Mike is one of Ireland's leading meteorite experts, and has given us many fascinating lectures before. This one focuses on 3 very significant meteorite falls which, coincidentally, occurred in the same year as the first retrieved rocks from the Moon. One of those was the famous Bovedy Meteorite, that last one known to fall in N. Ireland. A fascinating talk is to be expected, delivered in Mike's inimitable style. 

There is huge interest in the 50th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission in July 1969 and to this effect the IAA has two exhibitions running featuring memorabilia from the time as well as a talk on the subject by IAA Past president and IFAS Chair Paul Evans.

An excellent display of Noctilucent Clouds was visible from Northern Ireland in the early hours of Tuesday 18th June. As befits the Solar Minimum, this iwas a very high and bright display and an encouraging sign for a good season. This generally runs from the beginning of June until early August. There is some belief that the emission of Greenhouse Gases into the atmosphere is amplifying the displays, paradoically by making the mesosphere colder as less infrared is radiated upwards having been absorbed by Greenhouse Gases.

Today's (15th June) Barbeque at Delamon Country Park is ON with weather set to clear - meet by the Main Car Park at 3pm, bring food etc.

Wednesday 17th April marks the date of the 45th Annual General Meeting of the Association. The purposes of the meeting are to review the activities of the past year, elect a new Council for the coming year and for the Council to receive feedback from the membership on how they - that's you - would like to see the Association develop.

This year there will be two additional features to add to the formal business.

Over the past few decades, our knowledge of how to handle the threat posed by Near-Earth Objects has increased enormously. Astronomers surveying the sky find over 150 new NEOs per month. We understand the gross characteristics of that population; how many there are, what they are made of, their overall structure and how their orbits change. Now the final stage of threat assessment is under way. In three years time, humanity will test whether it can move a small asteroid for the first time.

We held a very successful Members' Night on 20th March, starting off with IAA President Brian Beesley doing the Admin, the Intro and a great talk about Kenneth Edgeworth

Past President and Webmaster Paul Evans talks about Apollos 9 and 10