIE THOMPSON AND ROBERT HILL PICTURED HERE WITH PROFESSOR DAVID SOUTHWOOD.

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During July and August the Planetarium had on display a wonderful display of model spacecraft provided by ESA. We hope that the very successful summer display is the start of a long term relationship between Armagh Planetarium and this important European agency.