The Life & Times of a Star

Exciting talk about the Sun by Donnacha O’Driscoll at Lucan Library

The Sun makes up 99.99% of all material in the solar system. That means if you combined all the planets, moons, asteroids, comets etc.. into one giant ball it still would only be 1/10,000 th the mass of the Sun. And yet in the family of stars, our Sun is classified as a yellow dwarf star. So what is a star, where do they come from, how do they create so much heat and what happens when they die. This is a story of strange worlds, massive explosions, black holes and one of nature’s greatest displays, Solar eclipses. We may not get to see much of the Sun this time of year in Ireland but at least we can talk about it!

Dr. Donnacha O’Driscoll is a scientist by profession. He worked in the biopharma sector and lectured in pharmaceutical production for 20 years before taking up the position of General Manager of Insight in UCD, Ireland’s leading data analytical and AI research centre. But throughout his childhood, student and professional life he has maintained a constant interest in astronomy with a special interest in the Moon.

He is a committee member of the Irish Astronomical Society where he leads the Lunar Observatory Group. As well as running numerous adult education classes in astronomy, he set up the website themoon.ie which is a free to access educational website that deals with all aspects of the Moon.

Lucan Library: Phone: (01) 621 6422