IRELAND

The Leviathan Telescope, built by the Earl of Rosse, William Parson, in
Birr in the mid 1840s and still, at the turn of the 20 th century when this
photograph opposite was taken, the biggest telescope in the world. It
is here, at this historic location, that Dr. Eoin Carley and Professor Peter
Gallagher envisage the building of a Low Frequency Array (LOFAR)
radio telescope, which they say is crucial to examining how solar
eruptions produce light-speed particles and radio bursts.
It is here, too, that the rich tradition of Irish astronomical research has its
roots. And a flourishing tradition it remains, attracting both a large
number of amateur enthusiasts and a committed cohort of established
researchers and post-graduate students. Aaron Kinsella belongs to the
latter. Based in the School of Mathematics at Dublin City University,
where he is pursuing a Research Master's, Kinsella’s particular interest
lies in the processes of star formation and the conditions that impact
upon them. Kinsella explains:
Virtually all stars form in cold, relatively dense regions of the
interstellar medium known as molecular clouds. These clouds are
thought to be turbulent and such turbulence can have a dramatic
influence on the formation of stars such as our own sun. As a result
of these clouds being so cold, with temperatures of around - 240
degrees Celsius, there are very few electrically charged particles such
The Leviathan
Telescope
as electrons or ions present. An implication of this is that we need to
model molecular clouds as being made up of gases, or fluids, some
of which are electrically charged and the majority of which have no
electric charge.
For all that is known, there is much, Kinsella says, that remains beyond
the full understanding of the scientific community: ‘Molecular clouds are
complex, multi-fluid regions in which the different fluids move differently
and continually collide with each other producing a vast array of
fascinating effects. Not much is known about how energy in such systems
is moved around or radiated away.’
Kinsella hopes that his own research, undertaken with Professor Turlough
Downes, will ‘widen the current understanding of molecular cloud
turbulence’.
Like all scientists engaged in Discovery Research, the ambition is to fill
gaps in the existing knowledge and reveal new insights. So how will they
go about it? ‘By systematically studying the properties of the energetics
of these clouds’, Kinsella answers, ‘including more realistic physics than
has been done in the literature to date. Studying such systems will lead
to a deeper understanding of the physical processes involved in the
formation of sun-like stars in our galaxy. This research can also yield better
insight into the transfer of energy in multi-fluid systems which could lead
to advances in the modelling of systems such as the solar atmosphere,
for example.’
Rosse Observatory photographed in the early 20th
century (National Library of Ireland)
discovery Ireland 42,43